anyone know any substitutes for woodlandscenics turf, underbrush,bushes, clump foliage or lichen or any ground cover? besides the real thing of course. we dont have any train shops here in the philippines so its hard for me to look for ready made materials for my N scale, only thing I can think of is painting sand the desired color(green perhaps) but what about for clump foliage and lichen? thanks for your replies!!
Sorry, I don't have an answer to your question. But as one who spends most December and January annually in the Philippines (the cool season...relatively...especially this past Jan. which was unusually cool and pleasant) I know there is absolutely no services for model railroading there. I supposed it was because people would have an awful time dealing with the humidity on their layout. So I am curious as to how you deal with the humidity.
(I am back home in Canada now, but while on holiday I use the time to do online shopping for locos and supplies from the USA. When I return, the orders are just starting to come in back home.)
I suppose you might just have to order stuff in and deal with the time lag, because I cant think of a lot of plant material in the Philippines suitable for drying and preserving....like mosses or lichen. Most vegetation is on the lush side rather than the dry side.
Scenic Express makes a lot of the same stuff as WS and its usually cheaper. Probably a lot of different opinions on which is better. Try the Walthers catalog (www.walthers.com)
One thing that Model Railroading has taught me is patience. Building a layout isn't a sprint, it's a marathon. Everything takes longer than you expect anyway, so be happy that there is an Internet to order from.
Shop around, ask for suggestions, and then pick up a lot of stuff in one order to save on the shipping charges. Then sit back and wait. You'll have time to perfect your trackwork in the meantime, so that when you put down the scenery, your trains will be happy.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
MisterBeasley wrote: One thing that Model Railroading has taught me is patience. Building a layout isn't a sprint, it's a marathon. Everything takes longer than you expect anyway, so be happy that there is an Internet to order from.Shop around, ask for suggestions, and then pick up a lot of stuff in one order to save on the shipping charges. Then sit back and wait. You'll have time to perfect your trackwork in the meantime, so that when you put down the scenery, your trains will be happy.
The ground cover of choice from the dark ages when I started modeling was dyed sawdust. Dye it various shades of green using cloth dyes, let it dry and then apply it just like ground foam.
Another variation is "zip texturizing" (once again tripping down memory lane). You mix plaster and powdered colors and then sift it onto wet paint or plaster. Creates a texture to the surface.
Tall grass can be made with fake fur trimmed short and dyed green.
Not saying any of these are better than ground foam, they are just predecessors to ground foam.
Dave H.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Here is a link to making your own ground foam. Use the thicks btach for clumps and grind finer as needed. You should be able to get everything localy for cheap. Look around and you will find some guys making their own foliage material too
http://www.dansresincasting.com/Ground%20foam.htm
ratled
Modeling the Klamath River area in HO on a proto-lanced sub of the SP “The State of Jefferson Line”
thanks for the ideas, I will try doing the sponge suggestion soon
metrotrenlover wrote: thanks for the ideas, I will try doing the sponge suggestion soon
Try using a food processor instead of a blender. It chops the foam up finer. Once your ground foam is dry, run it back through the processor again. That gets it real fine! That white seat cushion foam works good.