A quick footnote. A friend and I was talking the other day about using AI to help refine our writing skills. She said it's been fun to mess around with and to have it write using an accent. So since I'm modeling in the south, I figured to have it write with a southern dialect. We'll see how this goes?
It’s been a hot minute since I done any real work on the scenery around here. I done dragged out most of the stuff I needed and dumped it right on the layout so I could get to it quick. Means the whole setup is out of commission till I get this job wrapped up.
Now that the yard backdrop is finally sorted out, I figured it was high time to get back to the stretch between Ruston and Winnfield. A while back, I tossed down some plain old ground foam over that brown paint. Worked fine for a bit, but I’m fixin’ to spruce it up proper with some static grass and thicker brush.
First thing I tackled was laying down some Kudzu and wild brush between Ruston and the farm. Put static grass on them flat hilltops, but down those slopes headin’ to the tracks, I knew some thick Kudzu would look slicker than a whistle.
To make that Kudzu, I grabbed me a tiny pinch of Woodland Scenics Poly Fiber and pulled it real thin, then laid it across them hillside banks. Didn’t even need glue to start—that base of foam grabs hold of them fibers like Velcro, so you just stretch and press it right down.
Once I had the spot covered, I doused it good with hairspray till it turned all frosty-looking. Then I sprinkled a light dustin’ of dark green foam over it. Hit it with another shot of hairspray to lock that down and give the medium green foam something to stick to. Kept stackin’ thin layers, goin’ lighter and lighter on the green till that brush was thick enough to hide the fibers underneath.
When I had it lookin’ just right, I gave it one last heavy soak of hairspray to seal the deal. Once it dries up, that hairspray holds like iron on a layout that ain’t movin’ nowhere.
With the Kudzu all set, I moved on to layerin’ static grass up on the hilltops. Even though I’m fixin’ to cover most of them hills with trees later on, I wanted the grass underneath to look wild and natural, not like some fancy manicured lawn. I also went ahead and put static grass between the tracks too, usin’ the same trick along with some heavier brush.
Then I headed over to the section runnin’ from the farm to Winnfield, and managed to glue down a large amount of that static grass before I plum ran out of time.
