As I've said before, I've downloaded hundreds of photos of George Sellios's Franklin & South Manchester layout to study for inspiration. I'm not one to follow him slavishly, but over the years, I've found tricks and tips from his work that I'm not sure everyone notices. In part, that's because his work has changed over the years.
For instnace, these days, he's more likely to download images from the web and incorporate them into his buildings. He also uses commercial building flats where he can, always dressed up in various ways. I started out with this project a year or so ago, inspired by him but with my own twist. It was meant to fill an otherwise empty corner spot:
I built the triangular mandrel from foamcore and sized it to fit the ghost sign image I'd found on the web. Ghost sign sites are great sources of details and ideas. Over time, I realized that Sellios adds two things, vents and climbing plants, to otherwise flat surfaces. I found some vents at the
Rusty Rail site. I used them in combination with Blair Line fan vents, and then I added sme climbing vines on the corner:
Not all of his buildings are to the same stanard. Some are just blah plastic kits that he's just added things like roof entries, rooftop billboards, and old signs to. He sprinkles figures, vehicles, and junk piles around them to distract the eye. I don't want to make my layout an F&SM wannabe, but I like the effect yuu can get following some of his ideas.
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