Scenery update

Just a quick update on how the scenery is progressing. After the spakfilla had all dried, I added strata lines and carved other erosion lines into it with a circular file. I also took sandpaper to it to prevent that smooth look.

The first coat of yellow has been far too yellow. In my haste to see nature bursting off the modules I've mixed up a darker batch of the yellow wash than I had used on Rozelle Street. This has caused me some problems which I've spent the last two weeks trying to work around.

The first golden layer:

I then applied some more orange/light brown highlights to give variation:

I then applied the grey/brown wash over the lot to get to where I should be:

After this step, the darker yellow really threw me. To my eyes, it stick out too much and isn't the subtle, muted colour I was after.

So I tried making it a little darker with a very dark grey/brown wash, which to my eyes looks good as weathered, exposed rock, but the sheltered cracks and crevices were still too yellow. 

Disgruntled, and contemplating how best to tear the entire landform off and bin it, I was complaining to my wife one night when she suggested that a terracotta/pinkish-orangish wash might save it. 

Bingo!

I mixed some up (pictured in the plastic container below) and swept it across the rock with a 2-inch foam brush. Instantly better.

I still need to finish adding some darker layers and the terracotta 'repair' wash, but it's getting there. 

I've also started chopping up some Lars Op't Hof scenic mats and placing them around the layout to see what grabs me. 

I'm aiming to get the station buildings finished on Monday and hopefully get an initial layer of dirt and ballast down as well. That should bring me to a point where I can some basic grass and foliage, and start running trains.

I've got a deadline to get the buildings and a basic level of scenery done by the end of February for the layout's first operating session. I'm aiming to have overhead and some initial signals installed by March. 

Will see how we go in February.

Cheers,

Ben