Scrap metal piles

The scrap yard industry I am building on my layout will need some piles of scrap metal as the source for loading rail cars.  The process I used to create a large pile of chopped up scrap steel is similar to how the gondola loads were made.   Because of how large this pile would be I started with a piece of 3/4 inch plywood cut to the desired shape and then shaped further with a belt sander to get what is shown in the photo below.

This wood block was then painted a flat black color which made it look a bit like a pile of coal.

The wood base does not work well with the liquid PlasticWeld so an initial layer of plastic pieces were attached to the wood block with Super Glue.  Additional layers were then added using the Plasticweld.

Once the layers of plastic scrap were finished, the entire pile was brushed with a watered down rail brown paint so it would soak down into the spaces.  If anything is left uncovered the black base of the wood block should make it not so noticeable.   Next the entire pile was given a light spray of rust colored paint.  Once that dried individual pieces of scrap were dry brushed in various dull colors, and the pile was given a coat of Dullcoat.  On this one I also added some weathering powers.

Here is another smaller scrap pile I made using clear plastic from a water bottle.  This was the one I had some trouble with the glue and paint sticking.