Green Undercoat

The first layer decides whether a meadow will come across as dense

The most frequent mistake on an otherwise successful layout is recognized close up: a white or gray area of the base shows through between the blades of grass. A real meadow has no such gap, because under the growth lie shadow and earth, not light stone. A covering paint levels this difference out. It is applied to dry terrain in a heavy layer with a wide brush and its task is not to look good in itself, but to disappear under what comes on top.

The green choice and when it makes sense

A green tone belongs where the result is meant to look damp and overgrown: pastures, the banks of streams, clearings, the edges of fields, foothill meadows. Under dry steppe or a stubble field it would show through inappropriately, and there an earthy variant of the same paint suits better. Anyone building a transition between the two can blend both tones on the board wet into wet and let them merge.

The greatest advantage is that the scatter material is poured into the paint while it is still damp. Static fibers and grit thus hold by themselves and the first round of glue is done away with. The layer moreover seals the absorbent plaster surface, so later fixing with glue does not disappear into the base and stays where it belongs. On a large area it pays to work in sections, because a paint that has dried in the meantime will no longer hold the scatter.

The layer can also be used on its own as an underpainting beneath tufts and bushes glued on at points. A darker area is then left around every tuft instead of a light mark and the planted greenery comes across as growing in the terrain rather than merely standing on it. It serves just as well in the places under a bridge and behind a retaining wall, which a brush reaches less easily and where an untreated base would shine the most.