JAMES HICKMAN concludes his look at how to add a touch of winter to your layout.
In Part One I showed you how I constructed the baseboard and the buildings for this project, along with how the height was added to the board. This part is where the actual scenics takes place, and I will show you how I turned the buildings and board into the wintry wonderland it became.
This is how we left the diorama in the previous article
The buildings were set in place with their wiring fed through the board. These were glued in position, and the details glued around them. For the cottage garden walls I used the Harburn Hamlet walling (HHHN630 and HHHN631). These were cut using a razor saw and glued into position as well. The Harburn Hamlet walling models a nice stone wall. However the colour didn't match that of the buildings, so it was time to break out the paint.
The walling is set in place and treated with a grey base coat
For the colour I tried to match that of the building as much as possible so that it didn't look too out of place in the finished scene. The colours were added on top of the base coat using a mixture of washes and dry brushing techniques. The road around them was painted the same base colour to begin to blend the scene together.
Other details were then added to the diorama; a 3-aspect signal from the Gaugemaster range (GM275) and a Ratio lamp hut, taken from the Lineside Huts Kit RO237.
From here the rest of the ground was painted its base colours. The Hillside was coated in a mid-brown acrylic paint, and the rest of the roadway was given a coat of Faller Road Paint (FA180506).
Once this was done, it was time to turn my attention to the graveyard. Once the church was positioned and glued down, I added a small path from both doors and around the church using Noch N09165 Basaltic Rock Dark Grey Profi Ballast. You will notice in this part I am keeping to greys and muted tones to add to the whole bleak mid-winter chill feeling that I want the diorama to convey. Winter isn't always that pretty and fun after all.
The first details to be added were the gravestones. Some of these were made from the punched-out windows of the church and the cottages. These were added at the back of the graveyard. The gravestones at the front of the graveyard are made by Donaplas, under the reference DPA4. I decided to use the punched-out parts from the kits as they were otherwise going to go to waste. They make good fillers for the back as I didn't need the gravestones here to be as detailed or varied. Both these and the Dornaplas gravestones were treated to a coat of paint. Here I used a mixture of greys to differentiate them from each other and give the more varied look you seen in any graveyard around the UK.
From here, all that was left to add was the trees. Being winter I wanted to model the typical leafless trees rather than conifers in this area. I added two bare trees to the graveyard, both from the same Faller Pack (FA181225).
The Graveyard is detailed
Next was the ground cover. For the hillside and areas around the road, I added static grass. Although you may wonder why I didn't just put the snow down straight away, this is simply because snow can be patchy in real life and I wanted some bits of grass to be poking out of the snow. For this I used a static grass puffer bottle (GM193) and darker tones of the static grass mixed. I stuck with the 2mm length fibres as I didn't want the grass to be too long. This was applied in the usual method on top of the GM169 Static grass glue.
The Grass is laid
You will also notice in the above image the addition of a snowy tree. This is to become the centre of the village and is actually a lit Noch Christmas tree (N22110). It was almost time to bring the snow clouds in, but first it was time to plant the rest of the trees. For this area I wanted a bit wilder looking area, so opted to begin with adding snow covered conifers (N24683). These were set in place using some superglue.
The base of the hillside had some darker brown scatters added to break up the unnatural look of a clean hillside. This was also again to add another layer of muted tones. Seafoam trees were then added in between the conifers to add even a wilder woodland feel to the area. These were left without leaves, again simulating bare trees in winter. Once that was all dried, the area was given a good coating of the Deluxe Materials Snow Glue before the Deluxe Scenic Snowflakes (DLBD-25) were sprinkled on.
The glue was also applied either side of the tracks and the snow was again sprinkled on.
I carried this technique on around the rest of the diorama - glue then sprinkling the snow. For the road areas, I made sure to brush off some of the snow with a hard paintbrush once it had dried. This gave to snow a thinner look as you get when it tries to settle on tarmac.
Down the side of the cottages I wanted a deeper patch of snow. This was to simulate the wind whipping round and gathering the snow up in a drift. This was done by coating the area with Tamiya Snow Texture paint (TMY87119). Before this was fully dry, I again added the snow and gently pressed it into the surface. The snow I used here was snow that had been brushed off the road surfaces. Because of this, it had picked up specks of the scatters and grass used elsewhere, which I think gives it an even more realistic look.
You will see from the above image the building roofs have also been covered in snow. Again, this was just a repeat of the process. The only thing different here was that I piled the snow heavier to the side of the prevailing wind, in this case the sides facing the church.
This process of applying the snow was then continued over the rest of the areas. Once this was dry and set, the excess was removed, and a few touch ups were made. The trees were given a coat of spray glue before the snow was allied, giving the effect of the snow settling on the branches. The snow on the tops of the chimneys on the cottages and the edges of the church tower and windowsills was all painted on by hand. This was done with a bright white paint and a small brush. To help you do this effectively, have a look online for photos of settled snow to see where it builds up and in what patterns. The gravestones were topped with snow in the same way.
Finally, it was time to add the final details to the landscape. A couple of cars were needed to finish the scene. These were taken from the Oxford Diecast Range and given a topcoat of Tamiya Diorama Texture White Snow (TMY87119) before being dusted in scenic snowflakes.
The vehicle snowed and ready for placing
As an aside, the snow products used here are the Deluxe Materials Scenic Snowflakes (DLBD-25) The Scenic Snow Glue. These were both taken from the DLBD-29 Scenic Snow kit in which you get the glue, scenic snowflakes and Icy Sparkles all in one handy pack with tools as well.
Other details that were then added were the Post Box (PE5191) and Bus Shelter (PE5192), as well as a Telephone Box (PE5190) all from the Modelscene range. These were placed around the village centre and topped with snow where appropriate. The scene was then finally given a dusting of Icy Sparkles to complete the shimmering look of the snow.
And there we have it, a completed scene. It is always more challenging to create a detailed scene in N scale, but with some time and a steady hand the process isn't too difficult, and the results can be even more rewarding. If I had been modelling in OO or HO Scales, there are other wintery products I would have added, for example the Snowman figure from the Noch figure range, or maybe a Faller Christmas Market, but I am still more than happy with the result.
When modelling snow, or any other scenic area, the most important thing to do is research. During the build I was constantly looking up pictures of snowy graveyards and dark snowy roads (yes for this project my internet history does seem pretty morbid) but it was key to seeing how real snow falls, and more importantly where it builds up too.
Keep your eyes out in the new year as hopefully the third season will be with us, and I will have another set or articles, all about enjoying the springtime scenes. I will leave you with one final image, the snowy scene as it is finished, and illuminated too.
Now that you're interested in creating a winter scene you'll be interested in the RIGHT LINES article, which also covers other snow effect products.