BACKDROPS by BRIAN

Brian has been with us since the beginning, 2003. And fortunately he lives reasonably close in CT. Hence, the bulk of the backdrop painting Brian has completed including Lookout Mountain. Approximate total length is 60'. With His latest visit earlier this month he added some details with figures, plowed fields, clouds and touched up the Oostanaula River. Too bluish, given my brownish 3D version, his blend is none other than perfect. Have a look...

He is blending the painted rock into the bench, highlighting the edges. This is the north end of Rocky Face, a dominate feature west of Dalton. Heavily fortified at the time of Sherman's campaign to Atlanta, unfortunately for Joe Johnston's Army of TN Sherman chose to out flank his Confederate opponent and avoid a head on charge against a fortified enemy, lessons first learned during the battle of Fredricksburg.

As Brian adds clouds, I am taking a few lessons on the art of cloud creation. Prior to Brian I have painted all the clouds which, as humble as I can sound, came out pretty good. They show up better in photos however, as seen in the September 2009 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman. Brian's look great in person or photographed. 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

The tent far left, and third from left, has the back half painted onto the backdrop. You can see the slight drop of the top of the left 3D tent where it meets the painting.

As Brian mentioned throughout his visit, it's all play now for him since the panoramas were quite tedious and although he very much enjoyed the visits, it required a lot coverage. Now it looks like he may even want to scratch build some scenes.  

Kingston to Dalton and Beyond

A recent visit this March by friends who have been contributing to the construction of the Western and Atlantic RR for many years, DC Cebula, Brain Kammerrer, Christopher Eldridge and Andy Salcius, have moved us toward the last phase on this layout. 10 years in the making, Andy, aka Uriah Stephens, shot this "creative" video with a few sound effects, unlikely heard in any steam locomotive sound decoder.



The following photos attribute the recent work projects with their respective authors. I use this term author deliberately since the skills that each person brings is at a level where I trust their ability to "author" their sense of a scene or scene element. 

LeBron, on his January 2013 visit, has painted, inserted and here is dry brushing the perimeter fence (Musket Miniatures) of the Barnsley Estate. Godfrey Barnsley, if you missed prior postings, was a cotton trader. With offices in Atlanta, New Orleans, Savannah and London, interestingly he was opposed to slavery and paid all his workers. He was also known for his extraordinary gardens, some of which we plan for the center section just in front of his home. This mansion was scratch built by Christopher from book illustrations in Barnsley Gardens. You can see Chris' work under LABELS for Barnsley.

The BLOCKHOUSE

One of the latest projects is the addition of a blockhouse. These were built close to rail lines  to protect against enemy raids. Most pictures of the period are the more sophisticated USMRR type found built into bridges and/or of multiple sides.  
I found this photo captioned on the N&C (Nashville and Chattanooga) RR and it was near Chattanooga. I loved the idea of a blockhouse scene and decided this is plausibility enough to fashion one on the W&A.Once Barnsley's Mansion was completed, Christopher laid claim to this project. A brief bio on Chris, he has been a military modeler since I met and worked with him at a military miniature hobby shop, The Lead Soldier, in Trenton, NJ. Professionally he is a finishing carpenter. He approaches model building with the same eye for accuracy and excellence.


Positioned near the entrance to Chattanooga's yard, Chris prepped the area so as to lay the structure higher than the tracks and flat giving it a reasonable distance from the tracks. Built on pink insulation foam, he added Sculptamold and Georgia dirt to form the landscape. The entrance begins the log barricade base. The resin gun emplacements are Musket Miniatures.

Christopher shaped a solid piece of pink foam as the form to build this structure, since no interior is planned, and painted it black. Finding sticks in his yard he first baked them to ensure they would be dry as well as a preserving process. He next measured the walls and began cutting vertical logs. Prior to adhering these to the insulation, he notched the sides of two for rifles and muskets. Door is scratch built of wood.

Vertical logs attached, Chris has added the upper planking and now the second, horizontal layer of logs. Currently he is completing the roof. 
The view below is looking south across the Howe Truss over Chickamauga Creek. There is no evidence I could uncover to verify blockhouses were built on this line. However it's plausible and as they say, its your railroad.

 

Christopher assessing his work

WIRE TREES

Andy has been our resident tree builder. Learning as he goes, he has produced some beautiful work. See these under LABELS - Andy, Crew. Andy also shoots most of our videos and many of the photos shown here and on the Flicker pages.  
His recent endeavor with trees were made of wire. There is a type of pine abundant in GA so wire was the economical approach. This wire is found in the floral section of craft stores, i.e., Michael's and AC Moore.  The left picture shows various tools including the use of a pencil. Andy takes about 16-20 wire strands, cuts them about 18"-22". He then places the pencil in the middle and folds the bundle in half, doubling the number of strands. Once he has twisted the wire into branches, he caulks the trunk leaving about an inch at the bottom as a handle. When nearly dry he shapes the caulk into bark. Once dry he sprays a base coat then uses 3-4 browns and grays.

DALTON'S EVOLUTION

Dalton GA was on the north end of the Western & Atlantic RR, just south of Tunnel Hill. By August of 1863 it had become a bustling city due to the defenses being constructed along the W&A to protect this critical supply line for the Army of Tennessee. The following 'movie' of slides gives you an idea of the development, start to near completion, of this section of the layout. It began in November 2003 as tabletops with basic track plan.Also posted is an interview of Brian Kammerer as he is painting the backdrop section along this area. Friends who have had contributed to this section include DC Cebula, Chris Comport, Andy Salcius, Jimmy Judge and of course, Brian Kammerer.

A New Modeler

I have known Andy for about 15 years., mostly through his cello music and improvisational gatherings. He has been integral to helping me establish this blog. He also takes great photos. However he had never done any modeling. A few months ago he took on making trees, with a little coaxing, as a first. As you may know, trees are always a scenic feature, especially those in foregrounds. A simple technique I use Andy is demonstrating here with medium and large plastic trees by Scenic Express. First step is to cut the plastic pin molded onto the tree base. The intent is to insert a brad for easy replanting. Once the tip is removed a hole is drilled into the base the size of the brad, and about 1/8" to 1/4" deep. There is usually plastic residue on the bit and is easily removed by simply unscrewing the plastic from the bit. The brad heads are cut off with a wire cutter. We adhere the brad into the new hole in the tree base using  blue Loctite CA glue; it is a gel. The brad extends about a 1/2" from the hole. Next step is to heat the tree to soften the plastic, then gently bend branches. The last photo shows the results. Interestingly Andy started bending the branches, AND the trunks! Although slight, it offers a more realistic contrast than every tree being boringly straight. This may sound obvious but it never came to mind. This is one good reason to have someone working on the layout that has no prior knowledge or limited thinking! You can expect new ways and approaches to any aspect of modeling.

Heating the plastic then twisting and

bending branches and trunks.

Below: final inspection before deployment into the fields 

The finished products below waiting for their paint job and foliage. 

Atlanta Redoubt by LeBron

 Dr. Matthews, on one of his many visits to the "North Branch", has been instrumental in creating a few 'signature scenes'. LeBron is constructing a scene common along the outskirts of Atlanta and later in the war. These entrenchments were a series of earthen and log forts known as redoubts. As the war edged closer to Atanta, fortifications were constructed along a crescent shape, south west to east of Atlanta. Musket Miniatures makes earthwork sections with a logged interior, perfect representations of what was built at this time. LeBron included a long rifle trench, finishing off the scene with tree stumps and abatis (trees and branches laid out as an impedance to infantry attacks). Musket Miniatures also make the line of wooden stakes which come in 2" sections. It is these subtle details that enhance an authentic visual experience for the time. 

Here are a few photos showing his work and how he blended it into Brian Kammerrer's backdrop painting.

 

These black & white picture gives you some comparison of the actual construction and LeBron's replication in the 3 prior modeling photos.

Kingston's Evolution

KINGSTON, GA 1863

A period photo of Kingston showing several trains at the Kingston Wye. This was Sherman's HQ, spring of 1864, as he was planning his advance onto Atlanta. When zoomed, one sees Union troops loading or unloading supplies.  Left of center is the station which is at a point in the Wye, between 2 trains. Its foundation is visible today along the same track line, now operated by CSX, where you can get a terrific sense of the time period since much of the area still has a rural feel. 

 

 

The initial Kingston benchwork is shown in the photo on the left, 2003. The intent was to replicate the unique Wye feature for operations. However, once we realized the reach was an impossibility, especially in the use of link & pin couplers, DC and I decided to drastically increase the reach-ability. As you see in the photo to the right, we cut into the table and redirected the straight track of the Wye.

Below left, 2007, DC is conducting a 'shake down' run with the NCE throttle. LeBron watches closely since these are his trains. LeBron comes up to Long Branch from Columbus GA two to three times annually, much to my gratitude. DC visits for several days at a time and has made huge contributions to everything from building backdrops to superior scenicing, building structures and fabulous detailing.  

2011 - DC and Thom planning.... something. Actually we are ascertaining layout content within the Kingston Wye. This was an interchange on the W&A with the Rome RR where both goods and people made the change-over to continue on to Chattanooga or Atlanta, or points in between. In the foreground the nearly completed structure of the Barnsley Mansion, an actual site just outside Kingston during the 1850's and 60's.
 

A year later we have added several more structures. As with most towns of this era, there is little evidence indicating the exact nature, colors, etc., to accurately replicate. However, the author Craig Angle, "The Great Locomotive Chase", reveals there were 30 business houses, 4 hotels, several churches and other structures. Other research indicates that the hotel in the upper photo was a common design. There was similar looking hotels, one particularly similar was in Marietta. Kingston at this time, August 1863, was receiving hundreds of wounded and most hotels were converted to hospitals.

DALTON CAR SHED

The only reference that I have located to this structure is mentioned by one of the raiders from the GLC, William Pittenger, in Craig Angles book. If you have not seen this reference before, Craig wrote "The Great Locomotive Chase" in 1992. No longer in print, Craig takes time to describe various areas along the chase route. In his book he includes this from Pittenger, "...the large passenger depot which had a shed over all the tracks..." So I went with a similar look to Atlanta. Chattanooga had a similar shed but slightly different construction materials and design. This structure holds the foreground on the North Branch (the layout). I decided to add some details given very visible location.

These two photos show early stages of Dalton and the car shed when I considered foam-core as the material. I decided on plywood after Chris' exasperations using this material for another structure. He is building the Barnsley scene found in the LABELS.

Shed Construction

On the left we're pretty along the way with the walls, roof supports and support columns already assembled. To the right shows the brick work. It is an adhesive paper by Clever. They have a very good website with a wide variety of stone, brick, siding and roof prints. You can purchase just the print  at a very reasonable fee and print any number of copies, or the adhesive backed sheets.

Two more views showing some of the wall supports and the most recent backdrop work from Brian Kammerrer. I invite you to view the new posting of Brian's work creating the backdrop scene as well, completing this and other backdrop scenes in 7 hours! More to come.

Thanks for following our work. Although we began in 2003 and await the arrival of the first sounding locos (still working out the bugs), the enjoyment never ceases.

BARNSLEY GARDENS AT WOODLANDS

THE GARDENS  

Christopher continues in his next phase for the Barnsley Mansion at Woodlands scene. The mansion has been completed and he is now building the gardens based on diagrams from the book. Nothing like having the research to authentically replicate a scene. Early construction of the mansion can be found in the list of LABELS in the right margin.

The view to the left is a diagram from Godfrey Barnsley's plan for his gardens. The author refers to this as the parterre "a formal garden construction on a level surface consisting of planting beds, edged in stone or tightly clipped hedging, and gravel paths arranged to form a pleasing, usually symmetrical pattern." Wikipedia. We simply copied and enlarged this diagram to a close-to HO scale with selective compression for a  reasonable fit. You'll notice this is pre-mansion given the structures illustrated. Barnsley had not yet built his home.

    The  photo to the right is the gardens from the mansion's 2nd or 3rd floor. Although very post civil war, they stayed close to the original design concept. 

Below left you see Chris slicing hedges from Faller. Although a bit tedious as it is a fibrous foam product (nothing new for Chris), smaller lengths are a great fit. A foam-core base allows Chris to remove it while he constructs the garden. And to the right you see the addition of the first hedges and a sense on how the scene will come together. My wife, Ku'uipo, is looking forward to adding the flowering plants, ornamental trees and the green roses that Godfrey horticultured. She loves real gardening so those of you looking to involve your wife, significant other...

                              

Brian Does Dalton

May 29 weekend the W&A had a fabulous visit from DC Cebula, Christopher Eldridge and Brian Kammerrer. In this upper view, Brian Kammerrer is sketching a backdrop for the town of Dalton.

He is working on a left over piece of canvas from a prior backdrop.

There have been no pictures of Dalton that I could uncover, even after a visit to the town, local libraries and a couple of local "historians". One source indicated that Dalton was a very up and coming town. A high looking set of structures would have taken a few visits for Brian to complete. We decided to go with a viable version of what was plausible to give the town a larger feel but not fully developed so I pulled photos on Chattanooga and other locations for references. 

Here Brian is beginning to paint in his sketches and bring life to black lined drawings. The third view below is the canvas taped to the backdrop. Along the entire area Brian also connected the ridges from the point of the penninsula, Rocky Face, to the other end where he painted Lookout Mountain.

Dalton's Role

Half way down the line on the W&A between Atlanta and Chattanooga, Dalton was a key location General Joe Johnston chose for the Confederate Army of Tennesee to defend in 1863. It was a small to medium size yard with a Car shed in a similar fashion to Atlanta. There was also a turntable on the north end but in my research to date, no engine house. Most of the information gathered on Dalton was from Craig Angle's book, The Great Locomotive Chase. If you are looking for a thorough journey into the entire story of the chase, not only has Craig researched the Chase but the players and the aftermath. About one half to two thirds of the content is told from the participants of that April 12 day in 1862.

The General has a Voice

Sound on the Western & Atlantic

This is a maiden run by LeBron's Mantua General. He has completely retooled this 4-4-0 including scratch building the boiler from styrene. As you will shortly experience, if you have not already played the video, LeBron is one of two people that I know of who have successfully installed a Tsunami sound decoder in a completed, fully functioning model. Sound takes the experience to a very enjoyable level. The rolling stock include repainted Mantua house cars, IHC cattle cars, and two of my first scratch built cattle cars. The latter two are based on drawings in the April 1969 issue of Model Railroader, "Cars of the 1860's". The bridge is a Howe Truss modeled after photos of the type used on the W&A, most notably over the Tennessee River.