LAYERS KEY IN BRINGING YOUR GREENERY TO LIFE

QI have planted static grass on my layout and am pleased with the result. However, the greenery seems to lack life. Can you suggest how I can give the scenery a lift, in terms of realism and vibrancy? Bob Dawson, by email Peter says: The key to realistic scenery is to layer the levels of scenic materials, both in height, texture and colour. One can spend many enjoyable hours adding further scenic colours, textures and variations using foliage mats, coarse and fine turfs and bushes. All are available in a wide variety of colours. For example, Woodland Scenics Coarse Turf comes in a choice of 11 different shades.

To add further colour and texture variations, gently ‘paint’ some of the tips of the taller fibres with a suitable scenic glue, then sprinkle on various fine turf colours to represent seed heads.

To add even more colour variations, try using an Accent Shaker. These handy little plastic dispensers have been designed by Woodland Scenics to make the application of flowers and subtle scenic tints easier. Coupled with the same brand’s Plant Hues or Flowers pack, each of which contain four different colours of extra-fine scatter material, which can be inter-mixed for even greater variety.

Simply fill the Accent Shaker with your chosen material, fix the lid in place and select the large or smaller apertures to tailor the amount of scatter emitted.

I usually put a small blob of white glue on the tip of my finger and drag it over planted static grass fibres. Then, while the glue is still wet, the Accent Shaker is shaken gently over the area. After the glue dries clear, you are left with patches of colour, highlights and shadows, which is highly effective for adding greater realism.

Optionally, the finished landscape can be sprayed with hairspray or Scenic Cement to fix everything down, although this step is not usually necessary unless you expect to be moving your finished project around a lot.

The finished effect can be highly realistic and more convincing than an overall layer of similar shades of green. The yellow flowers suggest buttercups in this springtime field scene.

After applying a little Scenic Glue to the tops of static grass fibres with my finger, the loaded Accent Shaker is used to sprinkle the Flowers or Plant Hues over the wet glue. The glue will dry clear in a few hours.

The Woodland Scenics Flowers pack provides four different colours of extra fine scatter material. Another pack, Plant Hues, is a useful alternative, allowing highlights and shading to be added to areas of greenery.

Accent Shakers, sold in pairs, are an easy and quick way to add further colour variations to a project.

Peter says that the key to effective scenery lies in the layering of different shades and textures of greenery. Adding accents and shading is not difficult and makes a huge difference.

Flower tips can be applied by sprinkling coloured scatter material over previous layers of static grass.