Here are a couple more shots of 'spare' space on the same diorama. Again lots of variation in colour/texture depth, which for me is where the realism comes from.





Also, here are a couple of overhead 'google earth' pictures of the diorama to give a perspective of how the scenery fits with the structure.





Some thing to note is that in the bottom left corner and the upper middle edge, although these areas are only around 1"x1" and 1"x2" they still got the same levels of scenery as the bigger areas.

Now, yes this particular dio is O and most of you work in HO, but, I use the same materials and techniques in both scales, the HO PR3 layout was done almost exactly the same.

Rather than back track over this 'old' dio I have another one in need of scenic treatment that I would be happy to post the steps as I do it if you would like.

Bear in mind I am in no way trying to proclaim that I am a master at scenery, just to share my thoughts and the way I do it. Hopefully someone can get something from it to adapt or use for themselves.

Karl.A

Wes

Natural materials are the best form for 3D scenery. My web site shows many examples.

here is a small diorama I create within a half hour, during a clinic in Seattle...

All the materials were collected from outside the place I was doing the clinic. Only the sage bush was purchased.

Your backyard, parks, creek beds, etc contain years of modeling scenery stuff... beats that RTR stuff in a packet.....

cheers

Download Attachment: scenery01.jpg
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a little project, where natural materials were used for greater 3d effect

http://www.modvid.com.au/html/body_meyers_creek.html

cheers mate

PS... there are some examples of scenery on this thread... thanks to Karl and others

Karl, Please do post your how to by example. It's always great to see how folks do things, and I'm sure we can pick up some ideas. Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the pictures Karl and Mario.

Will be keeping them to come back to when im doing my scenery.

Karl, like KP im also keen to see your How To on scenery.

Wes, Ditto! I agree with everything mentioned here. I use Silfor prairie tufts (weed clumps), pot toppers, lots of super tree material from Sceneic Express, and various kinds of fine and course ground foam or turf. I like static grass too but for late summer and autumn, a mix of various sizes of ground foam turf along with prairie tufts or static grass should be used. In the late summer and fall, there is more leafy vegetation than there is just plain old grass or weeds. When I apply my medium course ground foam, and wet it down with water and dish soap and soak it with glue and water mix. While the turf is still wet, I sprinkle on fine turf of two to three different colors (I like the mixed turf from Woodland Scenics). It gives a better leafy look that just leaving the course turf stand by itself. I also mix in pot toppers or prairie tufts. I'll then spray more water and detergent over all of this with a fine mist hairspray bottle. This will get the glue and water that was previously applied to soak up through the fine turf you sprinkled on later.

I like using Scenic Express Super Trees to make wooded areas. I'll drill some random holes and plant several trees. I then take bits and pieces of super trees and stuff them in between the planted trees. I do a lot of stuffing. I'll finish by spraying the wooded area with maximum hold hairspray. If there are structures nearby, just take a sheet of light weight cardboard and hold it up in front of your structure so it doesn't get hair spray all over it. You can do the same with the water and dish soap soaking.

Tom Johnson