Thanks Mike

A few years back I read an article on your railroad. Your railroad has served as an inspiration to push myself to create more realistic scenery on my own layout. Thank you for doing all you have done to push the envelope on realistic scenery and serving as an inspiration.

Great Stuff.

Peter G

Wow

Wow!  Mike you do it good,you do it right. And your Wife has a good eye.

Dave A

Kolorsacape source?

Anyone have a KolorScape source?  I went to both HD & Lowes without success.  I've tried on line but only come up with fish tank folks looking for some.  A SKU# or a picture of the packaging might be helpful.

I also asked about other brands but it is only the regular rounded play ground style that has just been classified to specific size not the nice course type pictured in the article

Steve

Kolorscape

Steve,

The only place I've ever seen the Kolorscape Step 2 "Leveling Sand" is at ACE Hardware. We have a large ACE here in town and they always carry both step 1 and step 2. It's a few bucks for a bag.

If you do come across it, you will need to dry it out. I usually empty the bag onto a tarp and lay it out to dry on a sunny day. You could also bake the material.

I hope you can locate it because it is just incredibly good material for modeling ballast and other crushed stone/aggregates.

I hope you found the article useful.

Mike Confalone

Thank you Peter

Thanks for the feedback Peter. As the Allagash grows, I'll keep the material coming!

Mike Confalone

Thanks Mike

Thanks Mike for the reply and info.  Unfortunately my 3 closest Ace's do not carry and the warehouse can't order it for some reason for a couple of weeks at best.  At least I have a trail to follow.  Thanks again

Steve

Great looking trees Mike

Hi Mike:

Have really enjoyed the first two installments of your quarry build --- beautifully done.

Quick question --- when you flock the trees using the Grassmaster, do you attach the ground wire to the bottom of the tree trunk? Probably a stupid question .....  Regardless, the end result is fabulous!! This is definitely something I want to try for myself.

Don Tanner

Pine Trees using the Grasmaster

Hi Don.

I attach the ground clip to a nail in the benchwork, or the rail or a screw. Whatever, it doesn't really matter.

Glad you are enjoying the article. The DVD will show all of these techniques.

Thanks!

Mike Confalone

Kolorscape

Hi Steve,

Do you have a product number or something for the Kolorscape? I'm in the same boat as you not being able to find it here in Arizona.

In the past I used a medium gray ballast for the mainline and a cinder for the sidings and secondary tracks. It never seemed quite right and blending the transition was never quite right in my opinion either. It would be nice to have that much material for such a low cost and just use Mike's method.

Wife bought me both volume 1 & 2 of his videos. The guy is an artist.

Glad to hear

Glad to hear you're finding these videos helpful.

The *definitive Allagash layout article* is the cover story in January - watch for it!

Sorry, no numbers

"Do you have a product number or something for the Kolorscape?"

I was just going off what the one of the guys told me after looking for a while. I will tell you I had better customer service from those Ace stores that are straight Ace stores and less form those that were a local hardware store that added Ace to their existing store.  Still not in as of last check.  I'm thinking that this is not a west coast product  so much. 

I have been looking for a a Plan A for ballast and thought this might be it.  Plan B is I have an abandoned ROW near by and was thinking about crushing my own.

Steve

Ballast? Then get vol 2

If you're looking for a good, inexpensive source for ballast, then you need to get Allagash vol 2. Mike covers how he gets ballast and it's darn clever, including tips on how to color it to be any color you need.

I swear if you are able to use even half the cost-saving tips Mike puts in vol 2, you will pay back the cost of the 1+2 vol set many times over.

I've been in the hobby for 45 years and I walked away from vol's 1 and 2 with so many tips I ran out of fingers on which to count them all.

Allagash Vol's 1 + 2 DVD media special ...

Allagash Vol's 1 + 2 Downloadable special ...

Allagash Videos

Hi Joe,

Mike's videos are fantastic!!! I'm also looking forward to buying the Siskiyou Vol 1 - 5 set here in the next week or so too, your work is fantastic as well.

There was some talk of Mike doing a locomotive and car weathering video, any truth to that rumor?

Thanks,

Ben

Grass Application

Just wondering where you placed your ground wire when flocking your trees and your hill in the foreground of your gravel pitt? It did not show in your video. By the way I enjoyed the video.

Thanks,

Alan

Ground Wire for Grasmaster

Alan,

I usually hook the clip for the ground wire onto one of the rails or a nail or screw if one is available. I don't think it matters much.

Glad you enjoyed the video.

Mike Confalone

Leveling Sand

Home Depot has step 1 and step 2 leveling sand by Pavestone, widely in stock.

Peter Burr