Scenery in Autumn Colors

Arnold

The Fall colors always inspired me to build a layout using the Autumn theme and I did it. Back in the mid eighties I built my second layout making that dream come true. I'm not great at giving directions on how to add links to articles on these forums but if you can access the digital issues of O Gauge RR look for issue 143. You might find some information to help with your build, have fun

@Sitka posted:

Nice train room Dave!! WTG Mark

Thanks Mark, I switched rooms and am switching about 1/3 of the table. I'm chronicling the changes on one of my favorite threads.

What did you do on your layout today?

Trumpetrain (Patrick) also has glorious autumn colors that appear in the photos of his layout.

@Steve Horvath posted:

Arnold

The Fall colors always inspired me to build a layout using the Autumn theme and I did it. Back in the mid eighties I built my second layout making that dream come true. I'm not great at giving directions on how to add links to articles on these forums but if you can access the digital issues of O Gauge RR look for issue 143. You might find some information to help with your build, have fun

Thanks Steve.

Arnold

Arnold - Here are some fall pics from my layout taken over the years ... different trains and some different photo angles of Mt. Randolph whom you know is a very good friend of mine, who helped me with building my layout.   ( Click on image to enlarge. )

Country road.  

Taken in 2016 a B&O Dockside takes the bridge at the point of a short logging train.

Part of a Ma & Pa mixed freight.

Here comes a Washington Terminal RS1 trundling across the bridge.

That looks sensational Patrick. It’s amazing how your scene, as published in run 327, “ The snow storm that almost stranded Santa”, makes your layout look so different. Your skills and talents are exceptional.

Jay

@Tranquil Hollow RR posted:

That looks sensational Patrick. It’s amazing how your scene, as published in run 327, “ The snow storm that almost stranded Santa”, makes your layout look so different. Your skills and talents are exceptional.

Jay

Jay - thank you so very much for your kind words!    In the summer of 2025 I'll be changing Mt. Randolph and some of my layout to a winter scene for an upcoming article in OGR Magazine.

@trumpettrain posted:

Jay - thank you so very much for your kind words!    In the summer of 2025 I'll be changing Mt. Randolph and some of my layout to a winter scene for an upcoming article in OGR Magazine.

Looking forward to that. I would love to know how you made the snow because it looked so authentic.

Jay

My friend Mike Nease and I refurbed my old layout to donate it to the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad.  For Autumn background trees, we made the classic "puffball" trees.  These work well for distant trees.  We used Woodland Scenics coarse turf in these colors:  Fall yellow, Fall rust, Fall red, Fall orange, Light Green, and Conifer.

Tear off pieces of polyfiber, roll them into 3" balls, and secure them with a toothpick coated with white glue.

Spray with black flat primer.

Spray with hair spray and roll in ground foam.  Repeat. (you can mix colors like yellow and orange for more variation).  Secure with additional hairspray if needed.

Set aside to dry.

To install on the layout, it was simply a matter of poking the toothpicks into the foam.

For foreground trees, we used the Woodland Scenics plastic trees that you twist into a 3D shape. We enhanced them by spraying with hairspray and sprinkling on 3/16-1/4" pieces of sisal rope fibers.  Spray them with Rustoleum camo brown.

Spray with hairspray and spinkle on coarse foam.  Repeat.

Bob

Here are some more fall scenes from my layout.  

The large fall bushes in the foreground are from Martin Wellburg Studios.  I purchased at Scenic Express.  

@Tranquil Hollow RR posted:

Looking forward to that. I would love to know how you made the snow because it looked so authentic.

Jay

Jay - I created the snow scenes using Woodland Scenics snow.  To create scenes where there is clumping of snow ( as after being pushed by a snow plow ) I used a product called Fusion Fiber.  FF is white in color so I applied the Fusion Fibre right out of the bag.  After applying the FF to the desired area, I then sprinkled on some Woodland Scenics snow to visually soften the angular clumps of FF.  Doing this gave the clumped snow a realistic effect.  

As Fusion Fiber's  purpose is intended for creating tunnel shells and ground formations and requires mixing with water and acrylic paint,  I used it for an entirely different purpose, directly out of the bag with no water/paint prep,  as described above.   I "think?" Scenic Express still sells Fusion Fibre now.   I got mine long ago from Harrison Trains which is no longer in business.  Luckily I still have enough FF leftover to create scenes for the upcoming article.  

Once of the wonderful things about using Woodland Scenics snow is that it allows me to make tire tracks.   In one of the scenes from the OGR Run 327 Christmas Edition I used the WS snow to show tracks in the street made by a trolley car ... as if the car is running on street tracks ...  the WS snow created the illusion there are trolley tracks under the snow.  

@RRDOC posted:

My friend Mike Nease and I refurbed my old layout to donate it to the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad.  For Autumn background trees, we made the classic "puffball" trees.  These work well for distant trees.  We used Woodland Scenics coarse turf in these colors:  Fall yellow, Fall rust, Fall red, Fall orange, Light Green, and Conifer.

Tear off pieces of polyfiber, roll them into 3" balls, and secure them with a toothpick coated with white glue.

Spray with black flat primer.

Spray with hair spray and roll in ground foam.  Repeat. (you can mix colors like yellow and orange for more variation).  Secure with additional hairspray if needed.

Set aside to dry.

To install on the layout, it was simply a matter of poking the toothpicks into the foam.

For foreground trees, we used the Woodland Scenics plastic trees that you twist into a 3D shape. We enhanced them by spraying with hairspray and sprinkling on 3/16-1/4" pieces of sisal rope fibers.  Spray them with Rustoleum camo brown.

Spray with hairspray and spinkle on coarse foam.  Repeat.

Bob

Wonderful outcome!!!  Thanks for sharing your process!!