Scenic update for Sweethome Alabama

[Jon Grant 4472]

I have been working on a few trees recently and am now ready to plant them. however I needed to add some grass and forest floor before I could plant the trees.

The area I chose to treat first was the small hillock to the left of the silos, being only a couple of feet long by 5 inches deep. The first task was to bed the silos into the scenery with 'Das' modelling clay.






I also made a couple of retaining walls using 'Wills' random stone sheet, to represent the road access to the loading area behind the silos. I also covered the clay with Woodland Scenics 'earth blend'






Jon

[Jon Grant 4472]

Once the silos had been bedded in and the track inside the shed ballasted, I added a few mud landslips from the Das modelling clay which, when dry, resembles the colour of Alabama clay.

I also tore up various Silflor grass mats and glued them to the sub-base in small patches, varying the colours as I went. The next job will be to blend in some forest ground cover before adding some bushes and trees.












Now, fetch me a shrubbery....Ni!

Jon

[Steamtrains]

That is looking just great..!! Terrific scenicking... And those box cars are really awesome...
Gotta luv it...

[Jon Grant 4472]

Thanks Gus

I added some forest floor scatter, weeds, bushes and some dead trees to the grassy hill. The scene is starting to come together.












Next job will be to plant some trees.

Jon

[iis612]

Jon,

Very Nice Work!!!

Matt

[Jon Grant 4472]

I got the trees and temporary backscene added late last night, so the scene is pretty much complete, although I may darken the clay erosion slightly. I also added some flowers to the grass and have a few other plants to make and add later.

Details will be added to the yard area later, but for now, I want to concentrate on the tree-lined areas at the back of the layout












Jon

[steinjr]

As always, beautiful work! Looks very realistic - and it is always an inspiration to see how you get from point A to point B.

Mmm - those Wills random stone sheets looks really interesting - time to go a-googling :-)

Smile,
Stein

[Jon Grant 4472]

Taking the bull by the horns, I am going to jump straight to the next board that butts-up to the area just forested. It is only 21in x 15in but includes 2 roads, a bridge and a stone loading platform.

The first photo shows the board from the back - the backscene will cover the white area




The next photos show the part of the board that joins onto the area just next to the silos - just visible are the brass aligning dowels.






These photos show the whole area to be scenicked - the wood bridge will sit at the far end, as a view block for the hole through the backscene into the as-yet unbuilt fiddle yard






The last photo shows the front of the board (maroon) and the stone loading dock




Now to lay some tarmac

Jon

[Gary S]

The trees and bushes and grass look really good with all the varied textures. I'm sure I will be reviewing your work when it comes time to do some greenery on my layout. Thanks for sharing your work and photos with us, gives me something to aspire to.

[Jon Grant 4472]

I added a dirt/gravel access road using torn up pieces of Silflor scenic matting, glued down with household glue. I had earlier added some DAS modelling clay to simulate bare patches, but these seem to have been covered up










I'll continue with the grass until the area is covered, then add some bushes and weeds. The bridge has only been added temporarily, as it is easier to work without it in place.

Jon

[Jon Grant 4472]

I made a bit more progress on the grass, completing the coverage on the small board. I also bedded in the bridge and started adding bushes and shrubs












Now to continue with the bushes before adding weeds and trees

Jon

[MasonJar]

Now, fetch me a shrubbery....Ni!

Love Monty Python...! Did Eric the Shrubber supply the bushes?


Andrew

[rrinker]

Eric's been working overtime it appears. Nice work.

--Randy

[Jon Grant 4472]

I've added some trees, flowers and a colour light signal to the small board. I originally had the trees much more tightly packed, but removed over 15 of them as I couldn't see the wood for the trees.

Here are the latest photos














Jon

[Jon Grant 4472]

Into June, and the work on Sweethome Alabama begins again, after a short hiatus while Sweethome Chicago was prepped for exhibiting a couple of weeks ago.

I chose the area just to the right of the silos for treatment, to continue the scenic progress along the back of the layout from left to right. So far, Silflor scenic matting has been glued to the hill base and loose leaves have been glued in place.










Jon