The first thing I do is make a wooden base. I usually use rich grained wood like mahogany or walnut but I have a bunch of oak cut offs that I need to use. Truth be told, I hate oak. Honestly. As a carpenter who has installed more oak floors, cabinets, staircases, custom built furniture etc. than I care to recall, I've grown to absolutely abhor the wood. I dislike it's look, it's smell, it's feel. So for this base, I have painted it black and then sanded it away to expose some of the wood grain, almost like an antiquing effect perhaps.
Anyway, here's the wooden base with a layer of wall plaster for the starting point. After I've gotten the basic shape I want, I sprinkle on some previously dried plaster chunks and pieces as well as the raw powder to give the ground a more realistic texture as opposed to the smooth surface initially shaped with my fingers.
The next step is adding some color to the plaster. I don't do anything too spectacular here, I spray some flat black followed by some primer 'red' lightly misted over the black allowing for the 'shadow' to show through.
Step three for me is the laying down of the ground litter. This is meant to represent years of fallen leaves and such. I use various seed pod casings such as those from Birch trees, and a few other plants and bushes. These are mixed together and simply sprinkled over some white glue and water mixture. Multiple applications may be needed in some areas to thicken things up, simply apply more glue/water mix the next day and sprinkle more of the ground litter on. I've also added a bit of Woodland Scenics fine turf for some added color and a few railroad ballast stones for, well... stones.
Once that is completely dry I start adding bushes. These can be time consuming as they are added not only one at a time but the previous 'plantings' must be allowed to dry before adding more to avoid bumping the first ones out of position. The trick (in my opinion) is to 'plant' these tightly, on top of one another intertwining the branches to give a natural appearance. If the bushes are to spaced too far apart they look fake, or like someones landscaping.
After I am satisfied with one style of bush, I begin planting another 'thicket' like bush for more realism. Just for the sake of it, take a look at the growth on the edge of the woods, or a country road. You may be surprised at just how many different types of plants you will see growing together. This is (again in my opinion) critical to looking realistic, the more various types of plants you see together, the more real it looks.
This is really only the beginning. I will continue to add different styles of plants within and on top of each other until I am satisfied with the results. Here is the half track placed on the base just for an idea of scale and appearance. I still have some details on the half track to address and then of course tying the pigment color into the roadwork but this will give a sort of 'first look' into where this is heading.
More to come!
