corn?

ic&e_modeler

New Member
hi, im just getting out of ho and hopping into n scale and am getting ready to plan a shelf layout i am going to model byron wisconsin which has cornfields in and around it. i was just wondering what is the best approach to making cornfields i remember reading an article in mrr but i don't think i have it anymore and i think that was for ho scale. i was also thinking i could just model in all snow which would eliminate the need for corn field but ive never done anyting in snow so i don't know how tough or easy it would be. i could also do the corn after harvest or before season but i don't know how to get that plowed look and i don't want to just put dirt around it becasue that doesnt look realistic.
 

doctorwayne

Active Member
I've seen some good-looking plowed fields done using corrugated cardboard. You need to peel the paper face off one side of the cardboard, then glue the remaining smooth side to the layout. Next, paint the corrugated side with white glue, then sprinkle on some fine earth-coloured ground foam. You can also use this method to produce rows of low crops: simply do the first glue application only on the low parts of the corrugations, sprinkle on the "dirt" foam, then apply glue to the high parts of the corrugations, and carefully sprinkle on some crop-coloured ground foam. A final light overspray of "wet" water will help draw the glue up into the foam. Obviously, for N scale, you'll need to find some very finely corrugated cardboard.

Wayne
 

MasonJar

It's not rocket surgery
The best corn I have seen is brass etched corn that comes in sheets that you "stnad up" and bend into position. However, I think you are right in that this is HO scale. However, google might turn something up for you...?! ;)

One other material I have thought about using is the little "craft brooms". Those homemade or rustic style decorative brooms are made of something that has fine branches kind of like corn. I've used it (again in HO) to make "waist high" cattails in ditches. That should scale out about right for tall Nscale corn...

Andrew
 

Mountain Man

Active Member
Or you could build them out if toothpicks, as one fellow wrote in to Model Railroad magazine.

Apparently the "kit only includes something like 8 or so, and he had to make 8,000. And no, that is not a numerical error. train97 train97
 
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