If you live in the South you know what it is. For those of you who don’t, Kudzu is a leafy vine that absolutely takes over everything it can. It climbs trees, power poles, guy wires, even buildings, and if left unchecked will completely cover anything it it attaches itself to.
So, since I’m building a railroad in the South, how should I model Kudzu? Ground foam just doesn’t seem to capture the leafy look and I’d like the scale Kudzu to look different from some of the other areas where I did use ground foam.
I use Noch leaf flake material. A blend of #07140 olive green and 07144 medium green looks good to me. It’s applied and glues down the same way as foam. Use stretch poly fiber to simulate the growth up into trees, telephone poles, etc., and then cover with the leaf flake. Scenic express is one supplier of it. Hope this helps
Seem to recall MR did a railroad you can model article on the SR Murphy Branch sometime like 1984. As part of the article, the created a photo diorama featuring kudzu and gave some tips on modeling it. Being a southerner myself, I grew up with kudzu - the weed that ate the south. Unbelievable how thick that stuff can grow.
Actually, a little farther back in the issue, Jim Kelly describes how he built the cover diorama in the “Bull Session” column. He used Bachmann polyfiber covered in Woodland Scenics course light green ground foam and turf blend.
I first heard about kudzu when I came to Texas in the 70s, but never saw it til the early 90s. When I heard about it and saw pictures I thought “wow, that’s kind of pretty”.
But when I drove thru Georgia and saw it up front and personal, it was actually kind of scary. One spot I recall seemed to go on for quite some distance, like a green blanket. I suspect it could (and probably has) covered roads and houses.
I know it has now gotten into south east Texas, but hopefully it can be contained.
If you model 1933-1953 it is a ground cover solution prescribed by the US Soil Conservation Service. If you model post 1970 it is listed by the USDA as a noxious weed, and will soon add your layout to the 7 million acers that it has covered in the SE.
I was thinking maybe some angle hair or halloween spider web material pulled over the native scenery, then adding the leafs to that.
Mobileman, yes it does cover roads and houses. Go into rural areas where the roads have been changed and the old route will have been covered by Kudzu. Growing up I watched a dozer parked on one of those old curves they cut out of the road get lost forever beneath the Kudzu. As far as I know, that dozer is still there 40 years later.
Same with old, abondoned farm houses. They’re almost spooky in winter with the vines all over, running in and out of windows and door like some sci-fi monster devouring the house. In summer you the house disappears beneath green.
Yes, but it would be unfair to blame it on the government. It was first introduced as an exotic plant in the Philadelphia Expostion of 1876. Introduced to the SE in 1883 at the New Orleans Exposition. It was thought to make a nice sun shade for porches. It also proved to be good source of protein for cows. It is when it started to be used as a ground cover to prevent erosion that it the government took notice and got involved.
No offense guys, but that would be like modeling a street where the garbage is never picked up!.Kudzu is the bane of the roadside as one drives along the interstates here in Florida, destroying scenic views with a monotonous green growth that looks like it escaped from an alien spaceship. For me, I will stick with the actual trees and such, not a canopy or tarp-like coverage of creeping vines!!! Cedarwoodron
That may very well be true, Cedarwoodron, but the fact is it’s everywhere around the area I’m modeling and it will go a long way toward “setting the scene” and helping anyone who sees my layout to place it’s location.
Lots of modelers include trash along the tracks and graffiti on freight cars. It ain’t pretty, but it’s realistic!
As with the climate warming, we up in Canadaland are warned about kudzu as it seems to be marching toward North towards us, It is classified here as an invasive species and it’s against the law to plant it, if planted you will be responsible for eradicating it and must pay for it’s removal.
Many railroads in the South planted it to prevent soil erosion, well, it seemed to have worked for that purpose.
