River Progress

The rocks have been colored and a first pass with scenery/vegetation has been applied. I'll be adding more trees. I've also added some gravel for the river bed. Next up deciding if I'll pour some Envirotex or just brush on gloss medium - I'm leaning towards pouring.

In order for this scene to blend in further, I think some rock work needs to be made towards the background, to tie in more naturally. As they are now, the ridge seems to be on its own. Just adding a small bit of rock at the end of the freight house helped visually, so a small section at the background could help some more.

New River

Now that my layout no longer represents present day Iowa, but instead 1950's New England, I can freely add more rock work to the landscape. I extended the edge of the layout 4" to accommodate a small river with a fall. My intention was to give rock molds a try thinking it would make things go faster. After using just one, which I ended up burying, it just seemed easier for me to carve the whole length of the river in plaster. This way I could get the shape and mass I was looking for. The only thing I'm not happy with is that right now it looks tacked on - but I think it's mostly due to the fact that it's stark white; once it's colored and covered with vegetation it should blend in nicely.

Background...

Have started working on some background flats...trying to work the opposite way I usually do. Most often I'll start the foreground scene first, which is a terrible idea, then get stuck as to what to do with the background and never get to completing it. This was a wall from a Downtown Deco kit. It's not the final placement and needs some wall details and some parapet capping.