Pictures of your village

This is a shot of my old layout. The new one will be better. Don

Wood I think your village looks very nice.

Ken M

Thanks Don and Ken.  I forgot to ask some questions. 

Do you paint your own people figures?  What paint do you use.  I ordered a bag of MTH 1:48 unpainted figures and I tried lacquer modeling paints but they didn't dry on the figures.  What paint do you use? 

How do you stand your figures.  I have used small slips of clear plastic and glued them onto the plastic then let them stand on their own.  I have also glued them directly to the road or sidewalk surface but sometimes that leaves a noticeable puddle.  

I am using 1:48 and 1:43 scale autos but I think the 1:43 is too big.  My trucks are 1:50 and I kind of like that.

My roads are spray painted Rustoleum Flat Black but they look too new.  How do you age the roads? I also use 1/8" pin striping and it looks like it was just painted.  I would love to dull things down a little.

 Wood:  Great town.  I'll be stealing your ideas!

To give perspective, these pics are an overhead view so you can see how the village fits together.

Wood; very nice.

Main St. East

Main St. West

Thanks for your comment Spence.  I have been on the lookout for one of those Dunkin Donuts stores.  I have the Dunkin Donuts truck now I just need the store.  Captain John has one and it looks awesome.  I like how you did the Benny's Store front, it looks very typical of our local brand.  Your Streets look awesome.  After all of the comments about Streets, I am resigned to not having enough room to fit that on my layout.  In some regards I don't really mind because I would rather use the room I have for running trains and trolleys.

Thank you for posting those pics.

Nice job Wood..

Keep up the good work.

My main street

Spence

well done

I use almost exclusively Arttista people. http://www.arttista.com/  They are hand painted. Click on picture to enlarge. Don

Don, That is a fabulous scene.  The wet look is super.  Good photo technique also!

Busy little town Genecm.  It's late and I want to study those photos, i'll come back to it tomorrow.  Wood

I wanted cement roads so I painted them primer gray and dirtied them up with diluted India Ink. Everything need to be weathered. Click to enlarge. Don

Very pretty town.  Nice photography. 

Lee, Of all of your structures, Dino's Lodge always catches my eye.  It is so representative of the motels my family would stop at on US Rt 17 & 1 when traveling on the east coast back in the 50's and 60's. 

If I remember right you prefer cars that are 1:43 scale.  Is that correct?  For me they appear a little large.  Is that because you convert them to Streets vehicles?

I also like the heavy population of figures.  Between populating automobiles, passenger cars, sidewalks, store fronts and other vignettes I am estimating needing 100+ figures.  People bring life to the scenes.  It is's also lots of fun.  Once I start placing figures I start chuckling because I am thinking of what these people are doing and what I might be thinking were I in their place.  I know that's a little sick, but it cool to build some relationship to the location.  You once wrote about painting your own figures.  Did you use modeling lacquer paints?

Thank you for posting.

Don - Just how did you pull off this wet look?????

We live in a world of asphalt today, but concrete was so typical of the roads in the period of 40-60's.  I like the softness of the effect vs the contrast of black asphalt with little ability to weather it.

Gene, Your elevations make your layout super.  One of the things I am working on, is to find a way to incorporate elevation onto my table. 

Still adding some more buildings before I do sidewalks, streets, etc...

Don - Just how did you pull off this wet look?????

Wood, I took a wide soft paint brush and dipped it in a bucket...are your ready for this...Water. These shots were set up for an article I did for OGR. They are all very long exposures. A minute to a minute and a half. I "painted" many of the lights like the head lights hitting the street with small moving flash lights. Lots of these shots took endless exposures tell I got it right. Kind of fun though. Don

very nice thread, all the towns look so great, and the wet look photo was worth it, it is jaw dropping realistic.

Sorry for the delay in posting photos, but just got back from the York Meet. Here you go.

One more than I have to get back to building my new layout. Don

My layouts have always been temporary Christmas Villages. Here's a few shots. 

Emile

Come on Don - Just one more!!!???  Thank you for posting.  Excellent work.  I think the people and there activity bring the whole picture to life..

One more than I have to get back to building my new layout. Don

Big Crab Cake...  Tell me how wonderful this picture is???!!!  It opens your mind to all kinds of memories and places.  I think that is what modeling is all about. Very nicely done.

JoeyA - This is my favorite photo.  Great shot and lighting.  So nice to see the second floor lighted.  Thank you.

Brian, Thank you for posting.  For those of you who may not have had the opportunity to see this layout.  It is overwhelming.  Brian has a collection of village scenes that is striking, detailed and could take a full day plus just to see each section of it. 

Last one. I have pipes going inside the engine house from a smoke unit. Click to enlarge picture. Don

Don,

As always...great pics and a great layout.  I was lucky enough to see it in person.  I am looking forward to seeing your new one in a couple of weeks.  It is inspiring me to work on my layout.  Any of your layouts always look better with a cab or chardonnay!

Matt

Just remember Matt, walking into a room where hundreds of pounds of plaster mountains were and are being made is NO pretty site. Don

Thank you for your contributions Don. Inspiring work.  Smoke, signalman, workers on ladders, debris on the table, and lots of lights on a darkened night.  It is certainly all in the details.  Good luck with the hundreds of pounds of plaster....

Around town

Click on ALL to see all 263 photos in this album ...

Go here - https://steves3roscale.shutterfly.com/pictures/4463

JackieJr, Stunning brick pavement, now that's 1930. 

Does that greyhound, taking a leak, wait outside the MD's office for some fresh Bones?

Nice work....