Over the course of the past two months I have done little things here and there as the mood struck, but I wasn't sure how I wanted this scene to look so I went slow. But, relaying the siding into Colony Liquor to clear the boxcar's roof forced me to tear up the track, and once the putty knife came out there was no turning back.
I first built a little hill behind Colony Liquor out of some scraps of florist foam. Most of the benefits of the soft foam are lost once a hard shell of ground goop is applied over it, but I had some lying around so I used it for this application.
I wasn't sure how the hill was going to take shape but I knew I could fix any areas or gaps with generous applications of ground goop. The hill should in actuality be much larger and connect to the hill on "Cut Corner" but I wanted to keep the layout sections separate so instead I just made a gently rising blob on the back.
This ground goop was applied, ground foam was added, and it was left to dry for a week. Apparently, Ground goop isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Another application of ground foam hid the cracks formed from the ground goop drying. Had I used a thinner coat, this wouldn't have happened. It wasn't a big deal.
I then started detailing the track next. I painted the tied with acrylic paint, focusing only on the brown and black colors to represent ties that were in more in the shade and less likely to be bleached by the sun.
It was then ballasted with dirt and a lot of fine cinders from Woodland Scenics. Ground foam and a light touch of gray blend ballast here and there to break up the monotony of the look finished it off.
Trains on this track could not travel very far if they rolled off the end of the rails... they would crash into the building! There was no room on my model for a typical style bumping posts that I prefer, so instead I used Tomar Industries brand (H-803) which are smaller in size. They actually had to work, too!
Static grass was then applied to the hill, but I thought it was too dark a shade of green and too monotone. So I went over the top with several different shades and sizes of ground foam and it came out just how I wanted it too. I remember climbing through the grass one summer day in 2010 taking pictures of the various buildings, and it clearly wasn't grass that was mowed.
Next, I sketched out where I wanted the parking lot in the back and the access road to go. I didn't have a lot of options, because everything was so compressed. But, I was able to squeeze in a paved lot and enough clearance room for a decent roadway. The photo also shows how much room on the siding exists for the Agway which will be next door.
The road was marked out on tracing paper, and then transferred to some 0.040" thick styrene. I prefer to use this for roads, even though the top surface is sometimes too smooth to represent beat up old pavement. But it sure is a lot easier than using something like plaster.
I then decided that the entire level of the terrain of the road, parking lot, and the nearby structures needed to be raised a bit. So, I ordered some 1/4" thick cork tiles. I traced the parking lot and road onto the cork, cut it out, and glued it down. It looks like a whale's head, sort of.
The styrene road was first sprayed with gray primer, which not only is a good color for sun-bleached asphalt but it also provides some texture to the smooth styrene. It was then given a wash of black oil paint, and once that dried I Dullcoted it and heavily weathered it with ground black charcoal from the artist supply store. More Dullcote and it was ready to be glued down.
To build up the terrain around the edges of the styrene I first used latex caulk, but it wasn't working the way I wanted it to. After it cured, I then used more Gound Goop to do all the edges. I was careful to try and not get it on the road but the Dullcote sealed it enough that any that did splatter on was easily removed (if quickly) with a wet paper towel.
Then, I applied five or six colors and sizes of dirt and ground foam around the edges. I intentionally brought the last layer over the edge of the styrene so that it would look like the grass and weeds were encroaching onto the pavement. I didn't want a stark edge.
I couldn't use a spray bottle of alcohol (my wetting agent) because it would have turned the Dullcoted styrene really white. (Yes, I know you can respray with Dullcote to fix it but I wasn't positive it would work in this situation). So, I used a cheap plastic pipette to apply alcohol, followed by matte medium, followed by more ground foam, followed by more alcohol, until I had the look I wanted. A little alcohol did get on the pavement and it did turn it white, but later on I did discover that more Dullcote made it disappear.
Along the back, I hid the building's bottom edge with lots of ground foam and Scenic Express "Super Turf". It has an odd texture that I don't really know what to make of, but when piled amongst ground foam and dirt I thought it looked a lot like overgrown bushes. It requires copious amount of matte medium to secure it, but once dry it is secure and still green. I really like the "Super Turf". I also added some discarded pallets (Preiser #585) and other junk where the track ends. If you lean over the building you can just see into this area.
I took the tiniest of finished trees that I had made, including those that magically "formed" when a larger tree broke, and planted them onto the hill. They aren't supposed to look like tall trees, but instead small trees and bushes and such. This is the view from the rear with the backdrop removed.
Along the back of the parking lot even more brush was applied.
Lines were added to the parking lot using a white paint pen. I had a cheap HO scale car handy as a reference. The lines should probably be closer together but then I would need more cars to fill it!
I still need to add cars, but cars cost money. I also need to add some trees, but that will be a project for a future day.
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