The James River Branch Z Scale Model Railroad: Greenery

Greenery, Part 1 of 3

Introduction

There's probably nothing that adds life to a layout as quickly and effectively as vegetation. It's also the signature element that defines the layout's setting. And therein lies a small problem: it will vary tremendously for different modelers, and given that my area of interest is the northeast, I'm ill prepared to offer much wisdom for modelers working on layouts set, say, in the southwest. And as much as I admire such different places, my heart remains in the lush, verdant landscape of certain areas in and around my home state of New Jersey.

Nature will plant growing things anywhere a seed will catch, and that's just about everywhere. Greenery begins with grasses and tiny weeds; it progresses to briars and shrubs; and it finally graduates to forests of varying ages, densities and compositions. To give my scenery the richness it needs to be effective, I follow the same steps as nature.

Anywhere small plants could logically get a foothold, I will put materials like static grass and small bits of ground foam. Even across areas that are well overgrown, I still start with these small plants. This provides an undercoat, if you will, that gives every area the richness and diversity seen in nature.

Following this bed of simple plant life, I'll start building areas up with larger clumps of ground foam, pieces of stretched-out foliage material, bits of broken tree branches, and other items that look like any number of different plants. This diversity adds to the believability of a scene.

Eventually, when I reach the stage of a forest area, I may actually remove some existing greenery, or cover it over with additional materials, since forest floors are often a little more barren, populated instead by dead leaves, branches and other detritus, a few clumps of weeds, and spindly saplings.

The somewhat counterintuitive process of converting grasses and shrubs to forest floor is something of a necessity, because I oftentimes don't know in advance how every area will turn out; that said, if a particular region is, with all certainty, going to be a thick forest, I may forgo some of the earlier steps, if only to save some money.

A note about variety: It is possible to go overboard. Too much of it can turn a good scene into a circus. I prefer to stick to a small, "stock" set of variations, which I sprinkle sparingly into areas dominated by a relatively homogonous set of colors and textures.

A note about this chapter: As I am able, this section will be expanded with a number of images illustrating a variety of real scenery features to serve as examples for modeling.

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