Water!

[Jeff Young]

Hi Monte,

The landforms are all cardboard strips covered with Scuptamold (a plaster/papier-mache mix).  This is then painted a neutral brown colour.  Once that has dried I paint it again with matte medium and sprinkle dirt on it.  Then I eye-dropper matte medium diluted about 1:4 with a mix of water and isopropyl alcohol.  

The small scattered stones are real; the larger rock-forms are plaster (cast from Bragdon molds).

The eroding bank was more complicated.  I wanted to show old river stone being uncovered, so the dirt is mixed with pebbly beach sand.  The top-soil is brown felt which has had its edge frayed a bit and speckled with some grey spray-paint.  Then grass is put on top of that.




Another quiet scene (I see one of my stumps needs a bit more dirt at the bottom):



Cheers,
Jeff.

[Keith Hayes]

Jeff, that is freakin' amazing. You have a standing invite to visit Leadville and apply your magic.

[D. W. Bassett]

Jeff,

This scenery is nothing short of magnificent, the best semi-arid scenery and vegetation I have yet seen, and I see this kind of scenery in real life every day.  Hmm, I suppose I should say it is magnificent in how ordinary the scenery looks.  Lots and lots of guys go for the spectacular, and that's fine, but for every Ophir Loop, there's ten thousand places like that on your railroad.  I especially like your willows, a plant I don't think I ever saw modeled before.

[Jeff Young]

Thanks for the comments, guys!

[tonyk375]

Great job Jeff!

[Don Gustavson II]

Jeff,
When I saw the first photo,  I thought it was a photo of a real location at first.
Amazing work!