Main Index Introduction Layout Operations Models Scenery Tools and Cheap Things
Hey, a little lichen covers them big holes that are too deep to fill with ground foam. But please note, I've recently learned to put hot glue on what you're gluing, not the piece of lichen you're
holding in your fingers.
Hey, I've also found a great one- those green scrubbing pads (frequently found on the backs of sponges) You can get a pack of eight big ones for about $3.50 at Home Despot. Paint some thin glue on,
sprinkle and rub with appropriate foam and you can hide all your sins.
One additional tip, use the Spackle Lite (the one-step stuff) rather than hydrocal. I use cardboard (Coke boxes) for gross form, then cover with 1/4" to 1/2" of spackle. It dries hard, can be
sanded and painted within an hour, won't shrink or crack, and doesn't weigh much. FYI, it feels, looks, and smells EXACTLY like the Woodland Scenics Foam Putty. I use the Elmer's brand of Redi-Spack
Lite--it's their latex spackling paste. Cleans up with water. It can be worked and reworked for nearly 30 minutes.
What is a good way to portray grass or wheat?
The best way to do grass is to stick medical lint down and colour it up withposter paints and pastels. Some people stick it face down, then rip it up when it's dry, leaving the whiskers behind.
That's a better system when you want a patchy covering. If you tease the hairs up with a brass wired suede brush and spray lightly with hair spray it will stand up and be scattered with fine granules
for crops, wild flowers, etc. If you want a close cut shave it with an old Remington.
Martin
Can you get that carpet underlayer (or whatever it's called), that looks like tall grass, in North America? Everyone in the UK seems to use it and it looks fabulous between rails on a little-used
spur.
The material used on painting pads (if you've ever painted sheetrock with latex, you've probably used one) is a darn good stand-in. It is sort of like very fine carpet strands woven together.
Jim Ogden
Regarding the "felt grass:" the stuff flakes off continually. I tried it as quick ground cover for a temporary layout. It was more trouble than ground foam. So, I ripped it off. I put down a
better looking temporary ground using Woodland Scenics Matte Medium and their fine and medium ground foam products. Various colors mixed and in different spots with a semi-plan. It looked 100%
better. Still to flat, but it was a temporary for Christmas.
My technique: (after track and cork roadbed: no ballast for this, since it was temporary)
1. Paint the base with latex paint. I used Antelope and Sage from TruValue. Takes about 2 hours if you are slow.
2. After it dries (about 2 hours), pour some matte medium in a 1/2 qt paint bucket (also from TruValue) and work in sections. Paint about 1 sq ft with the matte medium (be generous with the matte
medium!) and sprinkle on various Woodland Scenics fine and medium ground covers: mixed grass, dirt, etc. Again, be generous with the stuff. Don't do too much of one color over too large an area: it
looks to flat. Mix it up and combine colors. This takes a few hours for a 4x8 layout!
3. Let it dry for at least 24 hours without disturbing anything. Then spray on matte medium everywhere. A light coat will do. That will stick the loose foam down a bit. Use of generous amounts of the
foam earlier will give you a bit of a rougher surface: not too flat. Let that dry for 24 hours, too.
4. Carefully vacuum up anything which doesn't stick: this is optional.
5. If you want some more variety, get some of the the course foam, and some of the clump foliage. Spray matte medum heavily in a spot and sprinke on the coarse foam, then spray the tops. For the
clump foliage, get some regular white glue, put a blob of it down, and press some clump foliage down onto it. Looks like bushes. Spray that with matte medium, too.
In about 3 days you have a pretty good looking base which won't shed little bits of stuff everywhere. I just put houses, etc. on top of this base along with colored lights and prelighted trees for a
Christmas layout. Everyone thought I spent lots more time than I did.
Ed Oates