Better scenery better looking

[Anonymous]

heyy everyone like i said i used peatmoss and it came out really good its just its too brown. also what can i do too my layout too make it look better? i want my layout too look great imnot afraid too get my hands dirty. i want my layout too have realistic features just give me some tips!!!!! please thankyou!

[myred02]

There are alot of things you can do. These are easy.

-You could weather your locos and rolling stock to give them that "used look" (put exaust stains around the top and dirt on the side, stuff like that).

-Or, you could put bushes made of lichen from those Woodland Scenics shaker bottles around the base of your buildings to make them "belong" and not just look like they were placed there in a hurry.

Those were a few of my little tricks that I got from my past experiences. I suggest you go to Yahoo and look for scenery tips. Thats what I do.

[MisterBeasley]

Can you post a picture?

I've found that one trick to both painting and "turfing" is to use multiple colors. Just brown will look, well, just brown. Throw in some greens, some lighter or darker browns, and maybe a splash of yellow or red.

I also try to vary the elevation with foam, rock castings and Gypsolite. Very little of the inhabited part of the earth is flat, so I like to put small mounds and depressions all over the place.



Even though the tracks are only a few inches apart, I put a rock casting between them to break up the flatness. The whole area was skim-coated with Gypsolite, which I painted brown with a couple of different shades of green blotches. Then I added green, brown and yellow turf, and finally some light green flocking. The Gypsolite adds a rough texture, again breaking up the smoothness and flatness of the Pink Prarie beneath it.

[tomkat-13]

Here are some pics.

[Anonymous]

Pick up a copy of Dave Frary's latest book on scenery. It has everything you need to know. Learn from others, don't reinvent everything all over again. I imagine you can get it through MR's online catalog of publications.

Bob Boudreau

[Anonymous]

tomkat-13, Nice, Very nice. I don't know if I will ever get as good as you guys are at this, but I am going to have fun trying.
ennout

[Piedsou]

Don't forget to try 'natural' materials. I use real dirt as the base for my ground cover.
I also use weeds for most of my trees. Ground up real leaves in a blender provide an excellent source of 'scale' leaves for ground cover.






Dale Latham

[jecorbett]

QUOTE: Originally posted by MisterBeasley

Can you post a picture?

I've found that one trick to both painting and "turfing" is to use multiple colors. Just brown will look, well, just brown. Throw in some greens, some lighter or darker browns, and maybe a splash of yellow or red.

I also try to vary the elevation with foam, rock castings and Gypsolite. Very little of the inhabited part of the earth is flat, so I like to put small mounds and depressions all over the place.



Even though the tracks are only a few inches apart, I put a rock casting between them to break up the flatness. The whole area was skim-coated with Gypsolite, which I painted brown with a couple of different shades of green blotches. Then I added green, brown and yellow turf, and finally some light green flocking. The Gypsolite adds a rough texture, again breaking up the smoothness and flatness of the Pink Prarie beneath it.

Ditto to this. The key to good scenery is layering. Rarely in nature do you see a vast expanse of uniform color. Once you get your base down, sprinkle on various shades and textures. Woodland Scenics makes a wide variety of ground covers. I usually put down several different layers of fine turf, then add coarse ground foam, and then might add in some bushes, clump foliage, etc. After it is down, I wet it with a sprayer and then drizzle on the white glue/water mix until it is thoroughly soaked. To me, this is one of the easiest and most satisfying parts of layout building. I don't consider myself at all artistic but even I can't screw this up.

[scubaterry]

All of these awesome pics make me want to start my scenicking (is that a word?). But we are moving by the end of the year so it would be wasted time and money. I'll have to be happy with my plywood plains a little longer. I do get some great ideas looking at all the pics though.
Terry[8D]

[MisterBeasley]

Don't be intimidated by pictures, by the way. Just so you know, the shot of the moose in front of the Great Northern boxcar is my first attempt at natural scenicking. It's a very small area, and the lesson I learned from it is that it's still too flat. I'm using scraps of foam all over the place now, to bump up the terrain.

[ukguy]

Excellent detail work Tomcat ,

Dale Latham please tell me you have a websit I can visit, you work is outstanding and I would love to see more.

Mr Fugate's excellent clinic which covers ALOT of stuff , read and learn ....

http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?page=1&TOPIC_ID=32122

Have fun & be safe
Karl.