When we say 'scenics' in the model railway world, nine times out of ten, we mean the green stuff—grass, plants, trees, all the natural parts of the layout—it doesn't always simply mean the rolling hills. In this article, we look at ways of building up the ground cover. For some areas of a model, this could be a pristine lawn or neat flowerbed, but for others, it could be an unkept hedge along a railway line.
These products are the traditional ground cover found on layouts around the world for many years. Although these are still a popular product for a budget layout, they tend to give an old school look to the finished model when used as the primary ground covers. These can be found in our range under refrences GM1200 through to GM1205.
This is a more modern take on the scatter. It is made from a synthetic foam, refined into into varying degrees of grain. This gives a more natural looking cover to that of the scatters. Both Gaugemaster and Faller produce good choices of flocks.
As well as the Standard Flock, Structured Flock is produced in the same way, however tends to be less refined leading to larger particles. This is good for giving a bit of height to your fields, bringing the scenics up from being simply a flat 2D landscape. Because of the nature of the product, it also clumps, meaning small bushes can also easily be created with this type of product. The structured flock is ground to 3 mm consistency and perfect for building up areas with thicker vegetation or small bushes. Like the other flock above, it can be glued in place with Grass Glue.
Well, this one kind of explains itself - it's grass that is electrostatic. When applied - it represents varying lengths and colours of grass and similar plants. It can be applied in small areas using a Puffer Bottle or in larger areas with use of an electrostatic applicator like a Gras-Master Static Grass Applicator.
We won't be going into this method here as we have a seperate article dedicated to the subject called Product Spotlight - Gaugemaster Static Grass System.
These are essentially preformed rolls of static grass. They come backed on paper and can be easily unrolled and glued into place. Unlike other methods, these rolls do need some extra shaping when applied over uneven servfaces such as those on hillsides.
The Gaugemaster range of Grass Mats contains three colours; Spring, Summer and Autumn. Other colours of mats are available in both the Noch and Faller ranges
An 'old-school' method of ground cover, but still widley used is Lichen, a naturally occurring moss which is harvested and dyed, or in some cases synthetically produced. Although some may see it as more of a budget range product, lichen can form the base for some of the more detailed bushes and hedgerows.
Although mostly used for trees and bushes, leaves can also be used as ground cover. Whether they have fallen, or are growing on small bushes, they can be used to great effect. Gaugemaster offer leaves in three different colours, and Noch offer a couple of sets as well.
Now we know what products are around, let's have a look at how some of them can be used.
This small diorama depicts an old barn near the end of its useful life.
This scene makes uses of many of the products listed above. Check out how this scene was made here.
The same process was used for this other autumn scene:
If you had visited out shop some while ago you may remember this model was on display; "The Abandoned Engine Shed".
We hope reading through this brief article on scenics that you have seen that there are a lot of products on the market, but not all are required for a good effect. It is just a case of deciding which style of scenics suit your model and budgets. For other products such as trees and bushes, plants and rocks - check out the full Gaugemaster Scenics Range.