Thanks again guys. The kind words are much appreciated.
QUOTE (jhardy33 @ 7 Nov 2004, 22:21)Steve,
Unfortunately it won't be as much fun on my track as would be on yours. Incredible. I love that track. I modeled my circuit on certain parts of yours and one called the ?Reinke Ring?, not sure of the name. Anyway, do you have any photos showing the scenery going in and how you did it?
Jay
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Hi Jay! First, thanks. Second, the track you're referring to is my pal Dave Reinecke's track -- Palmer Divide Raceway. He lives up the road from me. It was his excellent track that served as a huge inspiration for my layout.
And, hey, whatever you do, don't doubt yourself. I've seen what you've done with your cars. I know you'll design a fantastic layout. If I can do it (and my track is far from perfect), you can! Just jump in and get to work!
I'll try to dig up some photos of the scenery process. One product Dave and I highly recommend is Sculptamold for building your terrain. For elevated sections, another product that works well is plaster cloth sold by Woodland Scenics. In several spots, I used that over crumpled up newspaper held down by masking tape as a base. Once the plaster cloth set, I went over it a layer of Sculptamold.
The trees, rock molds and turf were all done with Woodland Scenics products. For the rocks, after they were removed from the mold and attached to the layout, I first painted them with an earthtone latex paint, and then went over that with a black ink wash. Final highlights were done with a drybrushing technique that included white, yellow and gray accents.
You'll find that turf application is darn near an artform. It can be very tricky to get the right shades for realism. I recommend not using one type of turf too heavily. Do a mix of burnt grass, yellow grass, green blend and green grass. For my layout, I opted to not go too heavy and let some of the earthtone base show through.
One thing I love about Artin track, which I used, is the borders. The fact that the borders are so well done and so affordable, it eliminated me from having to custom make borders for my turns.
Oh, and plan out your layout in advance from a semi-real world perspective of where your pit road is going to be, emergency access roads (if any), the location of a winner's circle, where your grandstands are going to be placed and pedestrian access. This will eliminate frustration down the road.
I kind of rambled, but hopefully, this helps,
Steve
