I see Sculptamold on "th'm thar hills"

Yep - the last two nights have involved splattering scultpamold on the layout. What was pink, is by-in-large no longer pink as this photo attests.

There are a few patches of pink styrofoam left, notably around the joint for the removable hill top over the tunnel, and along the edges of the layout. The edges will get a coat of paint soon, and the tunnel will need a little more work later tonight.

I laid down two batches of sculptamold, one colored brown for the flatter, dirt areas of the layout an another tinted gray for the rockier spots. Some of the brown areas have even had a little dry brushing, which has produced a pleasant color variation. The rocky areas have some initial rocks cut into them, but more needs to be done as the sculptamold sets up a little more.

In addition, as I mentioned before, the last of the buildings got a primer coat, so here is the castle, sort of in place.

Its stonework is quite a bit lighter than that of the surrounding rock, but hopefully a little painting to both the rocks and the castle will improve things.

More important will be the fascia to frame the layout. I cut those six pieces over the weekend, and they have a coat of black paint. I like the effect of black fascia to frame the layout. Right now, the front pieces have not been trimmed to match the terrain, and the rear pieces that will ultimately support the backdrop need a little bit of adjustment, but I am waiting for them to dry first.

I did a couple of other things to move the layout forward as well. I got a deal on bump chenille. I ended up with enough for 3840 small pine trees for about $28. As a test, I prepped 8 that will probably find homes on the layout. They need a little final trimming, but I think that they will look good. Each one represents about a 60' tree, with a diameter of 24'. Small trees in T will be a challenge.

I'm also looking at some skewered furnace filter trees, and have prepped 1300 skewers by staining the trunks brown. They still need some grey dry brushing, and then I have a box of furnace filter squares. Right now I have skewers that are about 2.5", 4" and 8" in the mix. Many of these will be for my home layout in N and not this layout, but I will probably make a few smaller ones for the T layout.

So for those that are counting, I now have 5140+ trees in progress for the current and future layout. Definite progress. And I am glad that I have almost finished the scultamold, as I will soon have to go back to clean up the water where the sculptamold got a little wild. 

Per Shapeways, the concrete viaduct is printed and in packing. The other items have yet to go into printing though. I'm eager to see the bridges in my hands and installed on the layout. I've also made a bit of progress on the pedestrian overpass of the road. Soon, it will be time to worry about the harbor, and the station platform. But in the meantime, I am also eagerly awaiting delivery of scenic cement - which still has not arrived even though I ordered it more than 3 weeks ago.