Cypress Swamp

closer to the swamp

the previous photo above shows the approach to the swamp up the bayou from the lake in the foreground....here we are at the swamp
 

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End of the swamp

In this unfinished view.....the swamp ends and the lake starts off in the backbround. The track will be elevated by masony bridge piers as it passes above the lake....so with all that water I plan on haveing on this portion of the layout....I guess I need to learn how to do water....
 

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another swamp view

this view at the lake, shows the mouth of the coffee colored bayou that leads back to the swamp
 

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Swamps, Bayous and Lakes

The prototype of for this watery scene is more indigenous to those swamps and bayous north of New Orleans, across the lake, minus any of the rock formations that I have included in my layout....we don't have any such thing in southeast Louisiana, but....I like casting rock formations and painting them.. :D
 

Bryant01

New Member
my, you have a long handle, Bywater! I haven't tried water yet but I am very interested in how you made those fabulous cyprus trees. Attached is me on my favorite locomotive crossing the Atchafalaya. ( in HO guage, of course).

Bryant
 

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60103

Pooh Bah
There are umpteen techniques for making water. Check through the scenery and tips&techniques forums. Most of them end up as "layers of varnish" or "pour in liquid clear plastic". You look like you've already done the river bottoms.
 

Ralph

Remember...it's for fun!
Wow! You've got a good eye for scenary. Your trestle and the trees fit in very well in these scenes. The color of your river is very convincing. I use acrylic gloss matt medium for water. You'll find it at craft stores and art supply shops. It gets a nice sheen but it does take several layers. Others use envirotex (sp?) which yields excellent results. I believe you could pour it right into your stream. Double check everywhere for any leaks because the stuff will flow thrugh a pin hole onto your floor. Other folks like the plastic pellets from Woodland Scenes (I believe that's the company) that you melt and pour. I'm sure there are other suggestions....
Ralph
 
Water and Trees

I looked into using the acrylic gloss finish medium for water. A good sized jar of it was less than $3 bucks at the art store and it paints on real easy and allows lots of control. I think I must have put on 4 or 5 coats of the stuff by now and I am very pleased with the results. It has just enough shine to it to cast reflections without the glare that gives a phoney look. My next task will be to try to suggest spanish moss using balled up gray thread, cut and pulled and place in the cypress trees.

By the way, the cypress trees were made with Sculpy modeling clay, rolled between my hands into long rods that tappered at one, and then I formed the flared root base at the other, then baked them till firm. After they cooled, I took two lenghts of green florist wire and twisted them around the trunks, at top and mid way up forming a wire support to hold the green branch material. Leave them extra long, so you can zig zag them and have good support for the branch material, and cut to size. This made 4 supports per tree. Glue the wire in place, paint the trunks with three tones of grays, dark-mid-light, highlight with some white/moss green and glue the branch material in place. These things realy mock up fast.

Just to try it out, I did an test of using a lenght of stranded #10 copper wire to make a tree trunk base. I used about a 4" lenght and twisted out the top half to form main branches and left the bottom half toghther as the trunk, then I dipped the whole thing in plaster of paris, set it to dry, painted the thing shades of gray, glued on some green clump foam and it sure looked like an oak tree...got to make a few more of those.

Gonna play around with some a/c filters to see what I can mock up with that, I have seen some articles in books about using foam with that to make bushes and trees.

Nick Weber
Bywter Railroad
New Orleans
 
F

Fred_M

Another thought on Spanish moss, go to the beauty shop and find some tightly curled hair? Fred
 

Bryant01

New Member
I printed out your procedure for the trees and happened unto the Sculpy Mold today at Walmart. Looks like you are on to a good method and your pics really do look like the prototype. You might try planting some of those WS weeds along the edges and you will be even closer.

thanks for the info. I will give it a try.:)
Bryant
 

SAL Comet

Member
Bywaterrailroad said:
The prototype of for this watery scene is more indigenous to those swamps and bayous north of New Orleans, across the lake, minus any of the rock formations that I have included in my layout....we don't have any such thing in southeast Louisiana, but....I like casting rock formations and painting them.. :D
Ha Bywater, never let reality spoil a goodtime- you got a nice layout goin' there.

You guys should take a look at bywaters web site-http://bywaterrailroad.tripod.com/index.html
 
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