14 ROUNDHOUSE - <strong>October</strong> <strong>2018</strong>
Back2Basics Back2Basics You’ve built your baseboards, laid your track and now you are staring at some clean pieces of plywood or foam and wondering where to go next! Scenery can feel very daunting to a newcomer but is actually very forgiving. It’s easy to correct mistakes and redo sections so the best advice is to give it a go and not worry. Basics The first thing to do is consider your model and where it is based. Is it desert or forest, flat or mountainous, rocky or muddy, arid or wet? All of these impact on your scenery and how you build it. The good news is that the basics are the same regardless. I always think of my scenery in terms of foreground, midground and background. I try and make my foreground the most detailed. Viewers will be drawn to this first and naturally assume that the rest of the layout is as detailed. PART 13 – Scenery Section Section PART 2: Trees, 1: 13 An – Grass Scenery Introduction and Details Section 2: By Trees, Kathy Millatt Grass and MMR Details By Kathy Millatt MMR as paint or, in deserts, can be the bulk of the scenery work. 4. I tend to do the water, roads and buildings at this point. The buildings are not attached and can be removed for messy work but it enables me to work out exactly where everything will fit and get it to bed down well. 5. After this I add in trees, then bushes, then grass. 6. The final step is the details that brings it all to life, from wildlife to people, rubbish and detritus to weathering. Substructure The first step in scenery is to start with a suitable base. This doesn’t need to be anything fancy and can build on whatever the baseboards are made from. Depending on your baseboards, here are a few thoughts to get you going so that your scenery is not totally flat: In reality, everything blurs with distance and you cannot see weeds or details after a certain point. We can use our scenery to add a feeling of depth that mirrors reality. My backgrounds are therefore more generic, quicker to model and less detailed. The midground is a halfway house with some leaves and details but not too many. In the last issue we looked at basic scenery construction and some In the last detailed issue we aspects looked of at scenic basic scenery effects construction like rivers and and roadways. some detailed This time aspects we look of scenic at what effects Mother like Nature rivers does and for us roadways. in real life, This trees, time bushes, we look grass at what etc Mother and finishing Nature off does the for job. us in real life, trees, bushes, grass etc and finishing off the job. Trees Trees Trees are not appropriate on every layout but I generally start Process the Trees green are not scenery appropriate with the on big every stuff layout like trees, but I generally working start down to the the green grass scenery at the with end. the Trees big stuff split like into trees, two working camps: down broad to the grass at the end. Trees split into two camps: broad leaved deciduous and conifers. I use a variety of methods but Here's leaved an deciduous overview and of conifers. the scenery I use process a variety I of prefer methods to use: but try and make the trees towards the back of the layout more try and make the trees towards the back of the layout more generic and the ones near the front more detailed. generic 1. and Start the with ones a near substructure the front more that acts detailed. as a firm base for your scenery. Obviously, mountains look very The most important thing to remember is that trees are large; The most different important to thing prairies to remember but you is can that use trees the are same large; they dwarf buildings and people. Most people scale them back they dwarf materials buildings for and the people. substructure Most people but just scale build them them back as they often do with buildings but you need one or two large as they often up differently. do with buildings but you need one or two large "hero" trees right at the front to show off your skills and add "hero" 2. trees At this right point at the you front need to to show mock off in your the skills roads, and rivers add some scale! The viewer's eye will rest on these and somehow some scale! and The buildings viewer's so eye that will they rest have on these correct and somehow height assume that everything else is as detailed. assume that and everything flat areas else for is as the detailed. water or road/building surface. 3. Next up is an earth layer that hides the base (which is often white, blue or pink!). This can be as simple • Foam is easily worked with bread knives or hot wire tools and can be built up or subtracted from making it very versatile. If you or your friends have had any building work recently then you may have a ready supply of insulation foam. You can use the white expanded polystyrene too but it will need a hard outer layer as it is a bit soft. • Plywood needs to be built up as it is generally too flat but it is a solid start. I usually use Sculptamold which is a plaster/paper maché mix to build up slight undulations and foam for larger hills. • If you have open areas between framing you can use For the plaster generic cloth background which is easily trees, available I generally online buy or from pre-made For plastic the shops generic trees, like spray background Hobbycraft. them with trees, I put an aerosol I scrunched generally can up buy glue newspaper pre-made and sprinkle plastic on Woodland trees, underneath spray Scenics' them and lay with green the an plaster aerosol blend cloth can fine on glue turf. then and This spray sprinkle is the on constant Woodland with colour water. Scenics' through I find green this all is blend less of my messy fine layout than turf. scenery trying This to is to the tie it constant together. dunk colour plaster through cloth in all water of my and layout put it scenery in place. to tie it together. For the middle ground trees, I start adding Noch leaves into the For fine the turf middle mix to ground add some trees, more I start defined adding Noch texture. leaves into the fine turf mix to add some more defined texture. Finally, I make wire trees from scratch for the "hero" Finally, trees. I Using make very wire fine trees florists’ from green scratch wire, for I twist the "hero" a bunch trees. Using very fine florists’ green wire, I twist a bunch together to create the trunk and branch structure. I use latex together to create the trunk and branch structure. I use latex rubber I bought online to get rid of the wire texture and create rubber I bought online to get rid of the wire texture and create the bark. I then use static grass, glued using spray adhesive, in the bark. I then use static grass, glued using spray adhesive, in varying lengths to add the finer twigs. varying lengths to add the finer twigs. I paint the tree with a rattle can brown and then apply Noch I paint the tree with a rattle can brown and then apply Noch leaves using the spray adhesive. You have to be careful to only leaves using the spray adhesive. You have to be careful to only spray the twigs and not the trunk. This may sound very long spray the twigs and not the trunk. This may sound very long winded, and it is, but you only need to do a few for a layout winded, and it is, but you only need to do a few for a layout and they will make all the difference. and they will make all the difference. <strong>October</strong> <strong>2018</strong> - ROUNDHOUSE 15