Hiding the Hole, Part III

In earlier posts, I wrote about the hole in the wall I need to hide (between the layout and hidden staging), and showed early progress in said hiding of said hole.

Well, more progress is being made. The hill occluding the hole has been covered in ground foam, the track has been painted and ballasted, and a temporary bridge has been put in—as can be seen in the photo above.

The hole before paint, ground foam and ballast.

Right now, the area looks like southern Alberta after a rain—no trees. But that will change soon. And I will add backdrop trees on the wall itself.

The hole during painting and adding ground foam.

As for adding the ground foam, I do pretty much what every one else does: I paint the Styrofoam with brown latex paint, then sprinkle it on. Since nature isn't uniform, I also use a variety of colours. My favorites are blended turf, burnt grass, weeds and yellow grass. I use some clump foliage for small bushes. When fall comes, I will crush some dead leaves to provide a bit more texture and colour to the cover.

All-in-all, we’re coming along, if a little bit slowly. At least trains are running once again!