Click on any small photo for a larger version. Use your web browsers back button to return here.
I'm calling the first half of the railroad "finished enough" to move on to the second half. Scenery details are filled in between the trestle bridge and the water tank. A dense area of trees have been planted above the natural bridge - these are some of the tallest on the RR at about 13" high. That scales out to about 94 feet - not terribly tall, but enough to look about right.
I bought some 3D-printed resin animals from a manufacturer in Ontario - https://miniprints.ca/
These are some beautifully designed models, mostly of figures unavailable elsewhere. The downside is, they have to be painted! But I surprised myself with these, I think they came out pretty good. Here's how they come, printed in a pale blue resin. I've got some of them glued with a removable glue to popsicle sticks, then the sticks are taped to a box, ready to spray with primer.
Here is a turkey vulture in process. First, you can see the khaki colored primer on most of the body, and I've added red and white. The second shot shows the body color completed - I apply various browns and blacks, leaving some of the khaki exposed, and when dry, go over it all with a translucent reddish-brown. The final step is adding black around the neck and tailfeathers, and the eyeballs (with a dental pick!). Here are a finished pair perched on top of the truss bridge, looking for lunch.
Here are the rest of the creatures added: a pack of 3 coyotes; a fox; an eagle (landing in nest); a coiled rattlesnake; a pair of jackrabbits; a male and female pair of elk; a trio of mountain goats; a deer skull. I look forward to when you all can come over in person, and try to find all of these!
