Foam to Groundcover Tutorial

[aartwmich]

Charlie made this wonderful tutorial and I got his permission to post it here for us all to use and learn from. Shamus tells me we can get Dave to move it to the archives.
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Eastern Hills & Woodlands From Foam
by Charlie
NOTE The images originally here were lost and Aartwmich was kind enough to e-mail replacement ones which I have posted here.
Robin
I was cleaning up the basement work room, & I found these scraps of extruded styrofoam. Instead of throwing it away, I thought I'd demonstrate how this material can be transformed into very realistic scenery, that weighs almost nothing. While this is a very small chunk of foam I'm working with, the same techniques can be used on any sized layout, in any scale.

[Here's the pieces of foam, glued together with an adhesive called Liquid Nails.

 

[Matthyro]

Here are the tools I used to shape the foam...A large wood rasp, & a keyhole saw.

 

[Matthyro]

I begin shaping the foam by simply rounding off the corners & sharp edges.

 

[Matthyro]

...and some further shaping...

 

[Matthyro]

After I get a shape I'm happy with, I use some plaster of paris to fill gaps, & apply very heavy layers of it where I want to form some rock outcrops.

 

[Matthyro]

After the plaster has set up, I use an old flat head screwdriver to carve the rock face...taking very rough horizontal strokes, to form striations, & just generaly rough up the surface.

 

[Matthyro]

Using a spray bottle, I apply a black wash of rubbing alcohol & several drops of India ink as the base color for the rocks.

 

[Matthyro]

Next, I paint around the rocks with tan latex paint, & then sprinkle sifted dirt on to the wet paint.

 

[Matthyro]

I finish the rocks by dry brushing them with some acrylic browns & whites.

 

[Matthyro]

Now for some woodland ground cover...Start by spraying the entire area with water with a few drops of liquid detergent mixed in. Then, flood the area with a 50/50 mixture of white glue & water.

 

[Matthyro]

For woodland ground cover, I like to use material from what I call my "debris bowl".This is material left over from other scenicking projects...ground foam, dried leaves, dirt, twigs, even some pieces of styrene painted to look like rusted metal.
Here's what we have so far...now we're ready for trees!