doing ground cover

[David Holman]

This is my second attempt this evening as got halfway through an upload and the system froze me out, saying I was not logged in. Annoying that, given I had to be to be doing it in the first place. Not the first time it has happened either.

 

Anyway...

The pictures show:

My much loved Grasstech, without which I could not achieve many of the effects

The large range of materials I use. I very much prefer to mix colours as textures as I go along, so we have various scatter colours [mainly fine or medium 'crumb'; fibres from 2-6mm in length and postiche, the artists hair which is teased out for extra foliage

The sequence of layering ground cover:

1. Crumb onto PVA, then straight after, this is 'wetted' with further dilute PVA and fibres put on top

2. Leave overnight - you know it makes sense. Notice though, how even blended 'grass' appears quite plain until you add the weeds effect below. In earlier pictures further detail was added too - still to be done here.

3. Use either PVA smeared on with a finger, or more patches of spray lacquer to add fine crumb on top of the grass to make weeds

4. spray lacquer is used to fix postiche, which is then sprayed again and scatter lightly sprinkled on top

5. longer grass can be done the same way with the Grasstech

6. When adding flowers, always add the coloured crumb to green scatter first, for a more subtle effect.

7. ground texture is made from Woodlands fine ballast [again various colours] put through the coffee grinder and then sieved onto gloss paint. Talc, wood ash and fine grit useful too.

 

The sequence of pictures were taken yesterday and today. I is very pleasing to see how quickly things can progress at this stage, though preparation and final detailing inevitably take much longer. System still messing about though and am not sure if this will appear in the right order. Hope it still makes sense!

Edited November 17, 2013 by David Holman

[Broithe]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]10161[/ATTACH]

 

If it wasn't quite so dark, I might be wondering whose this was...?

[David Holman]

Rather curly too... Enough said...?

[Glenderg]

If it wasn't quite so dark, I might be wondering whose this was...? [ATTACH=CONFIG]10166[/ATTACH]

 

Give him a break, it's his birthday today!

[irishthump]

Great tutorial, David.

 

I've been struggling for ages to get a look for my ground cover that I was happy with. This has given me some new ideas. Cheers!

[David Holman]

And congrats in order for the birthday boy I hear! hope its been a good 'un.

[David Holman]

The final bit of groundcover on Arigna Town has been the field in front of the station and yard. As a proportion of the layout, it is quite large, so needed a variety of colour and texture to look right.

Started with a layer of PVA, on top of which went a scattering of Woodlands 'fine medium green' scatter. Then wetted it all [with a water spray from the kitchen] and after a couple of mins for the glue to wick up to the surface, got to work with the Grasstech. A mixture of several different lengths and colours went on all in one go, then it was left overnight to dry.

The second phase involved adding more Woodlands scatter onto the tips of the grass fibres, having first put a light smear of PVA on with the tip of a finger. Postiche, teased out and fixed with spray varnish went next, with more scatter material sieved on. Spent a while doing this & then the next day added some longer dry grass stems [sisal], glued into the grass. finally, more spray varnish was added in various places where the grass was a bit thin, to thicken and lengthen the cover and while still wet, some more fine scatter was sprinkled on.

Would still like to do another pass, with fine scatter mixed with yellow & white crumb to suggest buttercups and daisies, but have run out at the moment, so will have to wait till the new year.

Hopefully the pictures tell the story

[burnthebox]

David your modelling skills have no bounds, you'er a master, well done, I feel I'm peeping over the fence to look at that loco,