Creech Grange in 006.5: grass grows...

With the deadline looming for it's first exhibition appearance, I thought I'd better press on with the scenery on Creech Grange...

The first stage was to green things up somewhat! I use Mininatur static grass, because when I bought it a few years ago it was much more muted in tone then the grasses from Noch and Heki. Now I believe there are other brands and when my current stock runs low I'll look into alternatives.

The first step is to apply Flock cement to the baseboard. I usually apply some flock first, but this time, as I was in a bit of a rush to be honest, I skipped this stage and applied the Grass Masters product (with paintbrush) direct to the baseboard which has been painted a matt earthy colour already.

The fibres are then loaded up in the Green Scenes Flock-it and applied as per the instructions. I started with a 70% Anita-Decor short (2.5mm) green and 30% Mininatur 'Fall' 4.5mm fibres. The short ones are pretty bright, so the fall colour tones them down a touch. I applied this to the pastures, and then increased the percentage of the 'fall' fibres at the edges and in the centre of the layout.

The results are very pleasing if a little uniform. At least the subtle contours introduced with plaster on an otherwise flat baseboard are shown to good effect here and add a little more interest. I also experimented with adding the glue between and around the sleepers on the standard gauge line, like I've seen the maestro Chris Nevard demonstrate - and it worked a treat!.

More soon as the rest of the greenery starts to spring up...