Welcome!

This site is dedicated to my model railroad, the HO scale Virginia Midland Railroad. This layout comprises a 12X9 room with two levels. The upper level is complete and the lower level scenery has just begun.

I do a handful of train shows in the Virginia/Maryland region with Makin Tracks.
I also can help you find that freight car/locomotive or other hard to find item.

Email: virginiamidlandshops@gmail.com
You tube videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/Virginiamidlandrr/

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Scenic ridge complete!

During my Christmas break, I was able to get my scenic ridge done.  This ridge is a divider between the good sized Virginia Midland yard and the small Virginia Central.  On my layout, the VC is in the foreground and serves a few industries and the VM is in the background and serves several industries.  The lines cross at the left of the layout and interchange on the right.  I wanted to "separate them" towards the interchange, so this is where the scenic ridge or divider comes in to play.
The ridge is pink foam pieces overlapped with plaster cloth and Sculptamold:


Looks like a snow mound!  After that had dried for a day, I painted it with a flat tan paint.  I wanted to add some rock outcroppings, so I had to make a trip to Michael's  for some plaster of Paris (their coupons for 40%-50% off) are great.   Used some of my rock molds I had and some I picked at a trip to Mainline Hobbies.  I also decided to paint the rest of my track with the airbrush.  Now this is pretty easy, but the cleaning of the rails after wards took some shift work.(very tiring).  
Here are some views from the Virginia Central side:  

After the rock molds were placed on to the layout and painted, I worked on the scenery.  Did not know how to approach this but it turned out better than expected.  




  The Virginia Midland side of the ridge would be out of view by the casual observer, but I still added scenery and rocks.