I’m a busy guy. I find I have to “make time” in my life to enjoy my hobbies. Model railroading is no exception for me. If you’re like me with limited time for modeling but a great deal of interest, then here is a quick little project you can complete in about 5 minutes.

It took me longer to compile all the supplies for this project than it did to complete it. You’ll need a section of wood or foam, a section of track in your scale, some appropriate sized ballast for the track, some ground cover, and finally some type of glue. I like to use common white household construction glue (Elmers Glue) for these types of projects.

You start by putting down some waxed paper or plastic on your working area so you don’t make a mess. (My wonderful wife sees to that!) You then cover the entire top surface of the block with glue, making sure you have an even coating. This is important, as if you end up with a “thin spot” with the glue it will show in the final product. Take your time doing this step.

You now lay the section of track onto the block. I like to place the track about 2/3rd of the way towards the back. Next you sprinkle a liberal amount of ballast over the track and along the edges. Don’t spread the ballast very far out from the ends of the ties, but do try to make the ballast line fairly straight.

Now we add the ground cover of your choice. I like to use a mix I fondly call “slop”. This mix is made up of all the left over material that I have recovered from past ground covering projects. This is an “all mixed up” stuff that includes everything except saw dust and plastic bits. You put a liberal coating of your ground covering over the surface of the block, except where the ballast is. Check a couple of times to see if there are any “wet spots”, and if so just add more of your ground covering.

Lastly, I like to place some object for weight on the track section to keep it pushed down during drying. Now comes the hard part. (You knew there had to be a hard part, didn’t you?) Don’t touch your display stand for at least three hours. Over night is even better yet. Once the glue is dry, simply turn the unit over and “tap” to remove any excess ground covering. All the excess stuff that comes off goes right back into the “slop” jar for the next project.

If you want to get real fancy, you can finish the project with “other stuff” (Bushes, trees, cars, etc) and then spray the entire unit with hair spray. The hair spray isn’t absolutely necessary, but it helps to cut down on bits of ground covering falling off.