hey all
ok, i have my track laid, ballasted (finally) and the mountains and the tunnels are done. now i come to what i have heard is the most fun of model railroading, the scenery. I am trying to model 2 towns on the england-wales border. the towns are seperated by a mountain with a tunnel running through and i would like to have the welsh side more rocky and with longer paler grass than the england side which will have a mine and a forest before getting to a small city. so what i want to know is, what is the first thing i do? do i do the city and buildings first? do i paint the ground and maybe sprinkle flock into it? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
thanks
Sean
I would do the mountain first. It just may dictate how much room you have for your towns. I usually put the buildings down on the bare base and apply scenery material around them. However, I recently read where someone applies the scenery material first and while the glue mixture holding the scenery material in place is still wet, he sets the buildings down and pushes them right into the scenery material. When the glue dries, it also serves to hold the building in place and there's no unsightly gap around the base of the building. I might just try that.
Good luck.
..... Bob
Beam me up, Scotty, there's no intelligent life down here. (Captain Kirk)
I reject your reality and substitute my own. (Adam Savage)
Resistance is not futile--it is voltage divided by current.
Do the ground first...use a light brown/gray latex and sprinkle real sifted dirt or just ground foam. Leave some spots bare for puddle areas, or places that stay wet and get heavy traffic, whether foot or wheeled. Where you will place buildings, will you have pavement and curbs with sidewalks? Do them next, leaving space for buildings and yards. Don't forget utility poles. When you have your buildings situated, sprinkle ground foam around them (at least two colours), and set them with diluted glue.
BTW, ballasting is the very last thing I do, except for weathering the tracks and ballast.
can anyone please post a picture of their painting the ground and adding ground foam?
also, ive got some woodland scenics long grass but i just cant get it to stand up straight. can anyone help?
Beautiful area you are doing. I lived Wales for the summer of 79. House was on Llangaffni.
Here is one on my mountains at about that stage. I built the mountain out of foam, carved it with a steak knife and painted it with my version of ground goop. I then the sprinked a variety of fine ground foams. I then glued on some bushes. In this scene I added cactus.
For tall grass, I cut and glued clumps, one bunch at a time. I have been expermenting with the Noch applicator, but have not gotten good yet.
I have since cut several changes into the scene.
Good luck with your learning process.
Here is also a pic of a diorama my Gdaughter is making, using the same order and a shot of a swamp with some tall grass clumps
corksean12 wrote: can anyone please post a picture of their painting the ground and adding ground foam?also, ive got some woodland scenics long grass but i just cant get it to stand up straight. can anyone help?
I agree. Scenery is some of the best parts of model RR'ng.
I used paper towels dipped in plaster of paris that had some dry tempura paint added.
Then, start adding ground foam of various textures and shades. I start with fine foam first for the base and then add progressively larger textures and colors of foam. Spray with alchohol (don't waste your beer on this ) and then drip diluted white glue over all of it.
Tom
You most likely started your layout with a plan for this. The first thing to do is do a mock up of the towns and the topography, any rolling hills, fields, water and the large hillside(mountain). Once you're satisfied then set any base needed for the structures. Now you can proceed with building the "mountain", setting your portals, lay the base for scenery rolling towards the towns, depending on your method, now you do the scenery base. Apply any rock castings to the hillsides and any cuts, blend the scenery contours into the castings, paint the base with an appropriate earth for local, lay any roads and streets for the town and add the ground foam and grasses. You will undoubtably be changing things as it progresses. Dry fitting of the buildings for street/ sidewalk layout and other structures is usually necessary at this stage.
This is HD shop towels hot glued to the webbing and coated with hydrocal and then a home brewed ground goop of durabond, perlite and powered dye. The portal area wasn't completed at the time of setting the hillside but does show the sequence of construction.
This spot is plywood base on risers for the structures. The scenery here is wire screening with plastercloth and a final dyed later of plaster before the grasses and trees were done.
The opposite unfinished end shows the construction method
This area is carved, terraced foam w/ hydrocal soaked paper towel
This town is not on a flat plywood base, to simulate a hillside town the plwood bases were stepped then the foundations placed. Once satisfied the roads and scenery was done throughout the remainder of the area. If your towns are flat or in a hollow a flat base will work.
Hope some of this helps.
Modeling B&O- Chessie Bob K. www.ssmrc.org