First day of my vacation and I am excited to make day trips in my jeep exploring my part of Oregon and spending time working on my layout.  I made significant progress today being able to work outside on the porch in balmy 75-degree weather.  Glorious warm and clear day to work outside.  I was able to get some of the pad work and the road across the tracks done and painted.  I made these by slopping on plaster and smoothing it out.  Once set, did some light sanding and distressing for character. I gave it a quick shot of clear flat and then primer grey for a base.  For weathering I used MIG Brand (now out of business, but there are other's out there) washes...Brown, Light rust and Medium Wash in liberal amounts.  I used a blow dryer and moved the wash around the surface to get a random set and it came out quite convincing.  I used more rust and dark tones on the pavement between and around the tracks against the packing house sides. 

Before doing the ground work, I sprayed the track and ties with Tamaya Deck Tan XF-55 to get a bleached out effect and then used Tamaya Hull Red XF -9 on the sides of the rails for a rust effect.  I also made darker tints of the Tan mixing in brown and shooting random ties to break up the monotone of the base color.  I used an airbrush to apply all the colors.

Once the colors were set I oversprayed with Testors Clear Flat out of a can to set the paint for further washes down the road.  Next I applied the ground cover over the bulk of the module using soil pinched from under an California Overpass to remain nameless.  I love this stuff and am sure you can find something locally to fit the bill. I sift with strainers to get different grades.  Application is the usual way...white glue mixed with dark brown paint and applied liberally around the area modeled.  Then I sprinkle the ground cover and set using a spray bottle of Denatured Alcohol to wet the area and then using a small squirt bottle (empty superglue bottle works best)  soaked the area using Woodland Scenics Scenic Cement.  While it was still wet I sprinkled on some Burnt Grass foam here and there...more can be added later.  I will cover this better in another post, but the technique is standard fare and most MR books have endless articles on the subject.

Here is the base showing one side dry and a freshly applied ground cover of sifted soil.  Once the ground cover dried I took some more thinned deck tan in my airbrush and lightly blended the soil and the edges of the ballast so the difference in color was not so stark.  Next step is to distress the ties a bit and spray on a thin coat of MIG Oil and Grease down the center of the track and here and there on the pavement.