As I managed to get the better part of the grass and small plants fitted under the loading ramp, I could finally begin the last part of the ramp's construction. No new methods, so I'll let the pictures tell most of the story.
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| With the basic layer of grass and a few plants in place I began constructing the last section of the ramp. As usual I used cheap wood from fire works rocket sticks. |
The main girders of the ramp had been prepared in advance, so I set out to cut out the sleepers, sand and distress them a bit and finally stain them in different tones of grey. As I had the staining fluid mixed I also prepared parts for the workers' walkway next to the track. The walkway was used by the workers when they tipped the skips into the waiting lorry.
The final part of the ramp was then test fitted on the ramp's lower structure and glued in place. I gave the top of the ramp's wooden structure a thin covering of dust with air brushed earth coloured paint.
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| The last part of the ramp test fitted in place. |
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| While the glue dried, I air brushed some earth coloured paint on the lower parts of the retaining walls and around the edges where some of the underground plaster could still be seen. |
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| The first rail for the track on the ramp is being spiked. The walkway for the workers will be fitted in the foreground. |
Next stage is to complete the track. I can then test run the completed track layout of Nystrup Gravel. Then it's onto painting the ramp's rails and fit a buffer stop at the end of the ramp. We wouldn't want to have any catastrophic run aways, would we?
I'm really impressed with how well this scene is turning out and how good that grass looks. As I wade into 16mm I'm finding my intuition on grass is taking some adjustment. That opening photograph you posted, with the module outside, really shows just how good static grass can look in this much larger scale ("much larger" compared to my experiments in 1/48 or 1/87 scales). The static grass's natural (nylon) semi-translucence mutes the look of the grass and feels a bit like how real grass constantly moves and reflects light in different ways.
ReplyDeleteWhat is that piece of track in the foreground? It looks like the rails are bonded to sections of brass square tubing. Is it an experiment in temporary track?
Chris
I'm also relatively satisfied with the grass. It's my first real grass job with static grass and electronic applicator. It's good to see that the method looks good in 16 mm scale - something I wasen't sure of when I started. I will try to work more with the density of grass and mixing different lengths and colours. The main thing I have pricked up from my work on the loading ramp modue is that I'm going to spend time on detailing the ground cover before adding grass. A lot of ground is visible between the grass cover in this scale. The track panel is my work bench track that I use to for keeping models I work on. Two lengths of Code 100 rail and a few brass profile soldered together. Then painted rust because I can't resist making everything as realistic as possible.
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