The Scenic Model Railroad: Creativity at Its Best; Part II
By Michael W.P. Ball

In this part, we are going discuss and explain the creativity you may enjoy in creating a scenic wonder land that meets your expectations.

Now that the basic barren landscape has been produced you may begin the colorful creative part of landscaping your layout the way you want it to be. Your own creative license can be taken from an area you have seen in your travels or something you found in a magazine, book or out of your imagination.

You may have made your layout mountainous, rolling hills, open plains, semi-tropical, an arid desert conditions or something in between. In all cases, there are means to reproduce exactly what you want.

I am going to use an example that I have done in developing an interesting and colorful landscape. First we will provide you with the basic needs required to accomplishing your particular landscape.

You will need Elmer's Glue or similar type glue both in a large spray can and also Hard Bound Glue in a large plastic squeeze bottle; At least, two plastic bottles of rubbing alcohol and two long eyedroppers; Quart spray bottle; Quart sized plastic bottles with cap; Hot Glue Gun; Paint of your choosing. Eyedroppers can be found at your local hobby store.

The paint that I use comes from any household paint store. The cheapest way is to go to one of the big home stores to their paint department. Usually you will find a table with cans of paint for sale that was never bought or was left over from a paint project. The cans come in quart and gallon sizes. They usually run from $2.00 to $7.00 a piece. I have found most of the colors I want by doing this. There is always an exception to this process so you may have to buy one or two cans of paint at regular price.

In my opinion buying scenic paints at the hobby store is a big waist of money.

The pre-made scenic items you will need are the various types of grasses, weeds, turf, dirt, gravel, etc. Some of these things you can make your self or find in a field, hill side, at the beach or on river edges. However, the majority of the grasses, weeds, turf, course material and simulated types of dirt can be had through different manufacturers at your hobby store or on a WEB site. In developing these types of materials, the sky is the limit.

Trees and brush can either be made or bought ready made. Fabricated trees are costly at best. However, the bags of course materials of all shades of green, etc., may be purchased reasonably. The trees on the other hand require some ingenuity. The best methods I know are to buy skewing sticks, loose furnace filter material, tapered dowel, dried cedar strips that can be shaped into a trunk of a tree and the same glue materials as aforementioned.

Shall we get started on project. First thing to do is paint the surface of the bear landscape you created in the Part I article. As you have many choices of landscape to work with choose a paint(s) to begin the coloring process. You may blend the paints as you are going along to get a natural contrast of the real environment.

Once you have begun the painting process don't do the whole thing at once. Pick an area to do that isn't very large. I do this so that I can sprinkle some of the landscape grasses, turf, etc., on the wet paint before it dries. This is a time saver and it gives you a perspective of how things are going to look as you develop the scenery. Continue this process all the way through changing the colors and materials to meet each particular scene that you are developing. The next step is to fill in areas that do not have enough fauna to your liking. This is done by mixing the hardbound glue in water. Use the plastic bottle with the lid and poor the glue into the bottle about one third the way up. Add the remanding part of the bottle with water. Shake the bottle until you have a watery solution.

Spread the media that you have chosen over the area of the landscape you wish to cover. You may mix what ever materials you are using to increase the contrast of the scene. Take one of the bottles of rubbing alcohol and with the eyedropper spread the alcohol over the material. You may do this in steps as the alcohol will evaporate quickly. Now take the other eyedropper and draw the mixed glue from the bottle. Spread the glue over the area where you have soaked with alcohol.

The reason you use the alcohol is that it breaks down the resistance where you intend to glue the material to the scene. It also helps to seal the area so it does not come off when you are finished.

The trees can be made by pulling out a handful of furnace filter stretching it out about the length of the skewing stick. You insert the skewing stick covered with Elmer's spray glue or the like and insert the stick into the filter material. Once dry you may shape the tree as needed by pulling on the filter material and trimming it with a pair of scissors. You just repeat this process until you have enough trees to get started. Your trees may vary in size by cutting the skewing stick to the length you want. For bigger trees, I would use the cedar rather than the doweling. It is cheaper and you get a more realistic looking trunk with the cedar.

There are cases where buying the kit trees are advantageous and can save time. The kit trees are reasonable to purchase. It is the pre-made trees that get expensive. They range from $5.00 to $20.00 apiece.

Once the trees are made I recommend that you use the hot glue gun to mount your trees. I've used other methods such as Crazy glue and Elmer's glue with average to poor success. If you can make a small hole in the surface of the landscape, without damaging the surface, just large enough to house the trunk of the tree using a fast setting glue will work fine.

In a future article, I will explain the use of synthetic water made from plastic resins. This will include the use of different types of rock material and other media you may want in your stream or river bed. Also, how to simulate a water fall or culvert filled with water.

Joy Ball has been involved in the restoration and maintenance of a variety of Brass Model Locomotives. Through her years of expertise, Mrs. Ball has perfected the art of train restoration often spending countless hours preserving vintage Brass Locomotives to running condition of even the newest Brass Model Replicas. It should be noted that the above article was written by Joy’s husband Michael Ball. Receive her free newsletter at http://www.brasslocomotiveworks.com

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