Scenery at Donohue - Part 2

In our efforts to reach a decent level of scenery in Charlevoix, i.e. all surfaces covered by at least one layer of ground cover, we undertook to ballast about 75% of the Donohue's section.

This is how things looked before ballasting the entire yard

I had already ballasted a few inches of track in the past, but it looked quite dark when the glue was dry so this time, I decided to add more beige coloured tile grout and sifted sand. It made the ballast dirtier in appearance and lighter in shade which is perfect to fit the very sandy river bank on which the paper mill is built.

Lots of hole patching and gap filling to waterproof the benchwork

About 8 feet by 1 feet of ground were covered in one session, which took us about 2 hours to complete. Applying ballast is not that long, but gluing this entire surface with an eye dropper can be maddening. In the past, I used a spray bottle with diluted glue, but since I don't want to ruin the printed backdrop or spray glue everywhere, I made the choice to go the long way. Fortunately, Louis-Marie helped me in this marathon against the clock.

Dry ballast before gluing...

A small access road lines the yard...

...and connects to the entrance.

I've yet to see the result after it dries, but I feel it should be a good foundation for grass, sandy patches, oil spills and debris. This will certainly require several layers of material to get the same feeling as the prototype. Once again though, we have to reinterpret reality since our mill is much smaller than the real one and not exactly a perfect match.

The next step will be to glue the foundations of mill structures all around the Donohue. When done, it will be possible to complete, once for all, the first layer of ground cover. Also, several structures will receive - finally - there last details, including an interior for the newsprint warehouse.