"Like I said, all comedy is based on exaggeration, big or small, whatever you can get away with." -Drew Carey

OK so I ended my last post with a few exaggerations about my OCD so let me clear up some of them for you:

I had no problem getting the ingredients for Lou Sassi's Ground Goop recipe.  A couple of trips to AC Moore with 50% coupon in hand, one trip to Lowes and I had all I needed to get started.  I'll share some pictures of my attempt to use it for scenery later in this post.

After seeing some undesirable results on a friends layout, I wasn't too sure about using sanded grout for cinders.  But after looking on the internet, I found someone who used it successfully and plan to follow their example.  You can check out what they did here: 

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/7470

That same building site I mentioned in the last post has another huge stack of Blue Styrofoam stacked up.  They really are not scary guys, but then again I have a bunch of Styrofoam down stairs already so do I really need more?  It doesn't matter how much you have on hand, Styrofoam is one of those items you always think to yourself when you see it "should I pick up more just in case?"

Ah, and that pickle car.  I've actually had one for awhile now.  A Heinz 57 car.  I don't know if they actually ever ran over the Ma & Pa but I'll invoke rule #1 on that one just case. ;)

I found this Athearn Car already assembled and it had Kadee Scale couplers already.  All I needed to do was add weight and some code 88 wheel sets.   Maybe I'll get a open sided round tank type car too. :p

The next two photos show a short test section of track in York using the charcoal colored sanded grout I picked up from Home Depot to represent cinder ballast. 

Here's a closer look.  I'm liking how it looks.

The first part of the layout to get some scenery is on the outer loops of the helix, in Yoe.  Here we have the plaster gauze painted brown in preparation of getting a coat of Ground Goop.

Here's the first batch of goop.  I transferred it into one of the many large Maxwell House Coffee cans I've saved.  I sealed the container with plastic wrap then the lid and used the goop a couple of days later.

Here is Yoe all gooped up.  I was very comfortable spreading it out with a spatula.  It was like icing a cake with chocolate icing. ;)

The Ground Goop was easy to work with but the only thing I'm finding I don't like is the drying time.  Well after one day, some spots where I went a little thicker to fill in some dips was still soft, and not totally dry.  I still like working with it so far so I'll be mixing up some more to finish off Yoe and move onto other parts of the layout.