When you are ready to start landscaping, here area couple tips for any beginner: Develop your eye for nature by studying it. Pay close attention to the colors of each particular season - things aren't always as we've perceived them once you start to really look closely. I am always surprised for example at how much bright green there is in a fall scene. Also learn how distance effects color, a good way to get a handle on all this is to take a nice Sunday drive down an interstate (helpful if someone else is doing the driving!)
Go outside and forage for materials - fall is an excellent time to gather dried wild flower seeds, pots and stems.
I'm a nut for what I call random symmetry. Creating balance that doesn't look contrived. Put effort and materials into focal areas and don't be afraid to let other areas go with a lot less detail. Group clusters of trees with wild foliage in a wooded scene or people and cars in a city scene for more focused attention rather than distributing them evenly.
Put a tree at 2 opposing corners of a building. (Rear left/front right for example) It helps break the lines and anchors the building. It doesn't always have to be a tree specifically, but you should always look for ways to break the visual line of at least one or two corners on a building.
Jeffers' Rules of Mountain Building
Real terrain doesn't just happen, it evolves due to specific causes and actions, and it generally follows similar sets of rules. Understanding these terrain shaping processes is important to be able to model them accurately and realistically. This is an attempt to specify these processes and general rules, to help beginning modellers achieve more accurate and therefore pleasing results on their railroad layouts.
Nature being at least partially subject to random chance, exceptions to these rules can always be found in the prototype world, but widespread ignorance of the general principles will usually result in less than accurate or pleasing modelled terrain.
YMMV.
The image above is a Space Shuttle radar elevation map of the ruggedest area in Colorado, and possibly in North America. It is unlikely that anyone has accessed the central valley floor since the dawn of mankind. Extensive study has determined that one party of two made it down valley to just right of the lower left end of the yellow line, and then escaped the increasing flow of falling rock by climbing the peak just right of there. A French rope team may have made it further in back in the 1970's, little more than rumor exists regarding this team or their actions.
A legend exists, involving a "crazy Swede" who may have accessed the area in the 1890's, and who may have perished in there while searching for gold.
No other human penetrations are known, according to sources including local law enforcement, search and rescue, BLM staff, local outfitters, and local climbers. This is an extreme example of natural terrain formation, and forms the upper limiting boundary condition, in terms of ruggedness, as specified in Jeffers Rule Two below.
1. Natural mountains, as we perceive them, aren't built. Water cuts valleys, the mountains are just what's left behind.
2. Old mountains(Smokies), new mountains(Rockies), small hills (Ozarks), and parts and pieces there-of are created the same way, by generally similar processes, and generally follow the same rules.
3. The older the range, the rounder the corners. The softer the material, the rounder the corners.
4. Nature abhors complexity. The simplest solution is best, and most likely. Complex solutions are less likely, the more complex, the less likely.
5. The simplest solution for water to cut terrain is to leave a linear ridge. A ridge is where two opposing downslopes meet.
6. The second simplest solution is where three opposing downslopes meet to form a peak. (Red arrows on graphic.)
7. Ridges connect peaks.
8. The third simplest solution is where four or more opposing downslopes meet to form a peak. (Blue arrow on graphic.) Peaks formed by three main ridges are orders of magnitude more common than peaks formed by 4 or more ridge intersections. Ridges are more common than three ridge peaks.
9. The primary cutting action for soft material (earth or loose rock, talus) is moving water. Generally, the faster the water moves, the deeper and more localized its cutting action will be.
10. The primary cutting action for hard material (rock), is expansion/freezing cycles expanding hairline cracks as ice forms in winter.
11. Rock cleaves and cracks according to its individual molecular structure. Some rock will cleave to form cubic planes (metals), some rock will cleave to form planar sheets (shale), some rock will cleave to form hexagonal columns (some basalts), some rock will not cleave per say (limestones) but will simply crumble, fracturing along tiny planes, leaving little noticable pattern.
12. Crumbled rock and eroding soils will lie at slope angles up to and including their natural angles of repose, but will usually not form long lasting slopes steeper than this, except in the short term, unstable time periods.
13. Even in the ruggedest mountain ranges, the steepest maximum angle of loose material repose rarely exceeds 30 to 45 degrees, as demonstrated by the yellow cross section line, and its associated cross section profile in the inset panel above.
14. Sustained slopes steeper than this maximum angle of repose usually involve integrated rock strata outcroppings, not loose soils or talus.
15. Mountains generally resist erosion better than the surrounding valleys did because they are capped with rock harder than the areas which wear faster. Areas near the peaks tend to flatten out, as shown in the cross section inset panel above. Rounded domes are more common than pointed peaks. broad, flatter points are more common than sharper peaks. Even ridgelines tend to be rounded at their apexes, though from a long distance, they may appear to be sharp knife edges.
16. Valley floors tend to flatten out as the cross section approaches the lowest elevation, due to accumulated soils and talus, as shown in the cross section inset panel above. Generally, flat or near flat valley floors are really soil and talus "lakes", masking the true, underlying, rock basement terrain shape, and one can often find a natural "dam" or chokepoint or ridge root, that causes these soil "lakes' to accumulate, downvalley from the flat valley area.
17. The steepest sustained slopes in mountain range cross sections are usually found at the middle elevations, below the peak's "shoulders" and above the flattened valley floors. Most of the active erosion takes place at these elevations, and this will usually be the ruggedest part of the mountain cross section, quite often showing exposed rock outcroppings, sharp buttresses and subsidiary ridgelines, in general, showing sharper 'features" than ridgelines, peaks, or valley floors.
18. The main runoff channel for a given valley will often cut a small, but steep and deep channel in the valley floor "lake" of accumulated soil and talus. This small "vee" is often unnoticable at scales in which the entire mountain can be seen.
19. EVERY feature in mountains, valleys, hills, even drainage ditches in flat farmland, are almost always a product of the cutting actions described in Rules 9 and 10 above. The "Fall Line" is perhaps the most important element in terrain modelling, and should be considered with every brush stroke in paint, in the placement of every tree and bush (seed bearing pine cones and other seed transport mechanisms are largely controlled by gravity, leading to vertical lines of similar vegetation in steep terrains), in the areas without vegetation (avalanche chutes, talus slopes, etc.), and in the placement of larger boulders and accumulations of talus. The Fall Line will be different for every single point in a given terrain area. Constant visual re-calculation is necessary in computing the Fall Line during terrain construction.
20. Soft and loose materials like soils and talus are more mobile than harder materials like rock outcroppings. For this reason, rock outcroppings rarely protrude from a slope in a larger cross sectional view. In the short term, geologically speaking, a large section of mountain may crumble, leaving a protruding rock outcropping, but far more likely will be older exposed rock sections, which have accumulated flattened, rounded soil or talus overburdens above their vertical faces, and they almost always generate a loose slope of talus below their vertical faces, which often rests at the angle of repose. The general exception to this rule will be gradual slopes in regions above layered rock strata, where large flat areas of rock may be exposed through soil and soft material erosion. Otherwise, protruding rock outcroppings generally look artificial. The overburden and talus "beards' are a fundamental part of realistic scenery and should not be ignored.
Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum
Thanks for the latex caulk tip. Next question....do you use the 2" foam to create the grades? I am trying to decide if I should lay the foam flat then try to contour the grade. Or is it better to set the foam at the grade and work from there?
Sorry for being so lame...never did this before.
Pete
BlueHillsCPR wrote: pete999976 wrote:I saw a great video clip on YouTube about this. The one question I have is how do you attach the track to the foam? Do you lay down wood under the track or can you use cork roadbed? Any advice would be helpful.Pete I think I read somewhere at one time that you would glue it down and use pushpins to hold it until the glue sets up. Of course you have to be careful to use a glue that will not "eat" the foam. I can't see track spikes holding too well in the foam. The only answer I can come up with is adhesive.
pete999976 wrote:I saw a great video clip on YouTube about this. The one question I have is how do you attach the track to the foam? Do you lay down wood under the track or can you use cork roadbed? Any advice would be helpful.Pete
Any advice would be helpful.
I think I read somewhere at one time that you would glue it down and use pushpins to hold it until the glue sets up. Of course you have to be careful to use a glue that will not "eat" the foam. I can't see track spikes holding too well in the foam. The only answer I can come up with is adhesive.
The adhesive of choice is Latex caulk, readily available at any home improvement, hardware or paint store. I personally use grey caulk for laying flex track, and weigh it down with an assortment of heavy things until it sets up. Ordinary track nails won't hold the flex down on extruded foam, but do give adequate lateral stability - but it's a good idea to pre-curve the flex before laying it.
After the caulk sets up you can remove and re-use the track nails. Usually, I don't bother.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - in twice-N scale, 1:80, aka HOj)
pete999976 wrote:I saw a great video clip on YouTube about this. The one question I have is how do you attach the track to the foam? Do you lay down wood under the track or can you use cork roadbed?Any advice would be helpful.Pete
I saw a great video clip on YouTube about this. The one question I have is how do you attach the track to the foam? Do you lay down wood under the track or can you use cork roadbed?
I'm partial to books myself...
For primers on complete layout construction I recommend:Building the Pennsy Middle Division in HO, Dave FraryA Realistic HO Layout for Beginners, Lou Sassi
For scenery:How to Build Realistic Model Railroad Scenery, Dave FraryBasic Scenery for Model Railroaders, Lou SassiBuilding City Scenery for Your Model Railroad, John Pryke
Nick
Take a Ride on the Reading with the: Reading Company Technical & Historical Society http://www.readingrailroad.org/
Here's a good Clinic
http://siskiyou-railfan.net/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?1270
TerryinTexas
See my Web Site Here
http://conewriversubdivision.yolasite.com/
Welcome to the forum and the best part of modeling(my opinion). Sassi's book on scenery was my favorite. I also liked the video from Woodland Scenics (my LHS loaned it to me).
The best thing about scenery for me was the decision to use pink (blue, yellow, green) styrofoam as a base. I use some plaster cloth and Plaster of Paris and dipped towels, but carved foam and ground goop really do it for me.
Keep us posted as you go. There are many here who are good at scenery as well as everything else, and we can give you more good advice than you will want. The key to this forum is to sift through stuff and only take what you want, like looking for agates on a Lake Superior beach.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Kalmbach, aka Model Railroader has some great books on the subject available. As mentioned source your local library for books on model railroading and dioramas. Google the internet for helpful sites and ask questions of more experienced modelers when you are stumped. Look into any local MRR clubs that you could perhaps learn from. Look at what others have done and ask them how they did it. Use you own imagination and creativity.
My first attempt a scenery was no more than newspaper strips soaked with a glue made from flour & water over a wood support frame. I don't reccommend this method. It ended up atrracting visitors.
Second attempt I used muslin and palster of paris over a base of newspaper balls and cardboard strips. This was a lot better, stronger and didn't attract any bugs but the muslin and plaster of paris were a bit pricey, I thought.
In my upcomming layout I paln to use a combination of materials including newspaper balls, cardboard strips, rigid foam insulation, (not the beaded type that makes all those little balls) strips of paper or cloth dipped in a plaster, (probably Hydrocal). I have heard that hydrocal is available fairly cheap if you buy a big sack of it from a building supply company. Buying it from the hobby shop/craft shop in small quantities adds up quickly IMHO.
Here are a couple of pages that I found by searching.
http://www.trainweb.org/danderso/sceneryn.html
http://groups.msn.com/TonysTrains/yourwebpage6.msnw
Your local library may have some of what will work for you, or visit the "shop" at the top of this page where our hosts, Kalmbach, have a booming business offering all sorts of how-to pamphlets and books.
hi