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One More Classic Structure Bash
The rear corners of the layout are at right angles, so there are vertical seams where the commercially made backdrop sections intersect. The blue sky parts of the backdrop are visually not a problem. It is lower area where the mountains scenes butt against each other that needs some help.
Although I juggled the scenes around so that the adjoining mountains were of the same elevation, that very sudden change in direction at the seam would not work. The right hand seam is effectively hidden by the hulking rock bunker behind the factory, but the one on the left is clearly visible, all the way down to grass level. I tried using large deciduous trees to cover it up, but the corner needed to have a hard focal point.
At the recent train show, while chewing on an idea to address the problem, I looked for a Bachmann HO coaling tower kit to use as bash material. The list price for this venerable, snap together kit has gone up to thirty one dollars, so extensive bargain hunting was carried out.
Despite the size of the show, I did not see what I wanted at a price that I was willing to pay for something that I am going to hack to pieces, perhaps unsuccessfully. Even the ubiquitous under the table bargains have doubled and tripled in price. Instead, a reasonably priced “pre-owned” kit was acquired on eBay.
The idea for the bash was to cut off the top and bottom of the HO structure, which is rather tall and narrow, to make a smaller, open top version of the existing rock bunker that was bashed from the Bachmann O-scale kit. When placed deep in the left rear corner, back from the current layout track and partially hidden by trees, it becomes a remnant of an earlier operation, when the rock was being stored at the quarry.
Although these snap together kits will never win a modeling award, with a bit of tweaking they can be made presentable. They are easy to modify and my trusty razor saw made quick work of the present job, despite of my compromised hands. However, when assembled and placed on the layout, it needed a vertical, nonstructural accent to completely cover the backdrop seam and to hide the unattractive bits that developed at the rear of the bash, while matching the height of the flanking trees.
I have always been intrigued by how trees will grow inside of an abandoned building after the roof and interior floors have fallen in, so local legend has the bottom rotting out of the abandoned open top bunker, allowing a tall pine tree to grow within and above its still standing walls. Its dark green color contrasting nicely with the lighter green of the surrounding trees.
The photos show a trial fit of the basic parts. It is my kind of layout project; quick and easy as well as cheap. Without the tree and with the bunker bottom added, along with some details, the bash also makes a believable On30 foreground model.
The rear corners of the layout are at right angles, so there are vertical seams where the commercially made backdrop sections intersect. The blue sky parts of the backdrop are visually not a problem. It is lower area where the mountains scenes butt against each other that needs some help.
Although I juggled the scenes around so that the adjoining mountains were of the same elevation, that very sudden change in direction at the seam would not work. The right hand seam is effectively hidden by the hulking rock bunker behind the factory, but the one on the left is clearly visible, all the way down to grass level. I tried using large deciduous trees to cover it up, but the corner needed to have a hard focal point.
At the recent train show, while chewing on an idea to address the problem, I looked for a Bachmann HO coaling tower kit to use as bash material. The list price for this venerable, snap together kit has gone up to thirty one dollars, so extensive bargain hunting was carried out.
Despite the size of the show, I did not see what I wanted at a price that I was willing to pay for something that I am going to hack to pieces, perhaps unsuccessfully. Even the ubiquitous under the table bargains have doubled and tripled in price. Instead, a reasonably priced “pre-owned” kit was acquired on eBay.
The idea for the bash was to cut off the top and bottom of the HO structure, which is rather tall and narrow, to make a smaller, open top version of the existing rock bunker that was bashed from the Bachmann O-scale kit. When placed deep in the left rear corner, back from the current layout track and partially hidden by trees, it becomes a remnant of an earlier operation, when the rock was being stored at the quarry.
Although these snap together kits will never win a modeling award, with a bit of tweaking they can be made presentable. They are easy to modify and my trusty razor saw made quick work of the present job, despite of my compromised hands. However, when assembled and placed on the layout, it needed a vertical, nonstructural accent to completely cover the backdrop seam and to hide the unattractive bits that developed at the rear of the bash, while matching the height of the flanking trees.
I have always been intrigued by how trees will grow inside of an abandoned building after the roof and interior floors have fallen in, so local legend has the bottom rotting out of the abandoned open top bunker, allowing a tall pine tree to grow within and above its still standing walls. Its dark green color contrasting nicely with the lighter green of the surrounding trees.
The photos show a trial fit of the basic parts. It is my kind of layout project; quick and easy as well as cheap. Without the tree and with the bunker bottom added, along with some details, the bash also makes a believable On30 foreground model.
Not walking that!
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