What's Growing

Being that I wanted to try and break-up the sea-of-green on the layout, I decided to use some lichen from Woodland Scenics. Had a light green and a darker green on hand. Cut the light green into very small pieces and glued them to the layout. This seems to have broken-up the green a bit. I still want to add some dirt here and there to make it look more natural.

Then I used a combination of both green lichens to simulate overgrowth along the brick wall. Again this was glued to the base and carefully to the wall with white glue.

The building door and the wagons were weathered by using charcoal powder. This was applied with a #2 brush and dabbed on sparingly. Then a 1/4 inch soft brissled brush was used to soften and spread the powder around. I was quite pleased with the effect.

Lastly I decided to change the paper on the Critter hood to a more rusted look. This makes it look more used and old. Still need to buy a driver so that I can finish the deck and add details.

Next time we'll discuss some more scenery on other areas of the layout. Stay tuned.

The "Critter"

In order to have a proper, functioning layout I needed some sort of motive power. I stripped down a Ho 0-4-0 switcher for the basis for my "Critter". Here's what it looked like with the basic planking for the rear deck and ends re-worked. The pic also shows the 17 inch "fiddle yard":

Next came the hood or bonnet for the front over the motor. The hood is made out of cardboard with small pieces of wood on the inside for bracing and to hold the shape:

The next step was to give the black frame and the ends some weathering to give it the look of heavy usage and many years of service:

The hood is covered with a texture from the internet rescaled and applied with double-stick tape. I'm pretty happy with the look, but I may change the hood covering to make it look even more worn. The rear deck will have to wait for paint and detailing until my "driver" arrives in the mail, then I'll finish the Critter and the weathering.

Well that's it for now until the next installment. Stay tuned.