Monthly Archives: July 2016

Scale Kudzu

Plants and Trees

Well, I think I’ve found at least one plant that I won’t be planting on my layout again: wirevine.


This stuff is amazingly tenacious and ridiculously invasive. I planted a single 3″ pot of it last fall, and it’s gone crazy. Not only did it cover the cleared area where I planted it, it jumped (over and under) a paver, climbed two dwarf Alberta spruce, became intertwined with two other ground covers, and keeps trying to cross the right of way despite regular applications of Roundup. And places where I’ve pulled it up, apparently roots and all, it’s come back. All in about 8 months.

But if there’s someone else out there who needs to model Kudzu, this is your stuff.

Building Repairs / Refreshes

General Backyard Stuff

So, in the Kansas climate (summers in the 100s, winters in the 10s) buildings really take a beating. It’s now time for me to bring some in (into the air conditioned house) and work on ones that have deteriorated.

My oldest building is this Piko station. I enjoyed building it–it’s one of the few “new” kits I bought, but it’s definitely in need of some work. The base is a piece of Sintra laminated to a piece of acrylic, which seemed like a good idea at the time but has started to separate. Also, the “street” lights need work and the interior needs to be cleaned out.

First I’ll tackle the lighting: the LEDs in it are cool white. And after three years they’ve started to dim. Which means that it’s time to trade them out for new, warm white ones. That includes the interior lights, the light that highlights the passenger and station employee, and the two exterior post lights.