Modeling Tips

-Tips from our scenery committee: Paul "Grumpy" Harris, Harvey Kelbers, and Bob Voelbel.

Creating densely forested hills

Our 3 main tools for scenery are unscented hair spray, 70% alcohol, and white glue/ water mix. (note: Alcohol will bleach some paints so protect painted buildings or RR cars from over spray).

1. Get some stuffing like that used in pillows (Poly-fil - Wal-Mart has it in big plastic bags) and break off a clump and shape it like you want it to look.
2. Paint it with a dark green or even a flat black water based (acrylic) spray paint so none of the white shows (Do not use oil based sprays).
3. When it is thoroughly dry, then spray it with a unscented hair spray and IMMEDIATELY shake a light green modeling foam on it that any train hobby store will have (Like putting shaky cheese on spaghetti).
4. Then lightly hair spray it again. You’ll figure this out pretty quick. I recommend you do small ( pancake sized) clumps to make it easier and more natural.
5. When all is dry just white glue it in place. ( I like to use Tacky glue for things like this. Tacky glue is white glue with a stickiness to it making it suitable for gluing trees, shrubs and clumps like we talked about above.)

Practice this on a piece of cardboard first before trying it on your layout. Just make it look like tops of bushes. The dark green or black under the light green foam gives it depth. This process comes from former member Harrison Greenley who discovered and brought it to us.

Grass and ballast

1. For our grass and or ballast we used a mixture of white glue with water ( 50/50 mix) in a small plastic bottle like catsup bottles at a picnic.
2. There are many ways to spread ballast and grass. Some containers are built with holes large enough to just shake it on (grass), but ballast has to be carefully spread between the ties. A small soft bristled artist brush can be used to slowly sweep any excess ballast off the ties. Apply in small amounts. (Easier to add ballast than remove it if you put too much down) Keep ballast and glue away from switch points. If you get glue on a point just spray it with some of the alcohol until it’s gone.
3. We then spray 70% alcohol on the grass or ballast and immediately drizzle (or spray) on the glue/ water mix. Do this in small areas (post card sized) . Do not rush this process. It will dry hard as a rock by the next day.

The alcohol helps dissipate the glue and it will sink into every area below. Works better than any other method for grass, weeds, or ballast. We used fine grade ballast for HO grade layouts.

Hills and Cliffs

Almost all of our earth, cliffs, hills, are made with the Sculptamold product.

1. Mix it like oatmeal (with water in a small bowl) and put in on with a putty knife, spoon or whatever tool you like.
2. Shape it like you want; it has a nice texture like earth should have. Plaster tends to crack over time.
3. Use a stain on the Sculptamold, not paint.
4. For side of cliffs/hills we put medium green foam on a sheet of paper and hair spray the hill side and IMMEDIATELY blow the foam onto the sprayed area.
5. Wait a few minutes and lightly spray it again.

Ground foam, stains and Sculptamold all can be obtained at local hobby shops. I prefer to use light green or medium green rather than bright or dark greens. With trees or shrubs, think random. Put a bush all by itself or in a clump with other bushes and see how natural you can make it appear. Plant a tree and add bushes around it. You can always come back later on and add a tree or bush for effect. If you have a flat area think about adding a small hill or hump to break up the flatness. A small pile of junk covered with weeds or a pile of broken limbs can add to a scene. I add railroad ties here and there using the alcohol 50/50 glue process. This can also be used on the junk pile or tree limb pile.

If you are going to paint your track it should be done before you add ballast or weeds. Roof brown or rail brown are two good choices for painting track and/or rails. Hobby stores usually have these in stock. If you use spray be sure you have proper ventilation and wear a dust mask.