More work on the shelf layout produced some promising results. The river bed bed is made from finely crushed brown rock, covering a layer of glue. The rocks will be built up in layers on the sides of the river. Once sealed & the riverbed painted, a clear resin will be poured on to make the water. You can't see it, but the first water has been poured on the waterfall (right side, forward of the bridge). Once finished if it works out well I will post pics.
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The horse shoe bridge end finally has an initial coat of sky blue.
Once all coats of blue have been applied I intend on air brushing clouds & hills in the back ground once I finish watching tutorials on youtube!
The mountains do look good, however nothing quite beats the blue background if its done right. And the pictures are starting to fade quite badly to the point it looks more rude than anything else.
I purchased 2 N Scale Cast Tunnel Portals from the model shop at around $14 for 2. After a paint & weather they look & fit really well.
On a happier note, after having the BA get cancelled twice & the DXR get cancelled once already all the problems with the shell's have been corrected & new test version's ordered.
It doesn't matter how good at drawing one thinks they are, unexpected problems always crop up. Rather than rush ahead with multiple variations, it pays to make sure the initial design gets printed! Otherwise if you have 10 variations of one design that has a flaw, you will find yourself having to fix 10 separate variations....
