Hi folks I just took some photos of a small area I've been working on, and I thought I might show them here. I like to have some variety in the ground cover. I used a mix of finely crumbled dry [used :tb-biggrin:] tealeaves, crushed fine twigs and powdered air-drying clay. I let chunks of the clay dry hard, then I powder them by hand, mostly, giving a mixture of fine dust and some slightly bigger bits. In addition I sprinkled on sand and finely crushed shellgrit as well as some coarser dried tealeaves. All of that gets glued down with PVA. I like to paint the glue on first, in irregular shapes, then sprinkle on the mixes, and gently press it all into the glue. It's less shiny that way. I also embedded and glued some small rock chips. I hit them with a hammer first. I like to use chips that have broken in such a way that they have a flat base. These I glue down by the base, and their shape helps them look like there's more rock buried in the ground. Grasses are short lengths of unpainted jute twine, butt-glued.
The trees are made with dried roots from woody weeds in the backyard. I added strands of sisal rope and painted them up to match. Foliage is Woodland Scenics. It was green but I painted it for the dead foliage look. I glued on more tealeaves for texture. Trackside I filled in and contoured the land with water putty, working in the little washaways before it was completely dry. Then I painted it with acrylics. Off for a cup of tea after that :tb-biggrin: Mike
Mike, superb as always... somehow your photos make me simultaneously want to hide my layout in shame and strive to make it the best possible work I can do. I see that as a good thing.
Perfect timing! Your look is EXACTLY what I want for my layout - late fall in northern Minnesota. I've been studying your pictures trying to figure out how to achieve your look, and you just explained it. :tb-tongue:
In my opinion, of all the modelling I have seen, you have one of the best handles on colour and textures and scale. Your backscenes always match the colours of that cold autumn layout pefectly. I think you give everyone here something to work towards, and your step by steps are great encouragement for those of us who are intimidated by trying new things in scenery. Now if only I could figure out how to paint half as well as you! Great work, keep it up!!
