Shoofly free-moN module - 10
After slipping stripwood replacement ties under the turnout
rails, I spray-paint my track with Floquil Grimy Black. On past
layouts I would touch up around the turnout points with paint
and a Microbrush, but paint just gums things up. Now I stain
both rails and replacement ties around the turnout points with
NeoLube. Not only does it get the rails and ties dark, but it also
improves throwbar movement.
The mainline ballast is a mix of Woodland Scenics Fine Grey
and fine-sifted gravel dust. The mainline ballast goes through
right up to the “new” bridge, while the replacement shoofly
track base is pure dirt to visually reinforce the temporary
nature of the track.
While it appears a busy scene, there are only three sets of
feeder wires: Main left section, main right section, and spur.
The “main” around the bridge construction area doesn’t need
any power as the rails are isolated. Connect the feeders to the
track bus, solder on the Anderson Power Pole connectors at
each end of the sections, and you’re ready to run trains. (12)
The Signature Elements of a Scene
The availability of ready-made materials for scenery has
expanded exponentially over the last few years, especially in
the realm of static grasses and tufts. The key to encapsulate a
specific scene and location still comes down to identifying and
replicating the few signature elements of a particular place.
As I set the Shoofly in the Northern California confines of
Sonoma County, I needed to include such “Wine Country” sce-
nic elements as a vineyard, cow pasture, oak trees and the
ubiquitous yellow flowers and miner’s lettuce that blanket the
rolling hills through our rainy springtime. (13)
Ground Cover & Static Grass
After carving the pink foam into shape, I painted the whole sur-
face with a tannish latex paint I found in the “mis-tint” bin at
the local hardware store. While the paint was still wet, I sprin-
kled some baked and fine-sifted tan and brownish dirt over
the whole area, followed by various fine-ground foams. After
misting with 70% isopropyl alcohol, I used a pipette to satu-
rate everything with a 50-50 mix of white glue and water. And
while that was still wet, I used my home-made 12V static-grass
applicator to lay down a mixture of Woodland Scenics (2mm)
and Heki (4mm) grasses. Free-moN Standards call for brown-
ish ground cover at the end plates to ensure color-palette
13
13: A scene set in the Sonoma Wine Country in spring
isn’t complete without vineyards, cows, oak trees, and
rolling green hills flecked with yellow flowers. Never
having made any of those before, I chose the scene as
a challenge to my modeling skills.
MRH-Nov 2013
