Scenery: Trial Number 1 (In need of criticism)

[NorfolkSouthern9708]

Okay, so this is my first try at scenery (I've thrown down ground foam before here and there, but this is my first serious attempt) and I was curious as to what you guys think. I didn't go off of photo's (something I'll HAVE to do in the future) And I was curious what you guys think of it.




So what I did was I put down a base layer of sifted dirt, about medium grade. Then, I sprinkled WS green blend down and secured it with matte medium, at about a ratio of 1 part matte medium, to 4 to 5 parts water. After letting that dry for about 2 days, I let some WS fine burnt turf fall through two of my fingers, then did the same with coarse foam of the same color. For the poly fiber, I took some stuffing that you can buy at walmart, gave it a coat of dark green spray paint, then gave it a light coat of black. After the paint dried, I took cheapo hair spray, and gave the poly fiber a thick coat of this, then tossed it around in a box of WS burnt coarse turf.



For the track, I took a Floquil paint pen, colored in rail brown, and coated both the ties and side of the rail with the paint. Then, I took both black and light gray acrylic paints (cheap stuff you can get at walmart) and highlighted random ties with it, let this dry, then ballasted with WS medium grey blend. To weather the ballast I gave the whole track/ballast 2 washes of black, then a wash of WS earth tone undercoat. To get the  "grime line" in the middle, I took AIM's grimy black weathering powder and dabbed it in on the centerline of the track, then blew away the excess.

I'm looking for criticism, better to rip up like 2ft by 6 in of the layout, rather than 2x6 feet of it. Thanks in advance.

[victor miranda]

I think the scenery looks good as pictured.

I write to hiss about the fibers I see in the photos.
make sure they are secured. 
poly fibers in n-scale mechanisms will cause many problems.

victor

[NorfolkSouthern9708]

Okay, I actually had just added it, hadn't glued it down yet, but thanks for the advice. And the layout is ho, not N.

[Chris333]

My only critique is the EL diesel, but I see full length hand rails so I may give it up.

[John]

That is a pretty good job .. the only change I would make is to paint the pink foam first ..

Also, you can add a bit of black / dirt paint to your glue mixture .. it helps give the ballast a bit of a weather throughout .. try real rock for your ballast .. but WS isn't as bad as some claim ..

[cv_acr]

My first criticism is that you mis-spelled "criticism" in the title.

The oil stain down the centre of the tracks looks pretty good.

[Ian MacMillan]

I would paint the track, as it does not look painted. To me, nothing sticks out more than unpainted track.

[DKS]

I would paint the track, as it does not look painted. To me, nothing sticks out more than unpainted track.

Evidently he did. He says he used a paint pen. Perhaps it doesn't apply sufficient paint, so it may require a different approach.

[wazzou]

Evidently he did. He says he used a paint pen. Perhaps it doesn't apply sufficient paint, so it may require a different approach.

I think he painted the ties but not the rail.

[Ian MacMillan]

It maybe too thin.

[DKS]

I think he painted the ties but not the rail.

According to him, he painted everything.

For the track, I took a Floquil paint pen, colored in rail brown, and coated both the ties and side of the rail with the paint.

It maybe too thin.

That may be it. I've never used one of those pens, but I suspect they're not quite up to the job.

[John]

i think its just the lighting .. they look painted to me ..

[NorfolkSouthern9708]

To answer your question, they are painted. It's not really visible in the picture, a little might have came off after I scraped off the ballast from the rail. But, they are painted.

[CoalPorter]

Is that proto to run without a coupler? I'm not going to knock it because I don't know NS, so maybe it could be? 

[NorfolkSouthern9708]

lol No, I forgot to put it back on after I took it apart, so, the proto does run with a coupler, as far as I know.