Easy Scenery Techniques To Make Your
Model Railroad Look More Realistic.

Scenery adds a lot to any model railroad. Many new modelers are afraid to tackle it. "Where do I begin?", "I'm no artist", It'll mess up my track","I don't have the tools" are all typical excuses.

Why add landscaping?

I'll answer that with a quote from Bill McClanahan's opening paragraph in Scenery for Model Railroads first published by Kalmbach Books in 1958: "A model railroad without scenery is like a locomotive that is minus its cab and boiler, it may operate, but it certainly doesn't look like the real thing."

As true today as when Bill wrote it.

Here are a few of my reasons for landscaping my railroad:

• Keep my precious rolling stock from dropping to the floor.
• Covering the bare plywood with something more interesting.
• Taking photographs of my creations.
• Amazing my friends and neighbors.
• Proving to myself that I really can do it.

The basics of scenery

Look around you. There is the natural world and the man-made world. Basic scenery is a blend of the two. When planning your model railroad, make room for both. Structures take up space. So do the slopes and drainage ditches along the right-of-way. Make allowance for the buildings you plan to install.

If possible, find out the footprint of the industries you want to put beside those sidings or leave a little extra space. We all tend to crowd in too much track and then struggle to fit in other elements.

Be aware that nature doesn't go in for straight lines and solid, simple colors the way humans do. Take a camera outside and take some pictures of things that interest you. Or thumb through some nature magazines. Better yet, get some prototype railroad books or model railroad magazines and study the pictures.

Let's dress up your layout

Coal and water at Valleyview
on my Utopia Northern RR.

Structures and landscaping bring a railroad to life.

I said on my home page that this site is designed more for the beginner or average hobbyist. Time to experiment.

Let's start at the beginning of our scenery-making by starting simple. Find a bare flat section that's a foot or two in size. Cover any track in the vicinity with masking tape. Remove any buildings.

Shake on some Woodland Scenics ground foam in a few shades. Mist the area with some water that has a couple of drops of soap in it. Mist it again with a thinned mixture of white glue and water. Let it dry.

You're now in the scenery business. Easy, wasn't it?

Refining your technique

I use cheap spray bottles for the glue mixture. Thin the glue about 50/50 with water. You may find you need to thin it more to get it to mist. The nozzles tend to clog so you need to flush them thoroughly after you finish. The pre-wetting with the soapy water is to keep the glue from puddling.

I, like many modelers now, have switched to using 70% isopropyl alcohol instead of water. Matte gel medium, available at art supply stores, can be substituted for the white glue. I like Nu-Art matte medium. An eye dropper is a useful tool for controlling the placement of the glue or matte medium when ballasting track. Woodland Scenics Hob-e-tac is an excellent choice for planting bushes and grasses because it has a thicker consistency. I still use water with black Rit dye when spraying mountain scenery and rock faces. Be sure to cover any backdrops to avoid over-spray.

Pick up a scenery book at your local hobby shop or order one direct from Amazon if you don't have a well-stocked hobby shop nearby. There's a direct link for Amazon shopping in the right-hand bar on this page or click on the image below. Dave Frary's book is one of the best.

On the following pages I'll cover a number of techniques I've picked up over the years. Click on the links. Try the ones you like. Ignore the rest. In no time at all you'll have developed your skill level and have a bunch of methods that are your favorites that you can share with other modelers.

Learn about building terrain

Need to make some trees?

Methods for modeling roads and streets.

Catch attention with mini-scenes.

Add drama to cities and towns with lighting effects.

Southpoint industrial district
on my Utopia Northern RR.

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