The New Northern Central

[basementcalling]

You know it is. You've seen it.

Never seen your yard in person.

[crrcoal]

Potential video clinic here

Gearing up for more progress. I wanted to make sure I had authentic forest floor so I dragged Terri and Sadie up to the NCR trail to fill up a bag with raw materials.

I'm a little concerned that they're from further south on the line than where I'm modeling, but I'll get over it, lol. 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I haven't been happy with this scene on the temporary section of the layout.



I know, why should I care if it's temporary? Well, there's value in figuring out what wasn't working to make sure I do better on the stuff that really matters.

Thanks to some conversations with @Dave V and especially @DeltaBravo , I realized what was missing was texture. It was too "flat".

So I fired up the ol' Pubemaster and went to town.



I went into my box of stored super trees to add in some more along the ridge and dug down to the bottom to use the "crumbs" along the right of way. I'm pretty happy with the improvements.



So, the lesson? Texture. Texture texture texture.

[Scottl]

A big improvement.  I think you hit on something I realized a while back too:  there needs to be woody ground texture as well.  Downed branches, trunks, even old stumps are all part of the forest and help fill in the visual.  I like too how the darker green under grass is now very subtle.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

A big improvement.  I think you hit on something I realized a while back too:  there needs to be woody ground texture as well.  Downed branches, trunks, even old stumps are all part of the forest and help fill in the visual.  I like too how the darker green under grass is now very subtle.

Thanks!

And yeah. Simulating that stuff has always been a challenge in N. There really aren't great off the shelf options. I've had some success with painting various types of polyfiber based products, but I think the answer really may just be using Supertree leftovers.

[chessie system fan]

A definite improvement!  Maybe it's the photo angle, but I wonder if you went too far on the monochrome color of the grass?  I can understand the field part being about the same, but I bet a little green around the edges would make it pop.   And if you haven't tried World War Scenics static grass, you really, really should.  Having used it, I don't know that can go back to plain Woodland Scenics anymore.  The different color fibers really make a difference.

https://www.wwscenics.com/product/10mm-static-grass-winter/

[dem34]

After all these years your finally getting around to adding my patented Super tree sausages to the layout. 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

A definite improvement!  Maybe it's the photo angle, but I wonder if you went too far on the monochrome color of the grass?  I can understand the field part being about the same, but I bet a little green around the edges would make it pop.   And if you haven't tried World War Scenics static grass, you really, really should.  Having used it, I don't know that can go back to plain Woodland Scenics anymore.  The different color fibers really make a difference.

https://www.wwscenics.com/product/10mm-static-grass-winter/

Oh man. I could spend hundreds of dollars there. It all looks so good.

I wonder if they need an American ambassador. Hmmm...

[wazzou]

I've got a good selection of their grass and I agree it is superior with regard to variety and sizing options.

[Cory Rothlisberger]

Y'all have this all wrong. There's room for like 7 or 8 industries there...

[chessie system fan]

Ed, up your scenery game and get some.  You can thank me later. 

Another thing I've experimented with is taking those cheap 20ml mini spray bottles, filling them up with 99% IPA, and then adding a few drops of various Tamiya paints to make different color combos.  Sprayed onto scenery here and there gives it a little color variation from the limited stock color pallettes available and isn't quite as stark as, say, using a different ground foam color.

[garethashenden]

Y'all have this all wrong. There's room for like 7 or 8 industries there...

Yeah but its Conrail. There were 7 or 8 industries, but they've all closed and been torn down.

[OldEastRR]

Maybe put an abandoned barn foundation in the field, all overgrown. Junked out tractor next to it. That'll "pop".

[SAH]

Underbrush does make a huge difference.  Lance M suggests scrap Supertrees in one of his books.  Also consider fake fur, appropriately colored.  Get some green and brown it down or some tan and green it up.  I'm modeling early Autumn, not the dead season but imagine these scenes more brown than green.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Oh yeah, 100%. It's funny, these are lessons I learned 15 years ago but, apparently, forgot on the first pass with this scene.