What's New?
  3 Live Clinics - A 2 DVD Set | Weathering Video Now Available | Easy Backdrop Painting DVDs | Patten Mines Railroad | Waterfront Area of Layout | 30 Years Of Photos | Old Towne of Jerome | The New Old Shay | Indy's Dinosaur Digs | My New Layout Under Construction | The New Galloping Goose-Alaska Style | Rock Casting Video Now Available | Old Books and Catalogs on CD | Zack's Page | Scratchbuilding In Wood Video Now Available | About me | NEW!!  TREE MAKING CLINIC ON DVD | DCC AND MORE!!! FOUR NEW DVDs NOW IN STOCK AND READY TO SHIP | NEW!!  LOGGERS HANDBOOK ON CD | Backwoods Cabin on a River | Tips For Modeling | Our DVD Catalog | DVDs by Paul Scoles | DVDs by Dave Frary and Scott Mason  

Alaska Packers Association
At one time, this little shack served as an important part of Alaska Packers Association. Today, local fishermen use the building for minor repairs for their boats
and fishing equipment. Harsh winters and fierce summer storms have done their best to destroy this old structure. But the local fishermen have done their best to
repair the little place with whatever materials they could find laying around or were able to appropriate from other questionable sources





This little structure is built in 1/4 inch scale. The fishing shack was framed up like a real building would have been built and individual boards applied. Siding and roof materials were "weathered" in order to look old and weather-beaten. A variety of materials were used throughout contruction to give the impression of a building which had been repaired with a wide variety of materials over a long period of time.

The building won 2nd place in the "Model Structures" category at the 22nd National Narrow Gauge Convention in Warwick, Rhode Island, in September of 2002.
Canyon View Construction
The layouts I build get torn apart quickly so I wanted to build this one in segments that could be easily saved. In this photo you can see "mountains" that have been placed up against the backdrop temporarily. Their outlines are traced with a pencil and then the mountains are removed.

Using the penciled outlines for guides, the distant mountains are painted onto the backdrop in such a way as to make them seem to be receding into the distance. Following this step the foreground mountains were put back into place.

After the foreground mountains were put back into place, they were colored with thin washes of acrylic paints and prepared for grass, weeds, and trees to be put into place.

AT this stage, the mountains and backdrop are ready for the final part of construction. The final part of construction will be to add a rushing stream and a small bridge over the stream. This work will be done later this year.

By the way, the rocks laying around are there to help me get the right coloration of the scenery.