Recently, I searched back issues of Model Railroader and the web for tips on modeling swamps, but I was unable to find any articles that discussed the type of swamp that is common along the mainline of the old New York Central between Croton-Harmon and Albany. Typically, they contain a mixture of murky water, a lot of skunk cabbage, water lilies, and a touch of slime green.
After a bit of experimentation, I was able to produce a reasonable model of the real thing. My “formula” was as follows:
First, paint the surface with an acrylic like Floquil’s “Roof Brown” and while that is still wet, overpaint it with a combination of yellow ocre and dark green until you are able to produce a surface that might be characterized as variegated murky greenish-brown.
Second, once the paint is reasonably dry soak most of the surface with matte medium or diluted white glue and sprinkle the area with a very think coat of Woodland Scenic’s “Burnt Grass” foliate/ground cover. Once the matte medium has dried, use a finger to gently remove any of the excess or loose material and vacuum the surface.
Third, brush the entire surface with a modest coat of Liquitex thick gloss gel or similar material. Once the gel is about 80 percent set, embed Heki’s “Hellgrun” (light green) Flor material into part of the surface. The result should resemble the area shown in the photo above.
I hate to say it on this forum, but it was Rail Model Craftsman (I wonder if that name will get blanked out w/ '**'s) that did a number of articles on swamp modeling (MR did do modeling a Slough a while back) - Lily Pads (punched paper or paint drops), Cat Tails (wire w/ a bit of insulation), weeds, usually Min-Wax stains were involved. I can’t seem to view your attached image, but around here marshes (do we even have real swamps in NY? I guess*) are defined to me by stands of reeds and cattails, with water underlying eveything - stands of Phragmites all over the place, even small stands in drainage ditches by the side of Rte 9 heading upstate.
Well, yes prepackaged reeds are available, but still need a way to reproduce a lot of it cheaply for the river-edges, with some detailed pre-made cat-tails in key locations - hmm, somehow this involves dying large swatches of fake fur, but not exactly sure how yet…
*It turns out we do have swamps in NY State, including a Great Swamp. Looks like throwing some ground cover and small leafy bushes over murky grey water castings would serve the purpose.
The cattails and reeds are there too, as expected for NY state swampage.
My own swamp isn’t quite done, but it’s been my major project for the last couple of months.
I used Envirotex for the water, coloring the different layers from dark to light as I poured. I used a variety of “plant life,” expermenting with Walthers “botanicals,” particularly the cattails.
I got the moose from Musket Minatures, as well as the tree stumps and beavers.
For the final layer of Envirotex, I only used a bit of tinting, but I swirled some light green acrylic paint into the final pour after it was in place with a toothpick. It dispersed a bit, but concentrated the paint enough to give a murky, swampy look to the water.
