Making all kinds of flowers on your railroad empire is a very easy project. It is a minute touch that adds the color and perception of flowers near your mainline track or other areas of your layout such as flowers near buildings and homes. What you need is a 18/0 very fine sable brush. The bristles should be stiff if possible. Take any color paint you wish. For the blue bonnets I used a purplish color paint I found in an art supply store. For the wild yellow wild flowers I used reefer yellow. For red wildflowers use ATSF red or a similar color and for white wildflowers use reefer white. Take your 18/0 brush and dip the tip "only" in the paint. You now dab the tip of the brush on the very tips of the clump foliage you want to paint. keep painting all the tips of the foliage. That's all there is to this easy project. Stay cool and run steam............
As I think about the subject, it's interesting how few of us use this type of detail. When done, it really adds a lot of life to a scene. We need to be reminded of the idea now and then.... Looks really nice! Boxcab E50
Disisme: Blue always looks better in a photo than yellow. This happens to be more in the purple family... Stay cool and run steam.... [ 08. November 2004, 00:52: Message edited by: Powersteamguy1790 ]
I have made flowers on modules before and I used Nail Polish and a tooth pick. Any cheap brite red make great rose's and the many different shades can offer a vast amount of flowers. Mike
These look great. I will try this myself when I get to the point of having foiliage on my under construction layout. Watch for seasonal issues with when plants flower relative to the season you are modeling if you have any real rivet counters among your friends. For example, wildflowers like Bluebonnets and Texas Paintbrush only flower in the spring, typically mid March to mid April. Other flowers may be in bloom much of the growing season. Others come out in the fall.
