Spring showers bring Z scale scenery! :umbrella: Just a small corner, but all you see is glued down, still wet in some areas. It will get a tad bit lighter as the dirt drys. You can see now that it really didn't matter what color I painted the base because you can't see it now, just makes it easier on the eyes till scenery comes along. Looks like I need to dullcote that rock face oh5qn:
Chris, Great scenery! I really like the weathered rolling stock. I have experimented with different colors for the base. I find a light brown gives the grass a more dull look. It often has the look of dirt showing through the grass. The European modelers tend to use a very bright green. I tried and use it quite often. It brightens up the grass considerably. I also use dark greens as bases for more of the wooded areas. What I ended up doing is using different colors for the base depending on the area I was modeling. It looks like we are going to have rain for the next week here in Ohio. You should have a a lot lot of time to play with the trains! Rob Kluz
Looks great Chris! 2 things really catch my eye. One is your roads. You seem to have just the right color. What did you use? Second thing is your earth, is it real? I have always had difficulty in those 2 areas but it seems like you nailed them both! Great work.
Before any "grass" went down I covered everything with a thin layer of dirt. In Z scale it seems the dirt has to almost be powder. Then I wet (water) the dirt and glue it with a eyedropper of matte medium. Now sprinkle on more dirt to fill in what got scattered from the spraying. Now that the dirt is glued and wet I start with the greens. I like to use many different things. Here I used 3 different WS fine foams, some Scenic Express "scrub grass blend" and there is even a few patches of Noch static grass applied with the squeeze bottle. Then I wet it down some more and add another dose of glue. Still with all that difference it looks too uniform, but you can always add more and this is just a small area. Trees and details will get things better off as well. The base paint help with close-ups too. Like if there is a small square millimeter that didn't get covered somehow, at least it won't be bright pink foam showing. After the ground was down I sprinkled a bit of cinders along the track. Most proto roadbeds would have some sort of fill as a base. Over time it would blend in so I try not to use much. Now I add the ballast. To glue the ballast I first wet it down with alcohol (less surface tension) Once all this dries I may go back and touch up a few areas. This is whats so nice about a small layout, you can go one square inch at a time.
Joe, Thanks! I just added above about the dirt. The roads are styrene, I painted them with "reefer gray" that I had in a spray can. Looks right for blacktop, but I wanted it to look sun bleached so I dry brushed lighter colors over it. Maybe later I'll add a wash to lighten it up a bit. One thing I did before painting the roads was look at them from a satellite above. I used Google "earth" since Terraserver isn't in color.
Looks great Chris! I like your base scenery color, and the ballast looks real nice too. What brand of ballast did you use as it looks about the right size particles? -Robert
The ballast is from Scenic Express and is made by Smith & Sons. Called Penn/Ohio #50 since my last ballast test photo's I have screened it all through a 350 micron mesh from Small Parts Inc. http://www.smallparts.com/products/descriptions/cmn.cfm That should leave no piece bigger than 3.036 Z scale inches After screening I'd say about 65 or more percent of the ballast was not used (goes to the N scale layout)
BTW I uploaded a different photo to Z scale central station: http://zcentralstation.com/modules/xcgal/displayimage.php?pid=207&album=lastup&cat=&pos=0&PHPSESSID=e6bd9486474bf925cecc90b8e18dfc6f
Joe, I'm pretty much in the middle of my summer modeling slump, happens every summer it seems. I have central air so it's not like I'm roasting, but even when I'm dead set on doing some modeling, I end up finding something to do outdoors. The layout is still right here on the kitchen table and I defiantly haven't forgot about it ; ) Maybe another month and it will be "game on" again. Chris PS I see I need to edit my photo's now that they are at the new Railimages.
I know how it is. That is the nice thing about trains, you can ignore them, and they'll still be there waiting for you.
