Hi Koos, I am glad they are of use for you

It's been a few months, but finally a minor update, the weather has been too nice (? never thought I'd ever write that…), and had lots of other stuff going on.
Anyway, I've added some telegraph poles, I've weathered/coloured the ballast on the tracks as I did not like it's uniform 'sand' appearance, I've put down a base layer of Scenic Express 'mud', and a few patches of WS ground turf.
There's still a lot of work and touch up to do, but the basic feel is slowly starting to become apparent.

Track weathering 2 by K2K Koos, on Flickr

That looks very good. The mud is creeping into the ballast and ruins the drainage effect. It must be a long time ago when the last MOW crew has been around

What MOW crew

In one of the future stages, there will be weeds growing etc. :-)

I'd say that as soon as the mud dries out somewhat and you have a bit of sunshine, before you know it those damn weeds will be sprouting up everywhere. Park a covered hopper or two on one of the sidings and roughly handle them with the switcher, that should dislodge some grain to sprout in the mud as well.
Mark

True, and it might happen sooner rather than later :-)

Koos

Are you an undercover fan of the ... http://railfan.com/photoline/photoline_jul2011.php

faraway Wrote:Are you an undercover fan of the ... http://railfan.com/photoline/photoline_jul2011.php

sort of... ;-)

I've designed this module as an end module at the end of a branch, and therefore wanted it to appear as seeing less traffic, and pretty run down.

:-)

The sun was out and there you go, the first grasses are starting to appear. :-)

I found that scenery products for Military and fantasy modeling can be very useful. They often have toned down colours which are a relief from the bright colours you tend to see for RR modeling.
Here I'm using 'wasteland grass tufts' by 'The Army Painter'.

Planting grass tufts by K2K Koos, on Flickr

torikoos Wrote:....They often have toned down colours which are a relief from the bright colours you tend to see for RR modeling.....

I discovered by chance a "tool" to soften the bright green. Woodland offers a permanent marker intended to paint the sides of the rails. That marker is also very useful to paint the wheels of railcars but also to brush gently over bright green.
A sample link to Walthers: http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/785-4580

This is Heki #1840 Savanna Gras toned down at the top with the marker

good tip Reinhard, I will keep that in mind when find something that's too bright for my liking :-)

One thing about Reinhard's method is that it gives the look of a plant that maybe suffering part or early dieback and also removes the uniform look to various plants and weeds.
Mark

Mr Fixit Wrote:One thing about Reinhard's method is that it gives the look of a plant that maybe suffering part or early dieback and also removes the uniform look to various plants and weeds.
Mark

Absolutely, it is another method that will look good blending in with the other techniques and materials. Nature isn't uniform, and small layouts/modules give an excellent opportunity to model this, which is probably too time consuming on larger 'pikes' .:-)

Looking good, Koos!

Excellent tip too from Reinhard. Puts me in mind of a similar method to create a bit of depth to model trees, which involves spraying the underside of the foliage dark green and the outer lighter green.

Taking things a step further, there are those who suggest placing a dark wash along areas that would naturally be in shadow (I'm talking here of buildings but also been attempted on rolling stock) as the small scales we work in don't always provide sufficient shadow, hence the loss of realism. Or so they say.

jonte

hi Jonte,

subtle washes and fades will always work, but must be added with moderation, you don't want to end up with a caricature.

As for your trees, making the tops a little lighter does add the effect of them being exposed to the sun. Care must be taken however when 'planting' them, so that the highlighted and darker areas all face the same directions respectively, so that you create a fixed point during a day.
You can't have trees that have highlights on the 'east' when one yard further on your layout, they have them on the 'west' side, unless you're on a planet with multiple suns :-)

Koos