Structolite hardshell on the “southern” portion of my “g” shaped layout is done and I’ve decided to do a bit of landscaping here instead of proceeding onto other areas. I’d like to get this part mostly done so I can clean things up and start running trains again. This section of the layout has a variety of topography. I have extruded pink Styrofoam cliffs, a Styrofoam flat area at the base of the cliff, a combination Styrofoam and plywood flat plateau area on top of the cliff, Structolite hard-shell over cardboard lattice, a pond (just a slab of Masonite colored blue for now) and a small gorge. I have a couple of Woodland Scenic rock molds and have started casting some Hydrocal outcroppings, but I’m searching for a good way to proceed and to me, “good” means easy and economical, both in terms of money and time.
So I’ve been searching this forum, Googling and You-Tubing like crazy, looking at various methods and techniques and am left wondering what is the best way to proceed? (I suppose there is no “best” way, is there.) I’ve looked at MRR’s “wet scenery” technique, all of Eric Siegel’s mountain and tunnel videos, the Fusion-Fiber demo video (that looked interesting because there is adhesive already in the mixture) and a bunch of others. I’m inclined towards trying the method used in Everett’s series of videos where he paints everything an earth colored latex, then sprays on various washes of acrylic colors, then lays on various ground covers, but would that work over Structolite? Is Fusion Fiber over Structolite a viable method? Would latex paint over Structolite and then acrylic washes work the same way as over extruded foam?
Also, when it comes to ground cover I read somewhere that with O-Gauge you don’t use the finer grades of ground foam…the coarser grades are better, especially since Structolite already has a rough surface.
There are a multitude of choices out there so what are your favorite methods and what materials do you use? Those with opinions and experience with Structolite or extruded foam would be most welcome.
