Cobblestones From Scratch (O Scale)

So I've been trying to come up with a good way to do cobblestones from scratch. Experiments included gluing down lentils to have the 3d cobblestone look (and perhaps I'll continue this line just to see how it goes). Lentils have issues though for modeling sake -- For one, they don't take well to water and tend to shrivel up when they have grout or something with heavy water content brushed over them. They're also a bit bigger than I think I wanted for O scale.

My other line of experiments have been with plaster. Initially I was casting a square piece of plaster, then breaking it up, gluing it back together, then grouting it (a lot of work indeed). After a few tries of these other methods it hit me it would perhaps just be easier to carve the shape directly into the plaster.

Enter attempts #5 and #6:

Attempt #5

Attempt #6

#6 is getting close to what I've been looking for. The painting was done in these steps (all paints acrylic like you'd get at your neighborhood craft store):

• Did a wash of light gray over it
• Did a wash light light green over it
• Did a wash of burnt umber + light green over it
• Dry brushed black
• Dry brushed white

The color shown in this photograph is a bit off from how it looks in real life (less orangy in real life). Washes were created by combining the acrylic paint with water and mixing well (about a 15:1 water-to-paint ratio).

Red Mountain Panorama, CW Cross, 1900

Red Mountain Panorama, CW Cross, 1900
Originally uploaded by Rocky Pix

Found a crazy good resource someone has assembled on Flickr. Very cool that they've gone ahead and labeled all of the places in the photo (click it to see all the labels). Of interest is the bottom left of the photo where the famed Corkscrew Gulch Turntable was barely squeezed into the landscape.

This defiantly fits into the 'there's a prototype for everything' category, and will certainly serve as some inspiration on my own cramped layout.

Durango & Silverton: A Quick History

I finished Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge: A Quick History by Duane A. Smith this evening, leaving a 5-star review on Amazon.com. For being a history book (which I anticipated would be really boring) I actually found it quite a bit interesting. The author tells a lot of the early history of southwestern Colorado (durango and silverton towns) through the eyes of the citizens by using local period newspapers, and of course the ultimate impact the narrow gauge railroad had on the area.

Problem!

So I hit the first roadbump railbump in my railroad. My Bachmann On30 hopper's can't make it around the turn without the wheels dragging against the coupler box. See here how the wheels are up against the coupler:

Another Scenery/Trackplan Mockup

It will be a miracle if I actually decide on a track plan and do it! Here were some more scribblings about what might be possible...

Another Scenery Mockup

Another scenery mockup showing the On18 mining line (upper level) and some of the structures. I decided to move the locale of my railroad a bit north to the more Colorado area (hence the sudden appearance of the pine trees in place of cactus and tumble weed).



And here's a picture of me and my wife...

On30 Hopper

Forgot to mention, I have 2 Bachmann Spectrum On30 ore hoppers on their way. I figured I'd need at least something to have my 0-4-0 diesel pull while testing.