It’s often too easy to overdo textures on model railways. If in doubt, a smoother finish is more likely to be convincing…
Below: To create subtle rippling water in this scene, I applied PVA over mucky brown paints and topped it off with gloss enamel varnish. The grasses and reeds are a mixture of WWS grass tufts, plumbers’ hemp and static grass.
…for example, when ballasting track, the rule of thumb is always to use a grade of ballast the next scale down, so you’d use ‘N’ gauge ballast on a ‘OO’ layout for example. This scene used fine, sieved sand and the treatment with a wash of DAS clay creates that really dusty ballast look you often see in sidings.
Above: Concrete shouldn’t be plain grey: I misted on Halfords grey, white and red primers from several feet away to create this realistic texture. Use coloured pencils for some subtle highlighting.
I’m a fan of DAS modelling clay as it has many uses. It’s great for country roads where you want a smooth – but not quite even – finish. It requires paint, but remember – don’t go too dark.
Below: Sometimes, painted card will create just enough texture. I painted this mount board with pale grey interior matt emulsion and then stippled on matt black poster paint to create slight variation.