First Scenery - Williams Creek

The inspiration for this scene is the prototype photo I bought from Bob's Photos a few years ago. 

Russ Greene at New England Brownstone used the photo to create his plaster abutment kits. The bridges are Micro-Engineering 50-foot deck girders. I wanted to have the river look more like a clear New England stream than a Midwestern or Appalachian muddy river (although this week I know plenty of rivers in Vermont look plenty muddy and murky . . .). 

The sub-base of the river is 1/4" Masonite painted black and covered with a combination of sifted sand, gravel, and Scenic Express "River Bed" gravel. I left some of the black-painted Masonite showing between the rocks to represent deeper areas. I applied a coat of Envirotex, let it set up completely, then painted some tan riverbanks and some green/black areas on top of the Envirotex - again, not covering the surface completely. Once that dried I added a second layer of Envirotex. Since the Envirotex leaves a perfectly flat surface, I've been adding several coats of Min Wax Polycrylic Polyurethene. I think at this point I'm at six coats, and it's just starting to "bubble" a little - which is a bad thing on furniture (MinWax warns against too many coats) since the resulting surface looks rippled and a little like waves. 

I still need to finish this up obviously (the blue tape on the track should be a hint). Still to come:
1. A few more coats of MinWax
2. There are one or two of the background Supertrees that look a little too wavy from the side - they will be replaced with some with straighter trunks.
3. Foliage, undergrowth etc . . . around the base of the piers
4. Adding some electrostatic grass to the embankments
5. The harvested field with the corn shocks (the field is not visible in these model shots)
6. And, obviously, a coat of paint on the fascia. 


.... Oh, and a few more coats of MinWax!