Scenic Detail for the Parade Routes.

Hello again....

Interesting scenic nuances discovered today while addressing finishing touches on the Parade Routes.

The Parade Routes cross the front of the layout over a distance of 12', at an elevation of 4" over base level on 4" WS risers shown below.  The tracks are unmounted on foam tracks from WS as well.

Using crushed newspaper type paper taped to the risers, then covered with orthopedic plaster gauze, the rock molds were mounted with Sculptomold against the WS risers.

The Sculptomold requires about a week to "cure" or dry suitably so stains can be applied.  I used the WS Leopard Spot technique again ( actually my variation of such) but increased the pigment concentration to darken the wall comparable to the previously completed corner unit which was achieved by a different process described earlier in this blog.  The two grey colors did not match as well as hoped, so I diluted the acrylic paint used on the corner unit and over sprayed the "new" wall with the airbrush and the colors. Then they matched!  Love that airbrush.

Dry brushing with white acrylic paste brought out lots of beautiful rock details from the rock molds and the Sculptomold.

I like the detail here.

Lovely detail. ;-)

Now how to add green to the wall?  Too often portions of layouts appear "sterile" because they lack strategically placed greenery detail in the landscape.  The most often employed technique is to "spray" a mist of adhesive such as Mod Podge and then gently "blow" a mist of fine turf type material onto the wet surface ......but ....then we have a large area with the adherent material which sometimes does not appear authentic.   So what to do??  When in doubt consult an expert !  So I asked my lovely wife for her advice. ....we have lived in mountains or recreated in mountains most of our lives...so my wife knows mountains !  :-)   Her advice:  place moss like growth on the top surfaces of the rocks and sparingly on the sloping sides of the wall.     Easy peasy ! ....brush dilute Mod Podge on the surfaces to be coated with turf material and then go for it!!!

Happy with the result....note also that I added a sparse fringe of the turf material along the edges of the wall where it meets the ballast material....nice touch to diminish the harshness of that edge.

 Now all we have to do to complete this part of the scene is to add the cantanary down the center line.....but....because so much scenic detail is pending on the inside of the wall, and because the overhead wiring could be damaged by leaning over the wall ...I'll delay installing the overheads.

Well, I guess that's all for now....thanks for viewing ....