Cameo Components

Synergy!  This post is about gathering together a few ideas that seem to have converged into my mind all at once.  Pull the thread with me:

http://ghosttownmodels.blogspot.com/2020/05/a-small-block-of-buildings.html

Friendly acquaintance and fellow blogger Darryl Huffman's post really unlocked something in my head that allowed divergent streams to come together.  Recently Darryl has been making these little gems; tiny little scenes on a space the size of a business card.  In the post linked above he combined them into a scene along with a section of road between them.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/MountainGoatModels?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=819061195

I've known Greg Baker, aka Mountain Goat Greg, since the early days of the Big Blue train forum, back when it was 'The Gauge', I think.  Greg has an Etsy store in which he sells itty bitty HO scale dioramas that fit in a 2" display cube.  Recently I was searching Etsy for a related item when I rediscovered Greg's modeling.

The video above is interesting on its own as a static grass tutorial, but for me it has taken on a value beyond simple instruction.  Having just built my own static grass applicator (StaticGrassOne) I revisited Martin's excellent video.  Can you guess what stuck with me about his method?  I'll tell you - he made little test squares for varying textures.

Is it clicking yet?

Google defines cameo as:

1. a piece of jewelry, typically oval in shape, consisting of a portrait in profile carved in relief on a background of a different color.
2. a short descriptive literary sketch which neatly encapsulates someone or something.

   "cameos of street life"

I'm going to create cameo components - little dioramas that can be placed adjacent to one another to form a larger scene.  These cameos can stand on their own as expressions of ideas, or as combined they can tell a story.  Functionally they will serve as test beds for scenic techniques, but also places to display models that may not have a place on the current Pine Branch Park railroad. 

Take for example this tower I scratchbuilt a few years back:

A bit of ply, a layer of foam, and rudimentary scenery, yet it is a complete statement about the structure and its location within the bounds of the diorama.  The sidewalk implies it is next to a road, and knowing it is a grade crossing tower implies it is next to railroad track(s).  The sidewalk may also imply an urban or suburban environment, but that context could be changed based on the adjacent cameo components.  (By the way, the static grass on this diorama is from a sheet of premade grass texture, cut to fit).

A few decisions will have to be made regarding the thickness of the base and general dimensions in order to ensure compatibility.  However, once that is set I anticipate this could be the start of something really exciting and fun.  More about the first foray into this format in future posts.

SG1

Nope, not a Stargate post, but the reference isn't entirely accidental.  I am a Stargate SG-1 fan and to a lesser degree I enjoyed the Atlantis spinoff, though I really wish they'd have done more with the SGU series, but I digress.

Rather, the title of this post has more to do with what happened in the Mojave desert on June 21, 2004.  I was there when Mike Melvill earned his astronaut wings flying Scaled Composites' 'SpaceShipOne' into the edge of space and back.  The coolest part by far was when, after the ship had landed, they hooked it to a pickup truck and drove it down the tarmac so the crowd could get a closer look.

When it came to choosing a name for my static grass applicator, I kicked around a few from Grassinator (say it like Heinz  Doofenshmirtz) to Grass Blaster, but ultimately I just settled on SG1, short for Static Grass One.  Of course the name is far less important than the function of the tool, and this one - so far - works great.

I bought the components to build the thing NINE years ago, so perhaps I should've named it ADT or 'About Dadgum Time'.  Ha. 

It runs on 12 volts provided by an old power supply.  I won't say never throw anything away, but this time it helped to keep a bag of old power supplies.

For the first test flight I decided to see which of these two adhesives performed better.  I'd have to say the Alene's Tacky did the best in terms of overall coverage, while the Sobo tended to be patchier.  That patchiness could be an advantage in the right setting. 

I have much more experimentation to do before I use this on the Pine Branch Park pike, so I am planning at least one diorama to practice techniques for this tool as well as road building, track weathering and tree making.  Look for those in upcoming posts.