Scenery budget

[Trainman203]

We are getting ready to scenic a moderate sized club layout and the question of the budget arose.  We are doing a flatland layout, no hills, no mountains, just ground cover and roads.  Anyone ever have to budget any thing like that, per square foot? 

PF

[trainmainbrian]

That's going to depend on your Scenery itself... How detailed do you want your Scenery.... For example my Layout is 17ft long x 6 feet wide

I have fully weathered buildings & shanty's / Yard tower / Passenger Station....
My track rail's are fully weathered / With ballest / on both main lines & yard area...
I have mountains scene with a cut through for my mainline with Rock's abutting out & even my rocks are weathered...
& don't forget the Trees I have about 60 thoughout my hole layout

I am guessing hear but on my layout I bet I have between $1500 - $2000 in scenery alone & I am not including the animals / people cars & trucks

[Trainman203]

I'm talking ground cover and ballast mostly.  No mountains, no Pacific Northwest forests.

[electrical whiz kid]

So, in other words, a sheet of plywood with dirt on it...
SGT C.

[Jerrys HO]

For ballast or shell roads you could scrape gutters for the shingle pebbles and wash thoroughly.
Foam dyed the color needed then shredded in an old blender.
Dirt baked in the oven.

[Trainman203]

Our layout is a good bit more than dirt on a board.  The region is the flat Mississippi Gulf Coast. We are going to dimple the underlying foam board for ditches and creeks, and do mostly underbrush and the edges of piney woods against the  backdrop.  Our layout is part of a museum and we are making it as locally correct as we can.

Not every model railroad has to be set in the eastern or western mountains, be a coal road, or be a logging operation in a redwood forest....  All of which are about all we seem to see on layouts gestured in the magazines.  Flat country is more of a challenge to depict realistically.  You don't have hills to be viewblocks.  Tony Koester of Model Railroader magazine has done a great job depicting southern Indiana, not unlike parts of coastal Louisiana, with  photo backdrops blended into farm fields.

[electrical whiz kid]

Our layout is a good bit more than dirt on a board.  The region is the flat Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Trainman;
I realize where you are at.  Honest; I was just seizing upon the scene to be funny.  (I thought I was)...

SGT C.   

[Trainman203]

That's the problem with this forum for me, or maybe why I'm not a salesman or politician.  I don't "read"people well. My apologies.  But it is an accurate description of what we want the layout to be ..... a depiction of our home in years past.  Isn't that what a lot of people model anyway?

[electrical whiz kid]

Trainman;
Heck; mine isn't even at the "plywood central" yet...  On the south:  I have been in a fair amount of places in this country, and can say that there isn't any place I have been that hasn't had some beauty in it's own right.
I have decided this layout will be my last effort-well, I'd best hurry up or I will beat the layout to the line...
Rich C.
SGT C.

[Irbricksceo]

Our layout is a good bit more than dirt on a board.  The region is the flat Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Trainman;
I realize where you are at.  Honest; I was just seizing upon the scene to be funny.  (I thought I was)...

SGT C.   

I chuckled

[jbrock27]

That's the problem...for me...why I'm not a salesman or politician.  I don't "read"people well.

Didn't know those are the only 2 professions that have understanding of sense of humor and sense of self deprecation

Brick how'd ya do this quarter?  Make Dean's List?

[Irbricksceo]

Brick how'd ya do this quarter?  Make Dean's List?

If only if only, in truth, I vastly misjudged the difficulty of a degree in Mechanical engineering and ended up doing poorly (even got a few F's), I've only finished 15/138 credits in my first year. So I'm trying to gather the money for fall then I can take spring off to save up and catch up in summer semesters. It is hard work but I've learned my lesson about how much effort I need to put it, it is leagues ahead of high school (I was one of the no-study people). I just keep telling myself that it will all work out in the end and that I'll make it through. And that once I'm an Engineer Ima get myself a nice new steam Locomotive to celebrate, after all, it was steam locomotives that got me into being an engineer in the first place!

[jbrock27]

Keep at it Choo Choo Charlie !

[philws]

What's the whiz kid putting his foot in his rude mouth again. Hope it's all spelled right !

[DAVE2744]

Getting back to Trainman203 question.  Using TrainmainBrian's numbers, his estimated scenery costs are $15 to $20 per square foot.  I am assuming a fairly high level of quality detail after reading his description of work done.  Don't know what percentage of his materials were purchased vs. scrounged up.

My current layout, about 70% scenery completed, to a "acceptable" level.  I say this as it is my first attempt at full scenery.  It is all purchased material from LHS.  I did keep receipts, and my cost was $9 to $11 per square foot.

Using JerrysHO suggestion of scrounging up as much as possible,  I would guess you might end up at $2per square foot.

If you go the scrounging route,  labor (volunteers?), will make up the difference vs. dollars.

TrainmainBrian is correct about the cost of people (model), vehicles, etc.  They can far outstrip the cost of actual scenery.

I used Woodland Scenics ground foam products for most of my ground cover.  $8.29 per 30oz.  When you get it out of the bottle it expands tremendously.  The label states 58 cubic inches of foam. I believe it.

If this project is to be museum quality, don't underestimate $ and/or labor required.    Good Luck! Dave