The Little Rock Line

[LIRR]

That it does Philip.
But be prepared for the price.  The biggest drawback to this stuff is the price.
A 18"x12"x2" is around $8-$10.
That whole area that I covered in the foam cost me around $50.

I used this green floral foam…..it is a bit pricy….i picked up a slab each time i was in the local craft store…I stockpiled 10 or so over a year  or so before i started scenery work

[Bendtracker1]

I got the first thick coat of earth brown latex paint applied to the floral foam.
When this dries, it'll help strengthen the foam so it won't dent and scratch so easy, but I'll still be able to poke holes in easily for planting trees.
Next comes the backdrop.

[Bendtracker1]

Clouds be gone!

I was just not happy with the way the clouds turned out the last time. They were just a little too solid for my likings and too well defined around the edges, and also as some pointed out, a little too similar in shape.
I'll try to make them look a little wispy, transparent and different the next time around.

[Bendtracker1]

This is still very much a work in progress, I got the clouds redone by the farm scene but still need to work on the tree line blocking yet.

I think these came out much nicer, they are lighter and a little more wispy than the ones I had before.
I did something a little different this time, before adding the clouds, I spray some high thinner clouds on first before the main clouds went on. I mixed white paint with some blue and sprayed it in pretty much a straight line at a slight angle to help tone down the blue paint to help make a slight transition from all blue.

This was to simulate higher, thinner clouds in the upper atmosphere. Unfortunately the main clouds did manage to cover it up somewhat.
This by itself looks good and I may use this technique elsewhere on the layout.








After that was dry I mixed up more white paint and added a touch of gray and drop of blue for the main clouds. It only discolored the white slightly so it wasn't so stark and then I grabbed the stencils and started working on the main clouds.

After getting the clouds sprayed I followed up with some light gray and sprayed under some of the clouds to give them a little bit of a shadow.
While they are not exactly what I was hoping for, I think they'll do just fine.
​









Next up, I'll go back and repaint the green tree line. I have an idea on how to make this tree line look a little closer than I have before so it will hopefully blends in with the 3D trees.

[Bendtracker1]

So I tried stippling the leaves on the dark green this afternoon, much like I did on the other portions of the back.
While these are more distant hills, the process was the same.



First I applied the black for depth.



Then the different shades of green, keeping the lightest shade to the left.



In most places along the backdrop, there will be varying amounts of 3D trees, so I'm hoping they will all somewhat blend together.
At this particular location, I'm not planning any trees, but there will be something along the base to hide the line between the backdrop and ground.

I really need to get some basic scenery down to see how this will look, but I think this has enough details to pass?
 ​

[Bendtracker1]

I finished getting the tree line painted tonight.
Now I can start working on the base scenery.

[Bendtracker1]

Well it's been a productive weekend for me.
First, I managed to get up the courage to paint the pond base. We'll see how that turns out?



After that, I decided to create a sloped edge between the tracks and fascia, something that's been lacking on the layout. Last winter I picked up a Milwaukee multi tool and some blades. I thought this might aide in cutting the fascia to an irregular shape? I also figured I could carve the ceiling tile with ease as well? It did

Here's the tool and blade. I used the round blade for the ceiling tile and a narrow straight blade for the fascia.





The subroadbed is made up of a plywood base with a layer of 1-1/2" white beadboard foam covered with a 5/8" ceiling tile. My goal was to make and angled cut from the ballast edge to the fascia, then cut the fascia down close to match the irregular shape of the tile.

Here are the results, though it's a little hard to see the amount of slope.







Next I cut the fascia and then painted the carved ceiling tile.
I'm not gonna worry about the brown paint on the fascia as I'm going to repaint it all black at a later date. I'll do this to cover up the blue and orange lines.





It's not much of a slope, but hopefully enough to make a difference once the greenery goes on?
Hopefully the next images will show some green applied?

[Bendtracker1]

I've been slowly adding a base of ground foam (to which I'll apply the static grass to next) and grout (for soil).
The bare spot is reserved for the scrap yard.





Have also been working on installing a driveway to the scrap yard. Made from styrene and painted and weathered.



A dirt road to the farm.



Working on a highway crossing at Ruston.  The cardboard was used for a pattern, I plan to use sheet styrene like I did on the scrap yard driveway.

[Bendtracker1]

The other morning I went down and sucked up the last of the base ground cover. This looks so much better than the flat, grey ceiling tile that I have looked at for the last 15 years. I'm excited to start getting some static grass, trees, bushes, shrubs and Kudzu in place.  While it probably looks way too green at the moment, overtime it'll change as I add different shades of greens and a variety of ground coverings and trees.









I'm happy with the way the eroded hillside came out.  I applied plaster to the xposed foam, worked with it until it started to setup, then continued chipping away at it.   I painted it a brown, didn't like the look so I spread some Mod Podge on it and blew some of the grout on it.  The dirt chunks at the base is balled up grout that I just glued in place.   Now to get some static grass, trees and glue some exposed roots in place.

[garethashenden]

Looking good! Don't forget the possibility of gently airbrushing the grass for added color variation.

[Bendtracker1]

Looking good! Don't forget the possibility of gently airbrushing the grass for added color variation.

Nope, I plan on doing that and this:
"While it probably looks way too green at the moment, overtime it'll change as I add different shades of greens and a variety of ground coverings and trees."

[shark_jj]

Coming along nicely Allen.  You start to get a real sense of accomplishment as you see the entire scene start to take shape.  I like how you added loose dirt at the bottom of the embankment cut.  I have a similar embankment and something didn't look right with it but I couldn't put my finger on it.  That loose dirt at the bottom is the answer, thanks. 

[Bendtracker1]

Coming along nicely Allen.  You start to get a real sense of accomplishment as you see the entire scene start to take shape.  I like how you added loose dirt at the bottom of the embankment cut.  I have a similar embankment and something didn't look right with it but I couldn't put my finger on it.  That loose dirt at the bottom is the answer, thanks.

Thanks JJ.
After I painted it, it looked OK but like you, something was missing.
After I applied the glue and brushed the grout on it, it looked much better.
I was going to suck up the excess grout, but the loose dirt left at the bottom just seemed natural, so I left.

Hope it works for you as well.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Thanks JJ.
After I painted it, it looked OK but like you, something was missing.
After I applied the glue and brushed the grout on it, it looked much better.
I was going to suck up the excess grout, but the loose dirt left at the bottom just seemed natural, so I left.

Hope it works for you as well.

Finally! A use where those damn little grout balls WORK!

They drive me nuts, lol.

[CRL]

Very nice. Maybe we’ve been in drought conditions here in south Texas so long that I’ve forgotten what greener areas of the country look like, but I’d “dust up” any bare dirt areas a bit, including any buildings. Generally speaking, the real world is much more muddy, dirty or dusty (depending on rainfall) than we tend to model.