Throwback Thursday: Finishing the Lumber Co Siding

It's been over 3 weeks since I gave you a full view of the progress in Wethersfield. You can click here for that post, but suffice it to show - here's where things left off:

All the ground goop is in and basic fine ground foam covers the whole base. For this initial coat of scenery, and to get a variety of tones for my early Autumn look, I use a combination of Woodland Scenics (WS) Burnt Grass, Earth Blend, Green Blend, and just a little bit of Earth.

I've also finished the roads (here's 1, 2, 3 posts on those) and grade crossings (except for weathering them):

With the roads and basic ground cover in, I decided to go back and finish up the siding at Wethersfield Lumber.

Ever since I decided to modify the siding, despite previous misgivings, and based not only on Dave Messer's recommendation, but also on a plan I just happened to find, I'd been wondering how best to scenic it.

The first step was to start "burying" the siding a bit by raising the surrounding terrain up to rail height. I used regular drywall topping and once it dried I painted it with my earth colored paint.

For the lumber yard itself, I decided to use the same process I'd used to make a dirt road (click here for the details). I painted the lumber yard area with black paint, covered it all with dirt, misted it with 70% alcohol, dropped on diluted white glue, then topped it with more dirt.

While that was drying, I added a small grade crossing - basically just RR ties in the gauge to protect the flangeways.

A downside of my dirt-covering process is that there's a LOT of excess dirt. Even though it's "dirt cheap" (see what I did there?) I didn't want to just vacuum it up and waste it. So first I brushed the excess into a pile and scooped it up with a "dustpan" I made from an old switchlist.

After a light brush and vacuum, the lumber yard area looks a bit like the dirt road I'd made before, with some black showing through. Creates a nice, weathered effect IMO. Next, I used some Minwax stain to color the ties at the grade crossing.

Here's an overview of the area at this point.

And a closeup of the grade crossing before it was filled in and the siding "ballasted" with dirt.

First I covered the track with the dirt...

... then applied alcohol with a pipette to allow the glue to flow....

... then added the glue . . .

. . . . and added MORE dirt on top of that to ensure I'd have a dry rather than wet look.

The lumber shed has a "concrete" floor, but there's nothing where the siding itself is. I didn't think that looked very realistic (the floor should be relatively even over, and covering, the track), so I decided to make a floor to cover the track.

I used strip styrene in a thickness to match the railheight.

Painted it, and glued it in using Duco Cement.

While I was at it, I also added some wheel stops.

The final step on the siding was to add some cinder ballast and start some base groundfoam.

If you've seen the layout tour video I posted last week, you know that things are a bit further along in Wethersfield, but - alas! - the blog is lagging behind just a bit. But don't worry - I'll get you all caught up asap. Meanwhile, I hope you're enjoying seeing the progress & I'll try and do a better job of keeping up!