Tag Archives: scenery

Scenery Part 2 – Paint and Texture

Finished base scenery in St Charles
Here’s the finished base scenery layer in St Charles as the L&N CV Local waits for Southern train 61 to clear the wye

Nearly a year ago I posted the beginnings of building my scenery using Howard Zane’s “paper shell” method. The unfinished red rosin paper shell about halfway through his process served as my basic scenery base for a while–it’s far better than plywood! As I’m nearing the time to move on to the upper deck, I finally got around to finishing the scenery base.

In progress scenery
This shot shows several steps in the scenery process including cardboard web, red rosin paper, and the finished base scenery with paint and dirt for texture

In the first post, I covered how to build the basic scenery form using cardboard strips, hot glue, and red rosin paper. Since that first attempt, I have changed my technique a little. I no longer glue a long strip to the backdrop (tedious) but instead just fold the cardboard strip to form a tab and glue the tab to the backdrop. Once the initial cardboard web and red-rosin-paper shell are in place, the next step is a layer of white glue. First, I put masking tape over the tracks and other features I needed to protect from the glue. I use straight Elmer’s white glue from a giant bottle I bought at a local office supply store. It helps to pour a little bit in a portable paint cup for easy access. I used a paint brush (approx. 1.5″ wide designed for house painting) to apply a thick layer of white glue over all the red rosin paper. If your paper layers aren’t tight, expect a little dripping, so be sure to clear out anything valuable from underneath first. When the glue is drying, it saturates the paper causing some unexpected wrinkles–I was worried at first, but most of these disappeared when the glue dried, and those that remained looked like pretty natural variations in the landscape. In places where the paper edges were warping up and away from the layer underneath, I brushed an extra layer of glue underneath and smoothed things back down with a finger.

Spackling the joints
After applying a layer of glue and letting it dry, I apply lightweight spackling compound to the paper seams to smooth out the edges

Once the glue dried completely, I added a step that Howard Zane does not: spackling the seams. I wasn’t happy with the edges of the paper as there were distinct lines that wouldn’t look natural with just paint. Additionally, there were a few areas that I needed to be completely flat, but they still had some undulations from the glue step. To fix this, I turned to one of my favorite materials: lightweight spackling compound that I picked up from the local hardware store. This is the same compound I use to cover screw holes and hide joints in masonite fascia and backdrops. It’s about the consistency of icing, and you just spread it on in batches using a plastic putty knife to smooth things out as best you can. Once it dried overnight, I used a wet washcloth to rub down the edges of the spackling compound and to taper it into the surrounding paper. This rewets the compound and allows you to get a smooth surface without sanding. Most of the seams were hidden after the first application, but a few areas required a second or third application to get the shape right.

Smoothing the spackling compound
Once the spackling compound dries, I use a wet washcloth to gently smooth the spackling compound to remove rough edges and blend it into the paper

Now things were finally ready for some paint! A friend of mine graciously donated a fine bucket of dark Kentucky dirt to me a while ago (a kingly gift!). I went to the hardware store and found a paint color that matched the dirt color pretty closely and had a gallon made in flat/matte finish. Back on the layout, I applied some of this color thickly with a small brush to about a one square foot area. Using a spoon, I sprinkled some of the sifted dirt onto the paint to give the scenery a little base texture. I left about an inch of the paint uncovered to avoid getting dirt on the paintbrush. Quickly moving to the next section, I painted some more and added more dirt, starting with the seam between the areas as it was the closest to drying. Eventually, the whole surface was covered. Once the paint had dried a little, I gently sprayed a layer of wet glue (about 10 parts water, 1 part glue, with a little dish soap) on top of the dirt. In the few areas where it washed away the dirt, I simply added more to the soaked surface and sprayed again.

Dirt on wet paint
I spread thick paint on about one square foot of paper at a time, then I sprinkle with dirt while it’s still wet

Once everything dried. I removed the masking tape and touched up any areas as needed. While there’s still a lot more work to go before the scenery is complete, I’m really happy with this technique to get to a good scenery base that looks a whole lot better than either plywood or raw red rosin paper! I won’t finish the scenery until the upper deck is complete to avoid ruining anything with sawdust and scenery materials raining down, but this current layer is resilient enough (and able to be vacuumed) to withstand the construction of the upper deck.

Finished base scenery in St Charles
Another view of the base scenery in St Charles looking toward the gap where the tracks descend to Appalachia staging

 

A Very Productive Day

More Backdrops - Lower Level Overview
Here’s a look at last Saturday’s progress including finishing most of the lower level scenery base and painting the rest of the backdrop

I had a happy aligning of the stars on Saturday where my wife was gone for the day, I didn’t have any big “chores” to do, and I had just learned how to paint backdrops! All that combined into a day spent furiously trying to finish up the lower-level scenery forms so I could paint the rest of the lower-level backdrop. It was a good day, and I’m pretty happy with the results. I learned that the painting is my favorite part, roughing in the scenery with cardboard strips is my second favorite, and papering over the cardboard with section after section of red rosin paper is a distant third. Round 2 of backdrop painting went a little smoother than round 1 as I think I had a better grasp of the techniques, and the paint brushes seemed to work better on their second use. I liked the results of round 2 so much I went back and redid some sections of round 1.

More Backdrops - St Charles
The St Charles Local traverses the wye with the newly painted backdrop. It will soon descend through the backdrop in the corner, a hole much tougher to spot now

The scenery covers over the hidden track along the back wall that joins St Charles and the Mayflower section, so I decided to do a test run… I can now verify that I can indeed – by twisting at odd angles, reaching into small gaps, and fishing it out the last couple feet with a long string of hoppers – free a stuck train from the most remote part of my hidden track! Lesson learned–when you use hot glue for scenery, it tends to leave a lot of strings hanging down, and go figure, locomotives don’t pick up electricity so well when their wheels are covered in bits of glue string! A little wheel cleaning and some extra sweeps of the hand through the area (again at odd angles via small gaps), and trains now traverse this area nicely.

More Backdrops - back corner
Where the two lower-level scenes transition–the backdrop on the right is lower than the left, hence less blue sky

I’ve only got one section left that still needs a backdrop and scenery forms, over the helix from staging. Painting the backdrop in the corner was the big barrier to adding this, so that will likely be the next step, and the LAST step before building upper-level benchwork… it’s getting pretty real.

More Backdrops - Into the Helix
Here’s where trains will leave the lower level and enter the helix to the upper level–I think the backdrop painting along with a few trees will hide the transition well

More Scenery and Road Crossings

Scenery forms in St Charles
The basic scenery form is now almost done in St Charles–just some cardboard strips and red rosin paper… and lots of glue
RR Crossing 3
The almost finished crossing after whittling, sanding, and scribing lines and bolts with an X-Acto blade and thumbtack

Just a quick progress update. After procrastinating and working on a semaphore, a station mock-up, and even safety signs, I’ve finally started work on the scenery again. Using the same “paper shell” method of cardboard strips, red rosin paper, and lots of hot glue, I’ve been able to get the wye in St Charles filled in with the basic land form. Of course, putting in the cardboard underlayment for the roads got me thinking about grade crossings, so I had to pause again and put in 6 grade crossings using rails and wood. Pretty simple and nothing profound, but I’m happy with the way they’re turning out. I didn’t worry about vertical height of the wood initially, only horizontal placement. I used a razor blade to whittle the wood down to rail-height level (a little tricky and scary, but effective), then used a little sandpaper and a “bright boy” track cleaner to ensure the wood doesn’t stick up and cause electrical contact issues.

That’s all for now.