Playing with Helicon Focus

I should work on the layout instead of playing with my camera, however here is what I got for today. It's another Helicon Focus great depth-of-field picture. The following photo is made of roughly 20 image files, each with a different focal point which Helicon Focus software combined together.

For comparison, here is the same shot only done with autofocus - again you can see how both the foreground and background details are out of focus, like the Tunnel Motor nose and the tunnel portal.

Tunnel Motor (Intermountain SD40T-2)

A manifest train from Los Angeles is seen climbing the grade along the Pacific Coast.

Helicon Focus and depth-of-field

Today I tried out the famous Helicon Focus software. It's a great tool that takes several images with different focal points and combine them in a single image with a great depth of field.
It's a very helpful tool in model railroad photos, since we can't have enough depth of field when taking close up photos, even with good cameras. Here is my first attempt with the software:

And this is just one of the several images given to Helicon Focus; notice how the background and foreground details are out of focus, compared to the processed image above - this image has the leading engine nose as a focal point.

Helicon Focus is a bit pricey, but it's very easy to use.

Telephone poles

A north american railroad doesn't truly looks like it, if it doesn't have telephone poles along the mainline. After trying scratchbuilding the poles, I opted for a quicker yet good looking solution: Atlas N scale poles.
My friend Enzo Fortuna gave me a set of poles he ordered in USA some time ago - thanks Enzo! Here is how I painted and installed them on my layout.

First I placed all the poles on a scrap piece of foam board and put it in my paint booth.

Next I scratched the pole mast with a file to make it look more like wood.

Then I airbrushed the poles with a wash of diluted Floquil Grimy Black to dull the plastic shine and give the poles a base paint.

Then I used some acrylics paints and brushed a wash of grey over the poles.

Here is a close up of a pole, with insulators painted green.

And finally, here is how they look on the layout

Ballast and track weathering

Ballasting
For ballast I used Woodland Scenics Fine Gray straight. I used the classic, well known method for ballasting:

Lay the ballast dry;

Soak the ballast with straight denaturated alcohol (isopropyl works as well);

Soak the ballast with diluted white glue (50% white glue, 40% water, 10% denaturated alcohol);

I found out that using hot water really helps in diluting the white glue.  I use a syringe to soak the ballast with liquid, slightly pressing the needle against the rail side to avoid messing up the ballast.


Weathering
I think one of the most important elements of scenery is track. Properly ballasted track is not enough for a convincing scene. Track needs to be weathered. I airbrushed all the tracks with Floquil Railroad Tie Brown before ballasting. After ballasting, I weathered the ties and ballast between the rail using a mix of 50-50 black powdered pigments and plaster of Paris, using a wide enough brush to spread the mix along the main line.

Click for a link to a video howto I did to show track ballasting.

These techniques are also demonstrated in video by Joe Fugate and are downloadable for few bucks at Model Trains Video website.

Please note that I'm not affiliated with Model Trains Video in any way, I just have the whole DVD catalog and found Joe's tips and trick very helpful.

Some scenery

Yes, I finally got myself a new camera! I hope this one will last more than 1 year :-)

Here are several shots of my scenery work - far from being complete since I need to add more green bushes, but I think it is already nice.
This scene is the first a visitor sees when he/she enters the train room, so I wanted it to be scenicked before the rest of the layout.

I used a static grass applicator by Noch, to cover the terrain with yellow grass. Then the green bushes are a variety of Heki, Noch and Woodland Scenics products.

Setting the time

While I haven't yet decided what new camera I'll get myself, I had some time to read old issues of Railroad Model Craftman, kindly provided by my friend Enzo Fortuna ans think about my layout.

One RMC issue have an excellent article by Jack Burgess on setting the time on a layout, also with the aid of subtle details like cars, people, billboards... not only by rolling stock! Jack models August of 1939 on his masterpiece layout of the Yosemite Valley RR.

This led me to set a specific time on my layout. I have chosen the summer of 1974 - actually one of the reasons is because 1974 is my wife's birth year :-)

Onto the modeling/historic reasons now:

• 1974 allows me to run both SD45T-2 and SD40T-2 Tunnel Motors engines.
  
• Trains still had their romantic symbols, like "Los Angeles Manifest", "Coast Merchandise West", "Santa Maria Vegetable", and so on; instead of those awfully unpronounceable LABAF, LABRT or SFWCY things.
• in 1974 Richard Nixon resigned from the office of the presidency to avoid impeachment, a unique moment in American history so far.
• Earth's population reached 4 billion.