i laid my pink foam and my HO track, what next? i want grass, and gravel by the track
Aaron
I’m about at the same point you are on a small layout. Assuming that when you put your track down you also wired it and have run a train to be sure your trackwork doesn’t have any problems.
If you are going to have land forms (hills, rivers, etc.) get them in place, Plan where your structures will be so you have flat areas as needed. Protect your track with tape or something to keep glue, etc. off.
Base color paint next. You can either paint the whole layout or do it in sections. Doing it is sections allows you to use the wet paint as the adhesive for your first layer of dirt, foam or whatever you are using. Add more layers of scenic matrerial, clumps for bushes, additional colors and the like. Trees and the like follow.
Most anything I have seen recommends doing the ballasting last. The only real exception I’ve seen is if you have a little used spur or siding and you add grass or brush between the rails after you finish ballasting.
You can always add more scenic material around the layout as you feel it necessary.
Clean your track and run trains.
Kind of a simple explaination, but think it answers your question in a nutshell.
Have fun,
thaks for the help
Yeah, if all you have is flat foam and some tracks in place, you should probably cover those tracks with some painter’s or masking tape before it gets covered in stuff it shouldn’t. Then, figure out, before you do anything else, what the layout will look like when finished. Get the hills stacked in and shaped, dig out ditches and gulleys and rivers or lakes, glue in or shape any rock cuts, and so on,…also figure out where buildings and other structures will eventually be so that you aren’t wasting expensive scenic materials in those locations.
Ideally, your tracks are the last thing you tackle from the point of view of making them look like they’re part of the layout. So, get the rest settled, and then do the ballasting and weathering last thing.