Model Railroad Construction - Building a Model Toy Train Layout

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Building Scenery For A Model Train Layout - Terrain Construction Part Four

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By this time you should have a nice hard shell terrain covering your layout. Although everything is still ghost white, it should be looking pretty good by now. The rocks are glued in place and the concrete roads and parking lots are poured. You have filled in low places, and rounded out all angular outcroppings with Mold-A-Scene creating a pretty realistic terrain.

The next step - painting the terrain - will make it more genuine yet. To paint the terrain, rocks and roads you will use either the Woodland Scenics Earth Color Kit or acrylic craft paints.

Start with painting the roadways.It is best to use Woodland Scenics Concrete or Asphalt road color paint for the roads. Before painting you can carefully carve out potholes and cracks in the roads with a nail or hobby knife. Paint the road as per package instructions. When this is dry, you may lightly drybrush with white paint. To drybrush you dip the brush in the paint, and paint most of the paint out of the brush on a scrap paper. Lightly brush over the previously painted surface with the ‘dry brush’. The leftover color in the brush will add character and texture to the surface. Prctice this first on a scrap of paper. To simulate patches to the asphalt or concrete, use Woodland Scenics Mine Run Coal. Put a drop of tacky glue on selected areas of the road and sprinkle a small amout of the coal in the glue. Press down with finger to flatten.

Next you will want to paint the terrain. This is easy and fun. Pick an acrylic paint which is close to the color of the soil in the locale you are modeling. Dilute this paint about fifty percent with water. Using a wide brush, slather the paint over the entire terrain, excluding the rocks and roads you just painted. You don’t have to be to careful with consistancy in this step. Mother Nature isn’t consistant about how she places soil color so you don’t have to be, either.

Paint the rocks next. Again, choose a color consistent with the area you are modeling. You will probably need three colors to accurately color the rocks. In the area of Indiana where the author lives, the predominant rock is limestone. For this, use a base coat of Americana Dove Gray or Americana Gray Sky. Paint this on full strength. After the base coat dries, dry brush with Americana Charcoal or Ebony Black. Allow this to dry, and drybrush again with white. The colors you choose may be different, depending on the type of rock you are modeling. Experiment to acheive the desired results.

When painting waterways, think about how many ponds and streams of which you are familiar are a deep blue in color. Can’t think of any? Please, don’t use blue to paint your waterways. Again three colors of paint will be needed to model the bed of any stream, lake, or pond, and these colors will vary according to the locality. In Indiana the colors could be Americana Black Green, Sage Green, and Slate Green. Paint the banks the same color you used for the terrain. Start in the center and deepest parts of the waterways. Use your darkest color, Black Green in the example. While this is still wet, begin painting Sage Green, blending the two paints and working the lighter colors to the shallower areas. While this is still wet, paint the Slate Green blending shallower areas toward the banks or shore. Allow this to dry. There is still one more step which will take place after the vegetation is in place.

The rocks, terrain, roads, and water are now painted and the layout is looking pretty good! The next installment to this series will cover vegetation. You will be planting the grass, trees, and shrubs which will make the layout really take shape.

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