Because I'm modelling scenery which isn't spectacular by nature, I feel the need to spend plenty of time working at varying the ground texture on my layout. Here are a few of the things I like to use: Water putty to represent sand/mud... and with crushed shellgrit added... I wrap the shellgrit, available from pet stores, in an old shirt and I clobber it with a hammer. I save it, dust and all, in a container, then when I'm feeling really energetic I pound it finer with the mortar and pestle, ending up with this... I always paint it to match the rest of the scenery after it's glued down, because it's quite yellow.
A blend of crushed twigs, crushed dry tea leaves and powdered dry clay... used here... and again here with small rocks and Woodland Scenics snow... Modelling clay, painted once it had set, used to represent an eroded soily bank, with the same ground covers on top... The clay has cracked a bit, but I kind of like it that way - provided it doesn't get too severe! Mike
Dirt road made with artists texture paste, with sand added... and painted up, with coarse ballast [also painted] added here and there... I probably have a few more examples kicking around if anyone's interested. Mike
I really like the cold dead winter look you have, I wonder if it would transfer to N-scale very well?
It is hard to beat natural materials, as you have amply demonstrated, Mike. Thanks for the mini-tutorial. I neve miss an opportunity to look longingly at your photos.
Great stuff, I really enjoy the cold, bleak seasons, maybe a little more in miniature form than the real thing. Very nicely done. -Cody
Great thread, Mike. Thank you. Yes, natural materials are hard to beat. I've used real loamy earth and Woodland and ER-Decor (this are tiny twigs I guess). Wolfgang
Keep it coming, I'm taking careful notes! You have the exact "look and feel" that I hope to create on my northern Minnesota layout...
Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting. Lovely work Wolfgang. Ah, Minnesota. Renowned for its mild winters, I believe... A water putty embankment: with sand and coarse ballast [Noch] rolled in while the putty was wet, with more sand and ballast glued on, and some washaways gouged through it... painted with acrylics, with some jute twine grasses glued on... On my British layout, this chalk cutting was made with expanding foam-in-a-can, and covered with modelling clay, then painted. "Grass" in the cow paddock is soft surgical lint - the stuff that they use for padding under plaster casts - glued down with PVA and painted with acrylics... You have to be careful when gluing it down because it tears easily, and you have to wait 'til the glue sets if you're brush painting it. I used shrubs to mask the joins.
A water putty road, with coarse ballast at the edge. I've run out of that ballast now, but I used to enjoy sifting it to extract the finer dusty dregs in the bottom of the bag. Next, one of those awkward spaces between lines - coarse Noch ballast, sifted into different grades, then glued down. There's some awful plastic 'coal' there too. and again after painting...
Finally a rock outcrop made with water putty over white polystyrene foam... I found some hardened water putty chips in an old mixing pot and I glued some of them on, plus ballast and probably some rock dust [can't remember for sure] Grasses are pieces of pre-painted fine-fibre cleaning cloth. This was on my old layout. Thanks for viewing, and I hope there are some useful ideas in that lot. Mike
Cool! It's like peeking behind the curtain to find out the wizard really is a wizard after all! Very nice work, Mike and thanks for sharing how you achieve those amazingly realistic effects. Please keep sharing, if you don't mind!
Again, amazing work. That extra touch of the foggy backdrop really makes it look like the cold, clammy weather of late fall. :thumbs_up:
I don't mean to hijack your thread, Mike, but I thought adding a "here's what Mike taught me to do" picture might add to the conversation. Here's what Mike taught me to do, by way of this excellent "how-to" and other posts that he's made: The ground cover is real dirt topped with crushed leaves. The trees are plant roots, turned upside-down. The rocks are real moss-covered rocks from outside, smashed with a hammer. More pictures, using Mike's techniques, are here: DM&IR Hill City Sub: Landscaping & scenery
I have used a coffee grinder to grind up twigs into a smaller size. I found that different types of wood will give different appearances when shredded. I use 4-5 different types and keep them in containers separate from each other. What a thread, mikelhh. Some really beautiful work. BTW, I did burn up one coffee grinder, so plan on getting another for the coffee. OTOH, the different taste experiences can be interesting. I don't recommend mesquite trees for coffee but good for the layout.
