Train Begins Again!

This is my second post today, so if you haven't read the SUPER long one before this, please scroll down-- DISCLAIMER-- it's REALLY long, so you might want to go to the bathroom before scrolling down

We had a baby... that pretty much takes up all of our time these days, but Matt and I were determined to get over our fear of starting the new phase of the train table.... scenery. Knowing that we would have the long weekend, we decided to set the date-- this was the weekend we were going to resume work on the train.

Earlier, when I said we were afraid to start the scenery-- I meant it. We knew that anything we had done up until that point-- any imperfections, would be covered by the scenery. Well what if we sucked at the scenery part? It would ruin the ENTIRE set. So there you have it-- our mindset going into today.

We had already cast plaster rock faces and adhered them to the cliff face, riverside, and above the tunnels-- those were the first things to paint. We took turns "leopard spotting" the rock faces with burnt umber and yellow ochre before going back and spotting black over all the rock faces to tie everything together.


Next, we had to start laying down the Earth undercoat, which is really just a watery brown paint/stain. We had to cover EVERYTHING except the rock faces we already painted-- but we had to blend the Earth undercoat into the edges of the rock faces.





The layout is much easier to see now that we have the Earth undercoat on. Next we will do the road and start working on the foliage... but while we are watching tv these next few days, we will work on making trees!

Weston was a trooper through all of this... he stayed downstairs with us for a while before deciding he was hungry and tired. So Matt fed him and laid him down in the cradle for his afternoon nap-- he's still asleep. He had a very busy day today. This morning he stayed outside with us while we worked on the yard, he ran some grocery errands with us, and played the drums some too (video to follow). Next up, BBQ chicken and corn on the cob on the grill!

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND-- hope you all enjoy your weekend-- we sure are!