Some N Scale Scenery Ideas

N scale layouts take special skill to scenic realistically. One if the biggest issues is that most products can look oversized in photos compared to the small scale of trains. Here's a few ideas I used.

I started with a base of plaster cloth, painted with a 25/75 ratio of Woodland Scenics earth paint and water. This paint straight from the bottle goes on great over hard scenery base, like wood, etc. However the porous nature of plaster scenery means one can thin the paint and cover 4× more area with the same paint.

I typically let that paint dry for about 24 hours, only because I'm doing this scenery at work, so it's convenient to wait. I then coat the plaster base with a 50/50 mix of Elmer's Glue-All and water. I spread it with my finger,  so it's an even layer, then sprinkle sifted decomposed granite into the glue.

I then go back and mist the scenery with 50% or 70% isopropyl alcohol. 50% is sufficient, but if you only have 70% that's fine as well. 90% or higher is ok, but has a tendency to remove paint, so I just don't risk it.

I then drip more 50/50 glue/water onto the wet scenery to make sure the dirt is well soaked with glue. It's ok of you see the milky glue. If you see puddles of glue in low spots, either soak it up with a paper towel, or sprinkle in more dirt.

Let this dry, usually another 24 hours.

This is my full scenery base. I don't usually use any ground foam on the initial base, However today I tried some blended fine turf from Woodland Scenics, the burnt grass tone. Lightly mixed in areas of the decomposed granite and it creates a dead grass look.

Some notes:

• Sift decomposed granite, sold in home improvement stores, with a large hole strainer, then a normal kitchen sized. The final product after the kitchen strainer is good for HO & N
• Sprinkle dirt into glue already spread on the layout, then mist with alcohol to help it soak in. Add more glue to sufficiently soak the dirt
• If you're using real dirt, please note it will darken when glued. If you want up see the color when you "harvest" your dirt, just get it wet. That's the end color.
• Avoid greens if you add ground foam, grass rarely looks that well trimmed. Reserve that for nice lawns or golf courses.
• Even with static grasses, greens often just look fake, stick to subdued colors.
• Add static grass sparingly (not 100%) after the dirt layer is dry. Follow typical techniques for it, over the dirt base we just covered and you'll have very real scenery.

Stay tuned for several more N scale scenery shorts.