Scenery

Lionelalltheway

New Member
Im not sure if this is the right forum to put this in, let me know if it isnt.

As a model railroader with a budget I have begun to look into making my own ground coverings, I have made ballast for some sidings of my railroad with dirt and some ash, and I have sifted some dirt to replace soil and earth ground foams. I was wondering if anyone else had recipes to make ground covers, scenery etc. Thanks
 

Relic

Member
I too suffer from terminal poverty and have to do the sifting thing, kinda got to enjoy it I'm currently grinding up the seat of my Olds 88 to use as ground foam, experimenting with different sizes & colours.
have fun
 

Will_annand

Active Member
I too am not a rich man, so I turned on the charm at a couple of local stores.

The woman who owns the local coffee shop that I frequent throws her used coffee grounds into a plastic pail, so I asked if I could bring in a pail and remove some of the used grounds. She was glad to be rid of them.

I went over to the local lumber store, asked the fellow if I could clean up the floor around his saw and collect the sawdust in a container I had in the car. He was glad to have the area cleaned up.

I even helped the town's road crew :D they use allot of sand during the winter on the roads and sidewalk. I waited until after the first spring rain and when the sand was dry again, I took out some plastic buckets and cleaned the sidewalk.

The result is now I think I have enough coffee grounds, sand and sawdust to scenic my layout. Even if I was wrong, I know I can get more.

The only thing I need to buy now is paint. I usually use the dollar store Acrylic paints.

To colour the sawdust, I thin the paint with water, and put it in a plastic container. I put the sawdust in a strainer and dip the strainer in the paint a couple of times. I let the excess paint drip out and then spread the sawdust on a piece of wax paper to dry.

For the floral foam blocks, just put the block into a plastic bag, grab your hammer and have fun. hamr
 

MasonJar

It's not rocket surgery
To turn the floral foam into ground foam, you might try a wood working rasp if you have one.

Andrew
 
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