I remember a few weeks ago the little discussion about how your FastFrack ballast looked so good once it was scenic-ed with ground cover. I wholeheartedly agree. I have a 4x8 layout with two mainlines of RealTrax, with green painted Homosote between them. I would like to scenic this small area between the tracks, and I do have an article from CTT about how to glue it on and such, but can you tell me exactly which products you used in this scene between the tracks, and in front of the little shanty. It looks great!
Thank you,
Old Broad
(formerly NewbieLady - I just hate that name, but maybe I’d better stick with it, lol)
I started by painting my board a dark brown. Once dry, I sprayed down a glue and water mixture and applied a combination of Woodland Scenics fine and course ground foam in colors such as “Earth”, “Burnt Grass”, and “Grass”. Fine ground foam by itself looks too smooth, like manicured lawns, so I used a lot more course foam in areas like these. The added texture makes the scene more interesting and believable.
The bushes are made from inexpensive Reindeer moss, available at craft stores, and clump foam, in light and dark greens. I glued the bushes down with 100% white glue.
The very small light gray rocks are just landscaper’s stone dust, like that used under a brick walkway. The larger rocks and the sticks are from our back yard.
The green trees are homemade from furnace filter material, ground foam, and meat scewers.
The FasTrack was treated with a wash of black craft paint to bring out the molded in detail of the roadbed.
I hope that answers your questions. And might I suggest NYC Lady as your new name? It sounds better than Old Broad to me. [;)]
Whatever technique/method you used, it was the execution that makes your layout stand out. I am playing with various methods right now and nothing has given me the look I want. Everytime I see pictures of your layout I turn green with envy. [xx(]
Thanks, John. That’s very kind of you. But honestly, all my technique consists of is spreading a puddle of glue thinned with water and sprinkling different types of ground foam into it. Then we dropped the stone dust rocks down and let them land where they may. The area stays wet for about 24 hours, so you would have plenty of time to experiment.
I really think the key to nice scenery is getting plenty of texture in there. Whether it be rock or flora, the more texture the eye sees, the more natural or realistic it percieves it to be. You want to have a lot for the viewer to look at. Stones, large rocks, bushes, thick grasses, leaves, etc.
Thank you for the feedback. Don’t worry, I will keep trying. While I have no inherent skills, a dogged determination will hopefully get me to the finish line.
Thanks so much Jim. And John, I couldn’t have said it better myself. Especially about having no skills, lol. I mean me, not you!
Great tip about painting the base brown first, not green. This way where the ground foam is thin in areas, it will look like areas of bare earth showing under sparse grass, like you’d see in real life in an untended area. And it’s good to know you used more course foam, I wouldn’t have known which to buy. IF anyone has time to answer one more question, I would appreciate it. The way you did it sounds nice and easy - sprinkle foam on a puddle of thinned white glue. But a few articles I’ve read talk about then spraying the foam with isopropyl alcohol or water with a few drops of dishwashing liquid (for what purpose?) and then saturating all the ground foam with thinned white glue. I guess to hold it down forever, but wouldn’t this dry shiny and weird looking? Are all those steps really necessary? Anyone, please feel free to chime in here - John and I need all the help we can get!
And I really was kidding about “Old Broad.” It just occurred to me that I don’t want to forever be called “newbie.” And I REALLY wish I had picked a name like “Beerbelly Bob” or something manly. No offense meant to the real Beerbelly Bob.
In my experimenting I have seen that saturating the foam with “wet water” (water mixed with a dash of liquid detergent) allows the glue to fully soak in. I have been using a mixture of Matte Medium and water as my adhesive and it dries with a flat finish.
Adding a drop of dish soap to water breaks the surface tension and lets the glue soak in better. That is usually more evident when the glue is applied over the foam. But when you sprinkly the ground foam into a puddle of watery/glue, it absorbs it readily and when dry, doesn’t need any further glueing.
I use ordinary Elmer’s white glue mixed with water, and it doesn’t dry glossy. It’s completely invisible when dry.
I’m going back and re-reading the article. Your layout is very compelling. I think it is because it is one that looks to be within reach of the average person. While we all love to look at the pictures, most layouts featured are beyond time, money, and talent of most of us.
Well said! Thanks again for all the help you guys provide.
And Jim, I like the tip about giving the Fastrack a light wash of black to bring out the detail in the molding. I knew yours looked extra good somehow. I use RealTrax, which is a bit too dark for my liking. I’ll have to experiment with a wash of a lighter color gray paint; maybe that will bring out the details and lighten it a bit. I’m intrigued by the idea of painting the rails rust brown, too. When any of this gets done, I’ll post pictures of my progress. Thanks again!
Don’t let making scenery intimidate any of you. The average person CAN do it, because that’s all me and the kids are. This was our very first layout of any kind. Dive in and get started! And post lots of pictures of your progress.
I also would like to commend you on your layout. Very nicely done. Amazing how something as simple as a black wash can change the look of things. After seeing your layout in CTT, almost thought I would like fastrack. Nah! I enjoy ballasting track. Find it relaxing. Seeing your layout, though, looks pretty real!
It really is amazing how easy scenery is anymore. A few years ago I bought a Woodland Scenics “starter set”, and have been building scenery ever since. I read the Woodland Scenics handbook cover to cover many times before starting, and following the directions in the book, had some great looking scenery. It is not hard at all.
I think people see the great layouts in magazines and books, and feel it is too hard to do. In my case, thinking small, and starting small, seemed to be the key.
Since I asked for your help with my little “between the tracks” scenic-ing endeavor, I thought it only right to show you the results so far. I did as you said, with the added step of drizzling some grey ballast at the edges of the RealTrax for a little more “realism” and I’m pretty happy with the way it looks so far. I still have a 3 ft length to do, as well as adding some additional different colored bushes, and maybe some weeds coming out amongst the ballast, and small pebbles, but here’s what I have so far. You can see in the last photo the improvement over the undone strip in the middle. I didn’t go with the first step of painting the base a brown earth color, because It was already green, and I hate to have hardly used opened cans of paint piling up in the basement, but for someone starting from scratch, I would recommend painting the base brown first. This way, you can go really easy with the ground cover, and not have to worry about laying it on really heavy, because whatever tiny areas of paint show through would just look like soil, and maybe look more natural. Again, thanks, Jim, for your help! And congratulations on your spread in CTT!
Very nicely done! Isn’t amazing how a little landscaping adds to the layout? Keep us posted on your progress. While I am in the midst of doing some of this myself I am quite envious of your results.
Thanks Guys!
I really think if I were to start again, the number one thing I’d do is paint the base brown. As you can see from Jim’s scene in my first post, his seems to be done with a lighter hand, with a bit of earth-colored base showing through (at least this is how it appears to me). My ground foam is a bit on the heavy side, because I needed to totally cover the weird green paint. As a result, it’s a little too manicured-looking for a neglected area between the tracks, but I agree, it gives it a lot more “atmosphere” than just paint. I’ll post the final product when it’s totally finished!
No offense meant to the real Beerbelly Bob. 
