How's this for an ugly part of a layout?



Armed with a small tub of Agnew's Water Putty [US equivalent is Durham's] I decided it was time to do something about it.

The putty was mixed to a reasonably stiff consistency - not at all sloppy, but soft enough to be workable while being stiff enough to be able to be piled up without collapsing.
 I spread it along the bend using a flat stirrer to push the putty out of the pot as I went.


 The manufacturer suggests smoothing with a damp sponge. I used a small piece of cork tile dipped in water:



 The putty was stiff enough to hold the gentle slope that I was after



While the putty was still wet I sprinkled on lots of beach sand and some coarse ballast. This was pushed into the surface and I used a 1.5inch wide roll of tape as a steam roller.
 Time will tell if the sand and ballast hold well, but it can always be glued down like normal ballast.

 



 All I want here is a slightly rubbly slope overgrown with grasses and weedy plants. It won't be spectacular - just everyday stuff.

 The putty has about 30 mins working time, depending on your mixing ratio.  Paint can be added to it but I've found it speeds up the drying time alarmingly! This job took less than 30 minutes.

 I'll check this area later to see how it's holding up. When it's dry I can see about painting it a bit and adding the first grasses etc.

 Mike

Looks OK so far Mike - what is the $cost for the Putty please?  Have you used ordinary plaster of paris, etc  for similar scenes & if so, which is the best in your opinion?

 

 That looks pretty good Mike, it has a 'natural' look to it :thumbs

The putty is cheap - about $7 for 500g at Bunnings. You can get bigger tubs too.
 This is the first time I've used it for something as extensive. The embankment is close to 20" long. In the past I've used it to fill in some hollows and I've made a short length of road as well as the level crossing.
 I just went and checked it. It has set nicely and most of the sand and ballast is well attached.
 The good thing about the water putty is it sets as hard as a rock, making it less likely to chip than plaster. I have used clay for this job too but it tends to shrink a bit and it can crack.  From my limited experience I'm thinking the putty does the best job.

 Mike

Looking forward to seeing this part develop!

5 Photos and 30 minutes work is all it takes "Our Mike" to transform an "ugly" area into something I'd be delighted to have on my layout even before he does his "bit" of painting !!! :shock::shock::shock:

Has anyone any ideawhat this "water putty" is in UK ?  Looks like pretty versatile stuff.

Where is that section located Mike? On Swanhurst or elsewhere?

It's on my New England layout, behind the non-existent loco shed.
 I can't extend it any further yet because I have to put in a level crossing and a major road at one end [the closest bit in the last photo]

 Mike

Will you be adding it to the New England thread Mike?

I was thinking of just showing the finished thing in there but I can add it to it if you like, Bob. No problem at all.

 Mike

If you wouldn't mind Mike as it makes for continuity, for me anyway.

Done, Bob.

 I wanted to work some little gullies into it to suggest water runoff, but the putty had almost set before I got around to it. So today I've hacked a few into it with a chisel.   Just little ones - nothing major. More pics will follow sometime soon.

 Mike

 Here it is with some little gullies.  Glue applied to receive more sand.



 While working with the chisel I accidentally broke some of it away. Some of the pieces have been recycled as rocks. More ballast and sand was glued on too. I'm hoping the putty itself will look like soil.
 Everything is glued down. Next step is to paint it.



 I have some drain grilles here somewhere. I might make a concrete drain and install a couple.

 Mike

Mike.  Your images have been deleted from Photobucket. Max

Now they're back . . . speedy work!

 I've been busy painting.
 Acrylics used: matt white undercoat [sample pot from hardware store]
                    black
                    raw umber
                    red oxide
                    mild blue called "cobalt blue hue" by Reeves [ I wouldn't call it that!]
                    skin tone base - which is more of a sick yellow

 I started with the darks, mixing black and raw umber together. I then swept a waterlogged brush over all of the bank, then painted a very runny dark into any hollow, adding another drop of water if it didn't run enough. It fills in all the nooks and crannies.


 Next I mixed up some soily colours using black, raw umber, red oxide, blue and some white to get loads of variety in the colour:



 
It needed a fair bit of treatment to hide the yellow of the water putty, although I quite like that colour showing through here and there.

After that I needed to redo the darks a bit:


 
This one shows the variety of colours in the ground. I found the blue and the red oxide particularly useful and interesting:


 It also shows where I've started picking out some of the raised forms with a bit of yellow mixed into some of the paler colours. Basically the lighter bits are white+any old soil colour+yellow.  I made some of the lights a bit bluer too.

 Highlights and lighter colours were applied quite dry with the brush held parallel to the ground. I think it's important that they aren't overdone. Just a small percentage of light looks better. 15%, maybe.




 Grasses and other bare plants to be added yet.Any dodgy bits can be hidden [in my case] with snow. Good old snow :thumbs

 Mike


 P.S. some individual rocks were picked out with a tiny brush. Any old light colour that was lying around, as long as it wasn't too white.

If you weren't such a nice bloke, Mike, I could . . . how does he do it?

Aha! a chink! what about the ballast?  he says, clutching at straws . . .  :thud

 I'm all out of ballast at the moment!

 Mike

A likely story!   Off with his head!

[user=269]MaxSouthOz[/user] wrote:

A likely story!   Off with his head!

No, not yet, wait until he comes down here for a holiday & performs his magic on our layouts :exclam