Natural materials for scenery

[Dr. John]

When Dave Vergun posted some shots of weeds he harvested for trees, I began to think of different natural materials that we can use for scenery. Dirt and rocks are still free and can be used (just be sure to heat up the dirt in an oven to kill and critters or bacteria.) Lichen is still a viable material for trees and foliage - it is common down here in the south, sometimes known as deer moss. I recall an article in MR many years ago where a fellow used pine bark for stratified rock - looked very good! Neil Young used a lot of natural materials on his O guage layout. I use a lot of twigs and roots to model dead trees or as a basis for a scratch built tree. For you woodworkers, sawdust makes a nice ground cover after you dye it green.

Any of you guys gone natural?

[FJ and G]

Iron weed makes great trees. You may need a book on weeds to ID some of these. i could go on for a long time about this but I'll keep it short with a couple other examples.

I use burdock for barrel cacti. It's a bit painful to harvest.

I also collect cans of air near railroad tracks and release the air over the layout to provide that extra ambiance.

[Dave Farquhar]

When a scratchbuilt a couple of log cars, I cut up sticks from my yard for lumber loads.

It seems to me that $6 worth of material yielded enough to build three or four cars, minus the trucks. I just needed a 1/4-inch square stick of basswood, a spool of thick bead wire from a craft store (I also could have used thick staples or paper-clip wire, come to think of it), a brass chain (intended for making cheap jewelry) from the same craft store, extra loops and clasps from the same store, some glue, some paint, and a couple of suitable-sized sticks from the yard.

If you have a bunch of trucks doing nothing (say, fixed-coupler trucks on low-end cars that you've upgraded, or pre-1953 Scout trucks you've upgraded), you can use them to make a log train on the cheap.

[FJ and G]

Dave,

I collected sticks for my abandoned trestle i'll be making. Just need to strip off the bark with a file or something; you know, that thin bark layer; then stain it to resemble creosote and distress for wood texture

[Anonymous]

All of my pics you see, everythign is taken from the backyard..

[Anonymous]

[underworld]

I've been using real landscape stuff since I was little. I think my first venture was when I was three with my first train set, the Marx Big rail. One of the cars in this set is a log car....I had a lot of fun operating this car. When I was in the back yard I started finding sticks that were about the right size. I took some in and thought that those looked a lot cooler........Mom didn't like it though....but she did agree that they looked better. [:)]

underworld

[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

[Roger Bielen]

I've used Lichen I collected in the yard. If you use lichen it's a good idea to process it to preserve it or it dries out and crumbles. The method I used was to boil the lichen in a glycerin & water solution, don't recall the mix off hand but can look it up if anyone's interested. You can also dye the lichen at this point by adding Ritt, or other, fabric dye to the solution.

Also used the "flowers" from pampas grass for poplar trees. You can leave them natural and spray them with cheap hair spray or other laquer, or with paint and sprinkle on a bit of grass. I also tried sage brush, it looked good but on the way home was crushed under the hunting gear to the point I couldn't salvage it.

Anything that looks like it could be realistic at 1:48 is fair game.

[FJ and G]

nice, Chris

Seledium (sp?) plants are pretty cool, as is baby breath and a host of other plants. I've even made a pine tree out of a piece of garden grass that was in seed and some green sawdust glued on. If you saw it you'd be amazed but I didn't keep it.

Rocks are pretty nice but need sturdy benchwork

[Anonymous]

I've gotten a ton of mileage from used coffee grounds on my layout. When the coffee maker is done brewing, take the grounds out of the filter, put it on a plate, microwave it for a few minutes to dry it, and you're good to go. Make sure you dry it thouroughly or it'll get moldy, especially if you store it in a closed container! [:D]

I've used it for everything from a simulated farmer's field (complete with plow/harrow lines) to mixing it in with paint to give whatever I'm painting some texture. If you use it for ground cover, just do the wet water then spray glue trick and it'll stay put.

It's even gotten to the point where all my family members are saving their used grounds for me. It's too funny...

[Dr. John]

Great idea, Bakdoor! I will have to try that. Between the coffee grounds at the office and at home, I ought to be able to have a couple of farmer's fields in a hurry!

[Dave Farquhar]

I'd forgotten the coffee grounds trick. Thanks for reminding me of that! I'll have to do some experimenting when I get home. I always have coffee grounds...

Hey, in a similar vein, has anyone ever tried anything with tea leaves?

[Dr. John]

Never tried tea leaves, but I don't see why you couldn't.

Speaking of leaves, Lou Sassi, an HO modeler with a lot of by-lines in MR, had an article on grinding up leaves in a blender for use as scenery. As I recall he:
1. Added a variety of dead leaves in a blender, half full of water.
2. Ran the blender to cru***he leaves, then poured the mix through a strainer.
3. The remaining wad of leaves was wrapped in a towel or old t-shirt to absorb more of the water.
4. Finally, the crushed leaves were spread on a baking sheet and placed in an oven at LOW heat (watch carefully)
5. Ta-da! Realistic dead leaves in a scaled down size that looks great sprinkled under trees and around buildings.

Caveat! You might want to purchase an in-expensive blender just for this task rather than use your wife's!

[FJ and G]

dr j,

i did the blender thing years ago and it scratched the heck out of the plastic; worked tho

[Roger Bielen]

Using leaves wouldn't there be a problem with them starting to mulch or all dry to a basic dead leaf brown?

[Dr. John]

Roger, that's really the idea - to have dead leaves as a ground cover. I think the texture they provide is an important as color. Plus, they are free, so if you are unhappy with the results, you can replace or remove them. The pictures I have seen of Lou Sassi's Boston & Maine HO layout and its scenery look awesome. Lou uses the ground up leaves to great effect.

[Anonymous]

I have found that horsehair packing material, when cut to resemble fir trees and painted green, makes an excellent forrest. It's free and a little goes a long way. Pulling up woody weeds by the roots and after cutting off the top, place upside down or root faceing up, to make small bare trees.

[Dr. John]

heyken, welcome to the forum!

I had forgotten about the horsehair material - good idea! I've seen similar trees made from bits of Scotchbrite (but we are talking about natural materials, aren't we!)

Do you use anything to preserve the roots like glycerin or some type of sealer?

[cnw1995]

Dr. John, what's the best way of drying out the coffee grounds - do you put them in a container in the microwave or scatter them on a plate?

[Dr. John]

Doug, I find that spreading the used grounds out on a cookie sheet and heating in the oven on low heat works best (200 - 250 degrees). Check the grounds frequently, and shake the cookie sheet gently to prevent clumping. Microwaves tend to heat up the grounds too quickly, causing them to scorch and smell up the kitchen! Of course you could use the microwave on low power, but I don't think you would save much time over a regular oven.

Allen McClelland of V&O fame (a fantastic HO railroad) added some coffee grounds to sawdust and glued (I think he used a spary adhesive) the mix to a piece of yellow foam (used in upholstery) trimmed to fit inside of a hopper. Made a realistic and easily removable wood chip load. The same idea should work well for S or O gauge.

[ChiefEagles]

Dr. John, we could dye grits and make ballast. They might swell a little when sprayed with glue/water solution. They sure are hard when they dry out. You know how they stick to the side of the pot when you let them sit and dry out. [:D]

[Dr. John]

[dinner] Mmmm . . . Grits!

Actually, grits can be used for a number of things:
- ballast
- gravel road
- replacement for plaster
- replacement for glue
- hopper car loads
- benchwork (needs to sit a couple of days first)
- build a bridge out of it! (Just kidding [;)] )

Now if we could figure our a way to incorporate red-eye gravy and fried okra!

[ChiefEagles]

Stewed squash and some good fresh from the garden tomatoes. Now you are talking my language, Dr. John. [:D]

[Roger Bielen]

The mention of horse hair brought to mind the trees that my father made for my 2nd layout as a child. He used coarse hemp rope and unwound the ends to form the top of the tree and a small base, dipped it all in, I think, shelac, and then the top in sawdust. When dry he painted them.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Dr. John

Doug, I find that spreading the used grounds out on a cookie sheet and heating in the oven on low heat works best (200 - 250 degrees). Check the grounds frequently, and shake the cookie sheet gently to prevent clumping. Microwaves tend to heat up the grounds too quickly, causing them to scorch and smell up the kitchen! Of course you could use the microwave on low power, but I don't think you would save much time over a regular oven.

I would have to disagree with you, doc. I always dry my grounds in the microwave (I usually just dump the filter with the coffee in it onto a plate, heat it for about a minute, then it's dry enough to remove and scrape off the filter.) Then I spread it out as much as possible and it only takes a few minutes. I've never burned any of it, but you do get the kitchen smelling like coffee! Not that that's a bad thing, though.

Anyway, good luck. It's a really cheap and realistic looking ground cover or paint additive. Just make sure it's completely dry and that you don't store it in a sealed container, or it'll get moldy.[;)]

[Dr. John]

Bakdoor,
I guess it depends on your microwave. The one time I tried it with mine, (I had it on the normal or high setting) the grounds gave off a burned odor, not like the good smell of brewed coffee. I'm glad you had good results with your microwave. Good tip about not storing it in a sealed container!