Some Winter scenery.

[Caleb Austin]

Winter is my favorite season and I've modeled it on past layouts, so I decided to do it again with my my new North Mountain Subdivision layout. So for practice I remade my old diorama with bare Super trees and ground up leaves.

And yes to those persons that have already done winter scenery, I need to paint the trees grey! And I could use a little more grass with the leaves...It's a work in progress.


This is my new N scale SD35 posing on the diorama.




These are the crushed leaves that I use on the ground.

[tom mann]

Straighten and paint the trees!

Earth texture looks good, though.

[up1950s]

I have heard of people using real rock , and dirt , but this is the first I have heard of using crushed dead leafs . I think it looks great . What will come of it over time ? Will the normal indoor humidity further effect it by making it smelly , or mushy ? Has it been affixed with anything ? Please tell us your method . Are some leafs batter than others ?

[Caleb Austin]

Yeah Tom I'll be boiling and straitening those trees as soon as I can.

About the leaves, I read articles by Paul Dolkos and Lou Sassi about it and it seams that they just sprinkle them on and seal them with diluted matte medium. I imagine that if they dry out nicely thay should be fine. I think Ed uses real leaves on his winter scenery, we should ask him!

[Chris333]

Good time to mention the leaves, gotta go outside...

[asciibaron]

i have used crushed up leaves for the ground cover under trees in the past - that was in HO, not sure how i'm going to do it in N scale - i think the results so far look great - don't straighten the tree too much - you are heading in the right direction.

i still haven't calibrated my eye for N scale scenery, i'm doing things too big or too small.  it will take some time and there are plenty of great examples here to work from. 

TRW, always good stuff.

-Steve (yes i'm on some good cold meds right now)

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Wow, looks like someone jacked about a square foot of my layout!

Looks good man. Definitely hit the tree with some gray, then warm it a touch with a mist of red.

Also, now that you've got the ground cover, and the trees, you've got to work on the underbrush and bushes.

I'm curious to see what you come up with.

Oh, and one more thing, you've got to pick those leaves out of the trees.

[up1950s]

Oh, and one more thing, you've got to pick those leaves out of the trees.

Ed sometime every year there is a period between lush foliage and a Charlie Brown tree . I think having some dead leaves on the branches depict that 2 month long period . I think it looks good as is .

[DKS]

One recommendation I've read for better crushed leaf ground cover is to place a bunch of leaves in an old blender with some water--the water is the trick to get fine, consistent texture. After blending, spread the muck out on a newspaper and let it dry.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Oh, and one more thing, you've got to pick those leaves out of the trees.

I was talking about the long spindley one that show up in Supertrees.

Ed sometime every year there is a period between lush foliage and a Charlie Brown tree . I think having some dead leaves on the branches depict that 2 month long period . I think it looks good as is .

[Caleb Austin]

Good tips Ed and others, I needs to get me some spray paint! I'm also tinkering with these hand made trees for the "in the yard stand alone" trees.


It's tough though cause' a bunch of these would probably make my super trees look like crap...

Oh and I was thinking about putting some water in with the leaves but figured my Mom wouldn't like a bunch of leaf gunk in the blender :

[AlkemScaleModels]

One recommendation I've read for better crushed leaf ground cover is to place a bunch of leaves in an old blender with some water--the water is the trick to get fine, consistent texture. After blending, spread the muck out on a newspaper and let it dry.

I never liked the wet goop process for making leaves. I blend dry leaves and then strain them through a sieve to get the fine ground cover needed for N Scale. I bought a cheap blender that is only used for scenery.  Curiously, the blended leaves smell a little like tobacco when they are blended.  I also add a shot of Lysol disinfectant to the white glue mixture to keep keep the mold spores at bay.