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Chapter 25 - 09/03/2008

 
I’ve had a request from a fellow modeler to explain how I make my grass and other scenic essentials. So in this chapter, I have decided to do just that.

With all the surfaces of the layout we have covered the area with plaster. .
Once this is done, we use a variety of artist’s paint (about $2 a pop from your local news agent or Crazy Clarks) to colour the ground. When doing this, I’ve found it is better to really thin it down with water. Essentially, the texture you’re looking for is that of discoloured water.
Once you’ve got a mixture of colours you are happy with, its time to start on the dirt. For the base of dirt on the layout, we use real dirt (makes sense really). To do this, I have an old Nescafe coffee jar that I’ve drilled some holes in the lid of. After I found that I would need to sieve all the dirt a lot before I could place in on the layout, I decided to cut a corner or two.
We have put a piece of stainless steel mesh (Wuiske Models item number QRA014) under the lid to sieve the dirt for us whilst we are gluing it down. Just make sure that when you do this, you don’t inadvertently source your dirt from the same location that your cats use as their outdoor litter tray!
It’s a long story that results in Adam being embarrassed and looking stupid, so we don’t need to go into that right now.

We use the tried and proven mixture of White PVA Glue mixed with water (about a 50/50 mixture is good). A little drop of dish washing detergent helps to de-atomise the glue as well. With this in a spray bottle, I spray the area I am intending to scenic. Once this is done, I sprinkle the dirt from the shaker and then get ready for applying the grass.
So far as the grass, I have been using a tiny amount of Woodland Scenics “Yellow Grass” (item number T43). This is sprinkled on by hand in the smallest amounts possible. You won’t really notice this once it is all done, but it tends to give the grass a bit more of a yellowish tinge for the Australian climate.
Having done this, I normally give the area another light spray with the glue and then proceed to sprinkle on some grass. The grass we use is the Heki “Synthetische Grasfasern”, item numbers 3359 and 3360 in particular. These are the lightest of the colours they produce. This grass is made in small (around 1mm) lengths of fibre.
You could statically charge these and make them stand up, but I haven’t bothered.
Once this is done, I apply a light sprinkle of Heki 3363. This is another type of grass that is more of a dry wheat colour. This helps to break up the bright green European look. I also add a little sprinkle of dirt over the top to dull down the whole scene also.
So after having done this, you should have a pretty much complete scene. From there you can add twigs to represent braches and trees that have fallen over throughout the years and other little details to bring the area to life.
One other little idea, we have been working on lately is those really bright weeds that invariably grow near the track. I’ve been using the left over “foam bits” from the Heki Micro Fleur used on the trees. When ever you finish making some trees (see Jade’s Adam’s Corner chapter 13) you will always have about a cup full of these little bits left
over. So a little bit sprinkled here and a little bit sprinkled there and we were in need of some Round Up along our trackside.
Another nice little idea, which unfortunately I have to credit to Jade, is to take some of the Heki Micro Fleur used on the trees and place it on the ground to represent weeds, shrubs, things of that nature. When doing this you want to tease it out as much as possible, and remember that a little bit goes a really long way.

Once this is done, give the whole area a light spray with the glue again.

Hopefully this has answered all the questions as to how we have achieved the effects we have so far.

So after this chapter sounding like a normal how to guide, ya gotta wonder what will happen next at the Wuiske Happy Home…

We shall see how we go.


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