Back in the mid '90s I finished out my 11x15 two level layout, using a lot of Woodland Scenics products, including ground foam ground cover, build it yourself trees, a couple kinds of ballast (for different track areas - don’t recall the name or size), lots of lichen (won’t use it this time), etc., etc. My adhesive was Elmers white glue w/water and a dab of detergent.
So here I am 15 years later, and have a replacement two level 11x15 HO postwar layout ready to scenic. I’ve got about 30 small sacks of WS groundcover and tree makings, and that’s about it.
I “assume” some advances have been made in the last 15 years, and would like your input. Specifically:
Lichen was the shrubbery of choice years ago, what is recommended today?
What brand and size ballast do you all prefer for HO?
What adhesive mix for ballast, shrubbery, and ground cover do you advise?
Is there any new scenery materials or methods out there?
Lichen was the choice (about the ONLY choice) years ago. When ground foam came onto the scene, that’s what I converted to and have stuck with myself. While ground foam is still an excellent choice today, the current trend is to augment the ground foam with static grasses for an even more realistic appearance. Trees as well have taken leaps and bounds in realism.
first of all, a hearty congratulation that your layout has now reached a stage where you can start to work on the scenery.
There are some “new” materials, that will help you to come up with a nice and realistic looking scenery. The choice, of course, depends on the area you model.
For my layout - I model Japan in the summer of 2010 - I chose mainly Woodland Scenics products, although they are hard to obtain here in Germany. I use medium green fine turf for ground cover and medium green clump foliage for shrubbery. Other scenic materials are bird sand and fine talus. Ballast is N scale granite ballast from a German source. I mainly use dilutes white glue which I apply with an eye dropper. The clump foliage is glued down with undiluted white glue, but I give the area a healthy spray with a mix of 50% water and 50 % of 70% isopropyl alcohol. This helps the clump foliage to soak up a little bit of that white glue, but not enough to make it hard.
Just some pics to illustrate my method.
I am not using static grass, as it tends to be too uniform and oversize for N scale.
Just a hint for the choice of ballast - try N scale ballast for HO scale. HO scale ballast is too big!
Hi mobilman: Like you, lichen was used a lot in the “old” days and I tried some when I got started doing scenery. But WS and others were also making a great variety of products and I used them, too. But, a couple of mice took up residence in my basement, and had the lichen and a few trees I had made from natural materials for lunch. I caught the mice, but used non natural materials from then on.
I’ve gotten the best results from using a variety of shapes, colors, textures, and products from a variety of mfg’s. A couple of examples. DJ.
These bushes are made from the small pieces of Super trees covered with WS foliage.
This is a variety of WS clump foliage, pot topper grass, and WS foliage.
More WS clump foliage, Super trees, and WS foliage.
Welcome back to my favorite part of model railroading-scenery![<:o)] There are a lot of changes but somethings that are tried and true still are in fashion. Lichen is OUT!![tdn] There are many products like Woodland Scenes and Supertrees by Scenic Express. One can used dried plants with ground foam or flake foliage. There are articles about different techniques in Model Railroader and other publications.
Ballast is ballast. Some use Hi Ball, Woodland Scenes, etc. Medium size with a mixture of colors (light and darker shades) is popular.
I use a mixture of different products. I “wet” the area to be “glued” with either rubbing alcohol or mist the area with water and a few drops of Dawn dishwashing detergent. I use Woodlands Scenic Cement or a dilute solution of either Elmers glue or Matte Medium.
Using extruded foam that is one or two inches thick and carving it into various forms is popular.
I still use Lichen for medium to large shrubs. But it looks even better when you spray it with a cheap hair spray and then sprinkle on some fine ground foam on the top.
I also use fine ballast on my HO layout. The way I look at it is - get an HO scale figure and put some ballast in it’s hand. What looks right? HO ballast or N scale ballast? Go pick up some real RR ballast in your hand and see how many stones you can hold.
I finished my scenic supplies inventory (30 plus packages) and placed an order with Caboose Hobbies to fill out what I think I need.
Ha, I felt I did a pretty good job on my previous layout, especially blending the edges into the painted backdrop. But, in looking at your pics, it’s obvious the “bar” has been raised - a lot.
As suggested, WS Super trees are great for close-up trees. A $25 box of Super trees will provide about 60 full sized trees and a lot of shrubs.Soak the Super trees in Matte medium to make them less brittle. I use spray adhesive and swirl the Super trees in a pile of Blended Turf foam. Respray and sprinkle One can use small multi-branched twigs from one’s garden, and use spray adhesive to attach small lengths of sisal rope. and then apply the WS Blended Foam. I change the trees with the seasons, and use yellow, orange, and red for Fall colors, and bare Super trees for dead trees and winter season. I immerse the entire Super tree in dilute matte medium before applying the spray adhesive.Click on photo to enlarge it. Then click on Next ot Previous to view 68 views of my layout. Bob Hahn
