Static Grass

Eventually it had to be done - a first foray into static grass. However, there were a couple of steps to finish off first.

The first job was to finish the landscape round the mill. In the last post I was laying polyfilla mixed with brown acrylic paint and water to bed in the mill and raise the land. All went well but I needed to raise it a little more. No problem except that I used a new box of own brand filler from a value store and instead of drying solid it dried to powder so all needed to be scraped out and replaced with a more reputable filler.

The second job was to finish the river. I'd done it in two parts, left and right and just needed to put one last coat of Deluxe water. As in a previous post, this stuff dried way thinner than expected so one last coast was all it needed.Well blow me down, this coat went and dried all thick with a curved edge to it. There are definitely times when railway modelling can drive you to drink. There's no going back short of ripping up the whole river. It isn't bad but I know that before this last coat it looked better.

Anyway, time to try the static grass device. I'd bought a sieve version as recommended by the war gaming fraternity and after a bit of play I chucked down a layer of 2mm green over the whole area which made a huge difference.

After a trip to ExpoNG it was time to take the bull by the horns, throw caution to the winds and make more progress. I'd found Kathy Millatt's videos several months ago and saw her recommendation for War World Scenics Layering spray so I had a can along with many different sizes and colours of their range. I have to say I really like them and they were easy to use. Here's some photo's of what has been achieved so far. I hope you like them.

Paint and Water

It's starting to come together. At this point it really is a case of working on several items at once. The Mill needs painting but also needs to blend into the wall beneath it. The wall beneath it needs painting but it needs to blend into the bottom of the Mill Race. This morning's first job was, therefore, to fill in the 'floor' of the mill race while listening to the Chinese GP. After that it was a case of making sure there were no gaps at the edge. I alternated between filler and Deluxe Materials Super Phatic glue which is good at bridging holes.

Once the base was in and reasonably dry I painted the floor with a dark brown/black/green colour and then set to painting the walls. This was again a mixture of browns and greens but applied with a sponge and a finger. Effectively it was dry brushing but with a sponge and where I put the paint on too thick I just used a damp finger to spread it the paint out a bit. When it came to the wall under the Mill I also used the sponge on the Mill itself to blend it all in.

There is still the need for some washes of reds, greens and browns but generally it's best to not overdo it, in my opinion, by trying to cover every stone.

The next task is going to be to add the water into the race. This is going to be a serious exercise as there is a lot to fill but hopefully the four bottles of Deluxe Materials Aqua Magic will suffice otherwise I'll be buying 4 more!

Getting Stoned

As always progress goes in fits and spurts. A few early mornings has seen the river get some serious attention. The catalyst for this was finding some excellent stone from Stacey's Miniature Masonry on Ebay. It's called Herebrook Grit and you can purchase it in 5 different sizes. I bought the 4 smallest sizes.

I have a picture in front of me from The Telegraph in May 2017 which shows a dry river bed in the Lake District. The detail that can be seen shows that the biggest stones are where the water is deepest and, presumably, moving with sufficient power. As you go up the bank the stone sizes get smaller.

I hope I have recreated that effect here.