Number 1 in a Series

CREATING SCENERY EFFECTS

I thought we might digress a little from the last
four Painting editions and look at something
completely different but very essential for
our Linka Buildings. SCENERY and the many
variants that come into play.
Again, some people are wary of creating scenery
because they may feel intimidated by the mere
thought of it. BUT its even EASIER than painting!
There, hows that for a statement?
I want to show you how it can be not only enjoyable
in dressing a scene, but also how it can be done
INEXPENSIVELY by making your own materials
from stuff that is laying around the house, or even
found in kerb-side clean-ups!
To enhance our building, once it has been nicely
painted and finished, we need to look at how we can
present it with suitable greenery, shrubs, trees, etc.

SCENERY MATERIALS
HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN
We all know that scenery materials are readily
available on the internet, through ebay and
online hobby shops but they are expensive
especially when you have large areas to cover.
Even if you are creating a one off diorama for
your model the material cost soon adds up, and
may never be used again (although unlikely)
some items can be re-purposed and used for
something different.

To create a small diorama for your building not

only makes it more visually interesting to the
onlooker, but it also enhances the building itself.
Each Linka project built will have a reason why
it was done in the first place it could be for
War Gaming, Railway Layouts, or simply built as
a Display Piece to go in a cabinet or on a table.
Whatever the reason, by going a few more steps
will really give you the satisfaction of seeing it in a
situation of realism ie. where it belongs!
With my model railway layout that you may have
found on this website, I find I have more pleasure
from actually building the scenery, rather than
operating the trains. In fact, the trains are almost
a secondary item so that they give the scenery a
reason for being! And, of course, the buildings are
also to enhance the scenery.

GROUND FOAM RUBBER

Used for grass, shrubs, tree foliage and probably
things I have never thought of!
Some foam rubbers are definitely better than
others some are quite dense, others less so.
I try to find one that has been used for padding
in furnishings or even bed mattresses. (See
illustration below.)

I presume Local Councils have clean-ups of

some kind in most western countries around the
world, like they do here in Australia, usually that
is where I get my foam rubber from a kerbside
clean-up!
You will also need a way to grind your foam. I have
seen on YouTube people using electric blenders
(watch out ladies!) but that can work out expensive,
especially if you burn out the motor trying to grind
too much! Because you are using foam rubber
(either wet or dry) in the blender, the motor will
become very hot and you must be careful.
I found an old meat grinder which works wonders
and gives me 3 different grades of ground
foam in ONE OPERATION! I use the blade with
the smallest apertures, but sometimes the medium
one as well. The one with the largest holes does
not work well for me. (See illustration below and
bottom next column.)

I have found that the coloration varies considerably,

and not evenly, but thats OK! Alternatively you
could use a clothes dye, but you dont have the
colour variations like you do with paint! My
colour range includes dark green, spring green,
sap green, olives, browns, even autumn colours of
yellows, oranges and reds.
Once you are satisfied with the colour of your
foam you need to let it dry. Try NOT to squeeze
the foam, because a lot of the colour mixture will
go and leave you with an unsatisfactory piece. The
method of drying I use is to have a piece of wire
mesh (chicken wire or bird wire used in cages)
stretched over a void such as having the wire
stretched over a wheelbarrow.

I find it best to COLOURISE my foam BEFORE

grinding, doing it after is too hard. Here I use
ACRYLIC or POSTER paints (cheap craft shop paint
cheaper the better), you may also have success
with house emulsion paint.
With acrylic or poster paints I dilute the paint
with water trial and error here to a suitable
consistency and then chop up my foam into cubes
(not too big, 4-5cm cubes) remembering you are
going to HAND grind them. In a plastic bucket or
similar, place your foam and dowse with paint/
water mixture.
Make sure that ALL pieces are covered and immersed
(they want to float) so I put an old china plate with a
brick or heavy weight on top of it all to make sure the
foam stays immersed and leave it for 3 or 4 days,
or until the foam takes on the colour completely.

FINE

MEDIUM

COARSE

3 different grades of ground foam in 1 operation

The reason for doing this is because with foam laid

out on a solid surface the weight of the water/paint
mix will press on the foam and the colour will
leach out onto the surface. Even on the wire, the
mixture will drip out, but with luck most of your
colour will remain embedded in the foam.

This time, your mixture can be spread out onto

sheets of newspaper to dry but NOT in clumps.
Try to spread the mixture out evenly so that it will
dry evenly. Drying may take some time, the sawdust
will dry much more quickly than the sand, I have
left my sand undisturbed for well over a week.

Now let it dry COMPLETELY before attempting to

grind it up.

Once dried thoroughly the mixture (coloured

sand or sawdust) needs to be rubbed through a
fine mesh sieve and stored in a container for use.
These are best used by sprinkling with your
fingers over the areas. It can be used to represent
flowers in a meadow or blooms in shrubs. A light
green or a yellow could even be used in trees,
by sprinkling from ABOVE the tree the flecks of
colour can be made to replicate the sun making
highlights in the foliage.

SAND or SAWDUST
These materials can be used as a grass scatter
or for shrubs, trees and flowers (see illustration
below). Greens and browns for grasses or trees
reds, yellows, oranges, purples for flowers.
Unfortunately WHITE does not work with these
materials. If you want white for flowers, it is best to
use ground foam and PAINT it.

Treating both these materials similarly find

suitable water soluble colour paint and mix with
the water but not as liquid as used for the foam. In
fact, you probably will need a much stronger ratio
of paint to water, especially with the sand.
Again, using a suitable container, mix the sand or
sawdust/colour liquid, adding only small quantities
of each at a time, and stirring the mixture (almost
paste-like) until the colour has been evenly
distributed throughout. Set aside and do next
batch. If you try to do too much at once it will not
distribute colour evenly!

Both above images have had coloured sand

sprinkled on foliage to represent flowers

CARPET UNDERFELT
I use this to cover large areas on my layout to
create grassy hills, embankments or mounds.
Before laying it out, I pull the felt out into layers.
You will probably find there is a string mesh in
the middle to hold the felt together, by pulling out
roughly from the middle the felt will come apart
in two layers quite easily. I prefer to do it this way
than using the felt as a solid piece. Once it is pulled
apart you attain a much better loose grass effect
the strands tend to stand up giving a nice long
grass appearance (see illustration next page).

SEPARATED

This may take a number of days to dry. If darker

or lighter areas of green on your hills are wanted,
then you can overpaint those areas, with a paint
brush or even an airbrush for more subtle effects.
Better still use your ground foam scatter
materials, with variants of greens to denote spring
or summer/autumn/winter grasses. Nature is
NEVER evenly coloured! Even a very small area of
grass will have different shades, including earth,
sand and stones.

Once I have built a formwork of card strips or

styrofoam formers to the terrain contours and heights
for my hills, etc. I use a white PVA glue at 100% to
glue the felt pieces onto the formers! You can even
use a staple gun if fastening to ply or styrofoam.
You will find it gives you a very pleasing effect (see
large illustration below) it can be left natural
for dead grass or can be painted. As my base I use
a sloppy paint mix of the green colour to represent
my grass and then with a 1 inch house paint brush
I paint the hills. A word of warning if using
only card strips you have to paint very gently,
also because it is a water based paint (acrylic or
poster) it can work through the felt and soften your
card formers. Not so much of a problem if using
styrofoam pieces!

With your coloured sand or sawdust, lightly sprinkle

different colours to represent the wildflowers in
meadows, grassy fields or roadside embankments
or your lawn surrounding your Linka Building!
Next issue we will look at commercially available
materials and how to incorporate them into our
Linka scene!
Great modelling Linkarites!