What ideas you have for modeling wheat and corn farmland near Ronoke, VA during the spring? I thought to use fine grown foam and a light green on top. In addition, I will put some cardboard over the foam giving the farm a small height profile. I prefer not spending a lot of $$ on the Busch crops.
Cheers,
Lee
I strongly suggest that you Google-hunt for a few photos of the real thing, and post one or two here, to convey what you’re going for. I’d like to see the replies, too, as I model Virginia and West Virginia, and would like to show some agriculture going on. I always pay attention to the color and texture of various materials that might have a scenic use, which gets me to do things like harvest dead flowers and buy kitty litter (while owning no cat).
One layout featured in GMR 2008 named “Southern Pacific Dalsa Cutoff” showed some “early” corn (p.49) that was modeled well by layout owners Joe and Sharon Mainz. The article text indicates the corn was done using “AstrotTurf”, which in this case I believe is actually just one of those old green plastic stranded doormats that was thinned-out into rows. I have actually looked for these old doormats with not much luck, as no one really uses these anymore. If you are looking to model the crops in the spring, this “early” corn of approximately 2 to 3 scale feet tall, would be appropriate, as corn is usually planted in April or so, depending on your latitude. Wheat harvest in Virginia would probably be in June, so the wheat in the spring would be about 3 feet tall, and still green. Wheat usually turns “golden” just a few weeks prior to harvest. I have not seen a good fiber for modeling wheat at this stage, other than perhaps some thin carpeting or faux fur, or the Busch product you mentioned.
-Miles.
I lived in Roanoke for 30+ years. It is not a wheat area. With the Alleghenies on one side and the Blue Ridge on the other, most farm plots within 30 miles of Roanoke are relatively small (especially in comparison to the wheat-growing areas of the upper midwest and plains). Corn, yes… and some of that corn down in Franklin County was shipped north in Jars! [:D]
The climate of SW Virginia is also not fully compatable with effective wheat growing. Some tobacco, hay for the cattle, even fields of pumpkins would fit.
Bill
I agree with Bill, wheat is something that is not grown in Roanoke. You’d do better with the tobbacco, some cotton, beans and peas, a bit of corn and apple orchards. Most of the Roanoke valley area is horse and dairy farms, not crops, so open grassy areas with white fencing, barns and animals is much more common and would make more sense to model. I’ve had good results using thick string dipped in glue and sprinkled with fine ground foam, glued in rows to a dirt “field” to duplicate early growth crops, select a string thickness and foam color that is close to the kind of crop you wish to model. I can make a large field in one evening this way.
Don’t use the Pensylvania style barns, most southern barns are less ornate and much more “functional” in construction. Leave off the coupulas, hex signs and dystelfinks and such, just a simple red or white barn with a weather vane is sufficient to duplicate a generic VA barn.