12-30-2008, 05:01 AM
As mentioned, I spent some time today doing some scenery on the layout. This is my first ever attempt at doing anything like this, so my methods may not exactly be "by the book."
I started off by getting a big tub-full of river sand/gravel and let it dry in the sun. Once dry, I took some fence paint (doe skin colour) and painted my foam surface. I then took my dried sand and used a standard kitchen sieve to scatter the dusty material all over the wet paint. The sieve only lets the fines through to ensure a consistant spread. I left a gap next to the track for where the ballast will go.
I can add subtle relief later by applying more paint on top of the exting cover and sprinkling more material on it. I have a bag of Woodland Scenics blended turf "Earth Blend" that I will use to give some final organic detail.
I also gave ballasting my track a shot using a brown fine ballast, which I think suitably compliments my terrane's colour scheme and fits the overall theme of eing in an area of an active iron ore mine. Keep in mine that there is no prototype for my layout by it's very loosely based on Australia.
The area shown in the photos is the 'virgin' ground in the high wall of the open cut pit. Of course there will be more detailing, this is just what I've got done so far.
![[Image: Scatter.jpg]](http://members.westnet.com.au/jbigelow/thegauge/081230/Scatter.jpg)
![[Image: Ballast.jpg]](http://members.westnet.com.au/jbigelow/thegauge/081230/Ballast.jpg)
-Dr.J
I started off by getting a big tub-full of river sand/gravel and let it dry in the sun. Once dry, I took some fence paint (doe skin colour) and painted my foam surface. I then took my dried sand and used a standard kitchen sieve to scatter the dusty material all over the wet paint. The sieve only lets the fines through to ensure a consistant spread. I left a gap next to the track for where the ballast will go.
I can add subtle relief later by applying more paint on top of the exting cover and sprinkling more material on it. I have a bag of Woodland Scenics blended turf "Earth Blend" that I will use to give some final organic detail.
I also gave ballasting my track a shot using a brown fine ballast, which I think suitably compliments my terrane's colour scheme and fits the overall theme of eing in an area of an active iron ore mine. Keep in mine that there is no prototype for my layout by it's very loosely based on Australia.
The area shown in the photos is the 'virgin' ground in the high wall of the open cut pit. Of course there will be more detailing, this is just what I've got done so far.
-Dr.J