A weeks worth of work (4)

So to the scenery. It's a small cabinet, so there won't be much to it. I could get away with a totally flat baseboard. But right from the start I decided that I wanted to have the track come down to the grade crossing. Contours would be minimal so I just cut some 10mm foamcore to a rough shape and then covered that with lightweight spackle. It's a method I've used for many years and have no problems with. 

Scenery work. Foamcore and sparkle.

The thing I was most concerned about was the grade crossing, and building the trail up to the level of the track. Not that this was a smooth surface, it could be rutted no end. But I still took a long time to do it. I was definitely more careful than usual.

Trail built up to the surface of the track. Or close to.

With the spackle down as my scenic base, I was in the what I call the snowscape phase. Once that sparkle dried I covered the landscape with woodland scenics ground cover. I was feeling very positive.

Now it looks like a landscape.

On to the road/track surface. I had a plan of using liquitex textured paint that contained glass beads. I could slap this on really thick and carve ruts in it indicating road use.

The textured paint. The glass beads are a bit regular in size.

Here you can see ruts being carved into the road surface.

As it sets it becomes clear and then I paint over it. For a base cover I used Raw Siena, as good a base colour as any.

Even with a coat of raw siena, the road looks like its a sticky cloying, clayey mess

By now I was flying, and next was to apply some basic ground scatter materials. Woodland Scenics fine and coarse turfs of varying hues. There's still a bit of work to do on this. Add some longer, rougher grasses and a muddy yard surface. But all in all this is looking quite acceptable.

So far so good. I'm really impressed. I love the way the Trackside Scenery backscene looks

What should I look to do in the coming week? I really should get the working loader loading. That's pretty important I think. The layout will be pretty dull without a working feature. If I can get mine structures completed as well that would be a bonus. 

Still, the way things are looking, I'm full of confidence.