Vacant lots are a signature element of many industrial scenes. Including them on your layout can heighten realism. They have a certain, “looks like they should be there” aspect to them. The aren’t as easy to model as you might think. About five years ago I started putting a lot more thought into how I approach them. The challenge is you have a lot of colors that are close in hue but just a hair different and the color transitions feather gradually. You have different textures. The base layer is very fine, finer than many ballast products. You have tire marks which aren’t that easy to represent. Looking back on my efforts on my early Miami layouts the color and textures were too uniform.
For the base layer I mix up a few similar shades of grout (sanded or unsanded is ok) and apply it with a sifter. I then sift on some N scale ballast and soil products here and there. (I use Arizona Rock and Mineral for these. To be specific, CSX, Pennsy, NP, and Yard Mix). The fine sifter is the key tool needed to make this all work. Having a super soft “fan” brush helps too.
For the tire marks I make masks by cutting thin slots in a manila folder. I then grind a slightly darker grout color over the mask. If you don’t use a mask, the tread marks will be too wide. After my first application, the marks were too dark. I toned them down by applying a light second sprinkling of my base soil/gravel layer.
Details
Details add a lot ….but…they need to be the right details. The best way to get everything right is to study photos and just copy what you see in them. This prevents you from drifting into that caricaturish “model railroady” look.
These are two of the photos I worked off of. Note the very subtle color variations. Note how subtle the tire marks are.
Details added were: gravel piles, piles of old pavement, barrels, fresh tie stacks, stacks of rail bars, some white specs of white paper waste, and pallets.
On an unrelated note, I’ve also finished the street scene to the left of the lot. Since the last post I added: crossbucks, a utility pole, and a palm.