senic work [progress]

Obviously, you are modeling the grass in my front yard.

But if you wanted to model my neighbors, your missing some weeds!

 

Looks great Matt, keep the updates coming!

thanks a lot!!! - Matt

I think it's a great start.  I agree, add some weeds, a rock or boulder or two and some trees.   You are only limited by your imagination or ability to recreate what you see others have done.

 

--Greg

It's looking good.  Some fences, a few trees.

 

The Scenery and Structures forum on this site is a good place to get lots of ideas, too.

Thanks guy yea I am going to and rocks and tress with outer thing after the glue dries thanks. - Matt

Matt,  Looking good so far,keep us posted!

 

Doug

Very good stuff

Looks great Matt. 

What is all that silver stuff (about 5" wide) between the tracks and the grass? 

Thanks guys!! and silver stuff is ballast  - Matt

Matt,

What you are doing is real nice. I would have a big refinery in that spot but what do I know-I am from New Jersey. Have fun with your modeling.

 

Alan Graziano

Thanks Alan, I think I am going to leave a big field their with trees but who knows . - Matt

Hi Matt, the fast track that you are using is your ballast track.I don't know how much you have ballast already but you don't need to. I hope I saved you some ballast work. I do  think that you have the nack for doing wonderful scenic work. I can see it in your work. keep it up.    Steve

Matt,

Your off to a great start..

keep UP the good work.

Let your imagination run wild.

 

Hey Matt- Stephen brought up a good point about the fast track already being ballasted. This should save you some time, and you can use any remaining material for a parking lot for your cemetery.

Looks great- remember, you don't need to spend a lot of money to have a nice layout. Utilize what you have around you, dirt, stone, weeds, you are only limited by your imagination! 
But then again, I do appreciate the tribute to my front yard... 

Keep the updates coming!

Mimic nature.

 

If it were me, I would rethink the sea of green and work in different tones. Short of Augusta National, you'll rarely see a vast expanse of a single color grass. It's also pretty flat. Bumps and ditches and changes in elevation make it more believable.  

 

Take out the ballast. That's a pretty vast expanse of ballast you don't see in the real world.

 

Get your buildings more in size proportion to each other. The size disparity between the two buildings is pretty telling.

Stephen brought up a good point about the fast track already being ballasted. This should save you some time 

 

No their is ballast around the track to hide the plywood to give effect. And thank you for the soport guys! - Matt

If it were me, I would rethink the sea of green and work in different tones. Short of Augusta National, you'll rarely see a vast expanse of a single color grass. It's also pretty flat. Bumps and ditches and changes in elevation make it more believable.  

 

 

I am going to add some trees and rocks and different tones of grass to the field and I think I will take out the ballast too thank for the advise. - Matt  

Matt,

 

Looks good man!  You might harvest some dirt and put in a couple bare patches.

 

Dave

Thanks Dave for the adivase . - Matt

Matt,  Looks like you are on a good start.  If you want more info for scenery you should check out Joe Ricard on this forum.  He has posted many how too's from dirt to weeds and brush.  Very easy to follow and the supplies he uses are dirt cheap (literally).  As for ballasting Fastrack that is what my son and I did to our layout.  We used white glue, full strength and brush it up to the ties.  Sprinkle your ballast on, the use a water glue mix with ISO alcohol so the glue soaks in to the ballast.  You are on the right track just practice and experiment.  Here are a couple of pics with our ballasted Fastrack and look up Joey's videos on here.   Nick     

Nice job!

 

Peter

Thanks! -Matt

Hi Matt

the layout is looking good.

thing that can help you out is look at the things that are out side your house.

rocks, small sticks that you can use as logs,take dirt from out side and sift it out works well and for trees I find weeds that I dire out and glue foam to make great bushes and trees.

Hope this helps you out. Keep up the great work. 

 

Thank guys for the tips . - Matt

Thinking strategically for a moment, one thing that helps a lot to clarify what and how you do scenery and "what to do next," etc., is to decide on a theme or concept for your layout.  Come up with an idea for you layout model.  Some particular area you like (where you grew up, a place you really like to go on vacation) or activity (a circus, an industry you like, the train station in a movie or novel you liked, the town where you went to college and had your first job, whatever).  Make it something you know like and want to model . . . 

 

My own location themes are: 1) small town America, downtown, in the 1950s for one area of the layout, 2) open western countryside in the others, and my vignette or detail concept is 3) TV and movie detectives and police officers (see some of my other posts).  I'm not suggesting these for you - they are what works for me.  But picking your theme and concepts will help you decide what to model, how to do, and what to do first, etc.  It will also make the layout more you in the long run.  You could just pick a bunch of nifty scenery ideas to model, etc. - ideas, good ideas all, given here and found in magazines, etc., and model them one by one.  But picking a theme and concept that is yours will make your layout a lot more special and a lot more you in the long run . . . and create a lot more fun along the way. 

thank you for some great information lee . - Matt

Hears the link to my new page, for this because of new profile.  >  https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/t...enic-work-progress-1

What material did you use for the grass? It looks very nice, by the way!

Keep Up The Good Work!!

 

Chief Bob (Retired)

This is my new account,sorry I don't use that one any more, but we used scenic express grass and some woodland scenic grass well.

 

Coming along good. With all that flat area you could still add a small knoll or two Looking forward to more pics of the progress...Paul

We are adding some houses in that oppen space.

Looking good guys!

 

Dave

 

Thank you dave 

Thank you everyone for all the good feedback !!!

Hi Matthew, The fact that you asked tells me you have doubts - that somethng may be missing - or your are just curious to learn.

 

I learned by going out into nature and looking. Of course, we have all looked at nature and think we have it all in our minds, but I would respectfully suggest that we do not "have it" all in our minds, immediately available to our imaginations and fingertips. Our imaginations need a little reminding and re-stimulation. Thus, I offer you these shots I took while hiking Upstate NY, near Cortland, where I go for reminder courses on how exciting Nature actually is and how I can try to model it better.

 

To me, every single square inch on my layout must be exciting and stimulating, to others a well as to me.

 

Take a look and see if you feel there might be something you could do to expand your interpretation of that field. Only you know best.

Respectfully suggested,

FrankM.

Layout Refinements

Matt, I don't know what kind of buildings you have there, one looks like a diner. If so, you could include a set of garbage cans behind. Also there is always trash (paper, newspapers,  old tires etc) scattered along the road and even in your pristine field. I believe O scale cigarette butts would be too small to be seen but you get the idea. Don't forget people doing things like someone on a tractor cutting the grass, customers
Workmen. The more detailed you get, the more real life your scene becomes and therefore the more interesting it is.

Thank you but the filed is filled in now and we have houses in the spot ware the field was.