I’ve been excited to start the actual scenery on my layout
since I began this project over 2 years ago, and finally, the time has arrived.
Building my layout thus far has been mostly a step-by-step process, starting
with benchwork, then track, electrical, plaster terrain, etc. This one step at
a time progression always meant that I knew exactly what I needed to work on,
and what my next steps were in the construction of my model railroad. However,
once I finished my hard-shell terrain a couple months ago, I realized that I
now had several options as for what project I wanted to tackle next. It was now
time for the scenery stage. I soon though realized that the ‘scenery stage’ was
quite a broad term and entailed pretty much the rest of the construction on my
layout. I needed to break down this scenery step into more manageable stages,
so I decided to fully complete one section of the layout at a time. With that
plan in place, what a better section to start on then the main feature of my
layout, the mountain.
I’ll first start by saying that I don’t really have any
evolution photos of the scenery on the mountain but only before and after
shots. This is because I did a lot of experimenting with different ground cover
and techniques, and before I knew it, my scenery was pretty much complete
before I even considered taking photos. So instead, I will describe the
materials used. The terrain and rock croppings were already previously painted
(see my “Painting the Terrain” post), so I didn’t have to worry about this
step.
I started by
liberally applying thinned white glue with a paint brush directly onto the
painted terrain, spreading it over about 6” by 6” sections at a time. I then
sprinkled Woodland Scenics earth-blend blended turf over the wet glue. The
earth-blend turf seemed to really compliment the tan colour paint I had used on
all of the hard-shell terrain. I used the same firm’s green-blend turf to then
highlight certain areas, such as more level areas where green grass would be
more prevalent. I had a rather large gap between the bottom edge of my backdrop
and the mountain terrain, so I filled this space using light green lichen, also
from Woodland Scenics. Everything was then sealed in with a light spray of
thinned white glue.
Trees were the next step, which I had previously completed
putting together (see my previous post). I started with smaller trees in the
background, placing them quite densely so they would blend into my backdrop. As
I moved forward, I used increasingly taller trees which seemed to add a bit
more depth to the forest. I also found that placing tall and short trees
side-by-side made the terrain look steeper than it actually was. I didn’t use
the supplied bases that came with the trees armatures; instead I drilled small
holes directly into the plaster terrain so I could attach the trees using the
small insert pins at the bottom of each tree. Any plaster dust that came up
from drilling was carefully blown away with a can of compressed air.
Bushes, coarse turf, underbrush, lichen, and other various
types and colours of ground foam were added next, mostly all from Woodland
Scenics. This step took a lot of trial and error and paying around with
different materials to achieve the look I wanted. However, nature is quite
random and has a lot of variety when it comes to colours and plant life, so
applying the different scenic materials in a haphazard manner only adds to the
realism of the forest scene. I chose mostly Woodland Scenics material because
the different ground foams and colours can be easily combined in any way and
still look natural, which is a great, fool-proof method for first-timers!
To finish the scene, I added natural talus rock that I found
in the coulees near my home. I added small tuffs of Woodland Scenics field
grass in random areas, and added any additional details in spots that I may
have missed. For deadfall, I used small wood pieces that I carefully picked out
of a bag of old potting soil, as well as real deadfall I found in nature.
I’m quite happy with the final results, and will continue
this process across the rest of my background mountainous scene over the next
month. It makes sense to finish the background scene first, as I wouldn’t want
to be reaching over a completed foreground scene to work on it.
what method/technique did you use to create that even paint without it beingg messy?
ReplyDeleteI used the "leopard-spot" technique. You can see how exactly how I painted them on my Painting the Terrain post, http://tysmodelrailroad.blogspot.ca/2012/03/painting-terrain.html
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Ty
Hi, excellent work!!!
ReplyDeleteHow did you achieve this light "mustard" color of the fine turf? Only mixing the 2 blended turfs?
I tried with burnt grass, but I'm not satisfied with my results.
Thank you,
Robert
Hello Robert, sorry about the late reply. I used more of a layering technique then a mixing technique. I first applied the blended turf layer, then added the green blend on top of it (very sparingly). I found that having a uniform, equal mixture of turf provided unwanted results. Random is definitely a friendly term here!
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