Cowlicks and other scenery hacks.

[Keith Hayes]

Sorry to be scarce lately. I have been cleaning up the layout room and working to wrap up projects before the Narrow Gauge Convention at the end of the month.

Five years ago I built a cassette for my end of track: a pair of tracks on a board that function as staging as the railhead moves, er, east. To protect the equipment,  the cassette has high sides disguised as a deep cut. In nature the cuts are topped with a bit of turf and some exposed roots. This I call a cowlick.

Last time I got some brown felt and topped this with static grass. It worked pretty well and now it is time to di this on the layout. My starting area is the track below Kokomo on the hill above Ten Mile Creek. I couldn't find the last batch of felt, so bought some new stuff in more of a heather color. This is polyester--I wish it was wool--but I was able to brush out one side with a brass bristle brush to create root fuzz.

This got cut into strips of random width, about 1/4". I placed a bead of craft glue at the top of the hill and poked the felt strip into the glue bead .

The best results seem to scoot the rear of the felt into the glue, which is placed glue just past the top of the cut.

Stay tuned as this continues: trying to keep up with Jeff's fine work.

Oh, and here is a display base I have been practicing static grass on.

[Chris Walker]

Keith,

a very convincing rendering of the cut with the exposed and weathered, cemented aggregates; you've pulled that off very nicely.  

Cowlicks eh?  I only know Goatlicks.  

[Jeff Young]

Excellent result, Keith!

[drgwcs]

Keith Hayes wrote

Sorry to be scarce lately. I have been cleaning up the layout room and working to wrap up projects before the Narrow Gauge Convention at the end of the month.

I can understand that- I got more done in the two months before the hickory convention than I had in a year. Unfortunately we were too far out and only had a few through.