David

I have not done anything to compare with the photos that Don and Jeff have
shared with us, but I find that a good dusting with appropriate shades of scenic
grass helps set the scene.  A mix of nominally N-scale ballast for the larger
stone texture, with some fine beach sand, and a large proportion of finer
material is appropriate for pit run gravel.  Craig's coffee grinder will help a
lot here.

I expect that Lloyd's approach of placing a dry mix, followed by 'wet' water and
bonded with thinned acrylic matt medium will give quieter track than Don's
plaster, but Don's approach does give a very realistic effect.  Chris's comment
about 'mud' in the ballast mix degrading the binding is pertinent, but his
approach will tend to eliminate the fine texture that we seek here.  One might
get around this by initially mixing the dust component with the matt medium as
it is thinned, to get the dust thoroughly wetted before applying the medium.
This should eliminate Chris's problem, which is due to dry dust soaking up most
of the medium.  This might also allow an acrylic variation of Don's technique.

Jeff - I am certain that all of us would like to hear more about how you achieve
such realistic vegetation.   You are getting to the point where a well cropped
photograph would be difficult to distinguish from the real thing.

John Stutz