The plaster was painted with cheap acrylic paints to match the rock colouring. Basic scenic ground cover was then added, sprinkeld on to white PVA glue. The texture was built up in layers. First, I applied a soil scatter. I use Treemendus soil material together with some fine ballast applied at strategic locations such as just below the rock outcrops. I then drizzled this with with scenic cement and banged another layer of soil / scrub.

The next stage was to add grass scatter materials and bushes over the soil cover. I used a mixture of different shades and degrees of courseness to match photographs of the area that I was modelling. What was very noticeable on the prototype was the difference in vegetation the closer one got to the river. I used Woodland Scenics products for scrub and vegetation. I also used various shades of ballast to build up rock falls and general debris.

View of the western two modules showing the benchwork joints. Photos of the columbia river generally show the water looking very blue. I'm not happy with this on the model though and will go for a greeny / bluey / brown which always tends to look more realistic scaled down.

A close-up .

The rock colouring taking place, just before colouring the general ground areas.