Bad Bayou N Scale Halloween Diorama Revisited 2018 | Part 4 / Final
In Part 3 of the Bad Bayou 2018 series, we had all our LEDs installed and I vowed not to add any more, so naturally I had to add some more. Just one more flashing welding effect set and a few individual flickering LEDs for a campfire… and one more LED spotlight from our metal straw… but that’s all!
At this point we just needed to add our trees and ground covering. I used a mix of real tree roots and branches for our trees. I actually had to stop myself from adding more trees as it’s surprisingly easy to get carried away once you get on a roll. Also I found myself stopping frequently and standing back in a darkened room to get a better feel for how my bayou was progressing.
Unlike a regular layout, even a small desktop layout, this is a different beast as it’s really meant to be viewed with its LEDs lit, not just natural room light. I originally planned on using more varied colors of moss and ground cover but found with the LEDs lit, too many different scenery colors actually made the scene look less cohesive. That was kind of a surprise.
The big feature of this shadowbox of course is the Micro-Trains graffiti car so I wanted to make sure there was a clear line of sight to it, no trees blocking the view. I used a few small branch bits to simulate rotted tree trunks to hide the LEDs that light the car up.
I had planned on having some murky bodies of water; it is a bayou after all. I was going to go to my usual water effect of EnviroTex Lite resin but as these were such small little bits of water, I just mixed up a bit of regular old Loctite 2-part epoxy. I was more interested in getting a shiny surface and less worried about trapped air bubbles… something that usually occurs with epoxy.
I applied a little bit of heat using a hot air gun to the just poured epoxy for a weird looking / streaky / cracked / bubbly effect. Actually there are a few fully formed air bubbles in the surface which sort of gives it a toxic look! Most important is that it gives some nice reflections from the metal straw lights.
Overall I think we’ve got a nice little Halloween display that will be fun to bring out once a year and add some color to a room. Now where did I put that bag of candy corn from last year?
I’d really like to thank Micro-Trains for producing this amazing graffiti car. It’s funny how one car can spark your imagination and be the seed for an entire project. I’d also like to thank the folks over at Evans Designs for making such fun LED effects packages. Their lights have really helped to bring this project to life!
Category: Raildig Build Projects
