Coal Diorama | Final
In this article we come to the end of the Coal Diorama build, it’s been a fun build and just a little challenging, fitting in enough track and scenery to keep things interesting in this compact size.
On the coal tipple I was going to go with tar paper for the roof but I wanted something that would add to the scene without being too obvious. I went with our basic black wood roof with very fine ground (almost powder) ballast and once dry, I sanded the ballast down for a worn look. For our roof, a couple of masked off areas sprayed black to simulate some roof patches then a bit of weathering powder, and then one final sanding to blend it all together.
Static grass was added to lots of small areas, not a large continuous area of grass, but interesting little patches here and there. The track was treated with weathering powders mixed with alcohol to soak into the soil. A few random piles of coal are always a good touch!
Speaking of coal, on the rear of the diorama we had the angled coal chute and I thought it would be fun to have some coal spilling down the hillside. In a small scene, I’m always looking for visuals that suggest some type of scenic movement. I think our coal spill achieves this.
The conifers trees are from John McCarthy, some of them with John’s trunks attached, always good for those close up shots. Final touches include some ground-up twigs and leaves to act as ground debris and weathering powders applied to give this scene a little extra depth. Finally, several more black alcohol washes were applied to the structure, and the edges of the scene were filled in with soil to meet the edges of the wood base.
It’s been a fun build and I hope you’ve enjoyed it too! Now this diorama is off to Denver to be given away at the 2012 National Z Scale Convention dinner banquet. Thanks for following this build project with us here at Ztrains! Thank also goes to Micro-Trains Line for not only this kit, but for the work they do for the National Z Scale Convention.
Category: Ztrains Build Corner
