Great!

I prefer the Paper Shaper method

Gets rid of the plastic wrap underneath and allows you to work directly with the object being covered along with a heavier tarp surface, allowing more control.

Thanks for the link, Chuck P!

Thanks for the link, Chuck P!

Great Episode Ken

Liked this episode of 'What's Neat' - had a good balance of Interviews & How to do it.  

Some great ideas there and will look at that 3d printing based manufacturer.

Not a new idea however

How to make tarpaulins for your model railway wagons
Published on Oct 28, 2015 by Bruce Randell

Very few ideas are totally new ...

Very few modeling ideas are totally new -- someone somewhere has usually done it before.

Like King Solomon said ...

Wiggins/Selleck Modular Layout

Thanks for giving a shout out to the N Scale layout on display at the Spring Creek show. It was well executed and truly impressive. I was lucky to meet Mr. Wiggin, who was generous in his time describing the features of the layout.

The show was a fun event on a seriously hot Nebraska day.

Bob

Omaha

I'll second this method...

This is a great method for creating modern open loads/ I've been doing it this was for about 20 years now, building "heavy machinery" from bits of Plastrict, Evergreen, beads, toys, anything that will give me an "interesting" shape under the tarp... though I've done a few refinements...

I often add scale wood under the object before adding the tarp, and wrap fly-tying thread around the "lumber", over the load, then to the next piece and back over the top, repeating down the side...   I add the tarp as described then, but skipping the plastic wrap because I DO work over a bench, not a flat car. I also avoid tissues with lotion, or "textured" tissues, unless it's just a plain small grid pattern of some kind. I make sure any thread also gets well soaked in the matte medium. When it's all dry, I trim the tarp as well as the thread between the boards, leaving me with a "secured" load. If there's anything else to tying it down, I do that with heavier thread or wire cable into the stake pockets or  tie downs. 

This works well for loads for Flatrack containers, too!