land

[johncpo]

[black

Land is exactly what these guys all describe. It's what you can do with your layout as is, or take a few simple steps to make some topography that is up and down - hill.
As I desribed in my subject about "mountains and tunnels...fast" you could try a modified version of that. Use scrap styrofoam, crumpled up newspaper or wood supports to create a basic shape. This can be added to with a variety of coverings that are inexpensive. I like to use whatever comes to mind, paper towels, or paper bags. Soak these in a water- woodglue- acrylic paint mix.
Next, spread the paper over the base structure in about one square foot sections, this allows you plenty of time to move them if need-be. Cover an area then move on to the next. The sections will dry hard and then you can paint as you see fit and add landscape details later.
Again, the techniques and materials vary but the results are the same most often.
If you need help I'm sure there are many of us who have experienced the
" ups and downs " of trying so hard to create topography on a flat surface. The trick is to take your time.

johncpo ( a.k.a.--- yard-dog....' cause my dogs run my trains )

[Medina1128]

I used the open grid and I just cut foam to fit between the 1x4s and shoved it up from underneath. Then I was able to carve to my heart's content to model terrain below track level. I was even easy to change my mind and put in a bridge over a large depression in the terrain. Granted, it would have been easier to plan the bridge beforehand, but it still turned out great.

[selector]

ChessieFan13, you can do whatever strikes your fancy, as long as your tracks look like they were surveyed and laid by a solid team of engineers and workers. So, the track should be reasonably level and somewhat raised most often, or there should be a ditch on either side of it. Whatever else is around is what nature left the place looking like. Your call; depressions, giant boulders left over form glaciation, a fault, sink-holes, hoodoos, mesas, whatever. Even a flooded quarry might be interesting if you are keen to do some surrounding rock-faces.

Your call, but I would not feel compelled, at least right away, to do too much until you have tested your track plan for a few days to see if it is going to 'last' for you. Once you have the bugs ironed out, then you can go on to chisel, gouge, and stack as you wish. Don't forget to cover your track, if you leave it in place, with painter's tape, particularly if you go on to use latex paint and ground foam prior to ballasting.

[pcarrell]

ChessieFan13,

What type of terrain are you trying to model? Some areas of the country don't have a lot of variation in them. Maybe you could get some of that 1/4 inch thick foam and introduce some gentle undualtions to the ground. Or like HAZMAT9 said, carve or cut down in to your foam. Maybe do both!

See the topic labeled "hey everyone, i need some input please!" and there are even more ideas.

[HAZMAT9]

Much of it depends on your benchwork I would guess, if you have an open gridded system then you can add more depressions, valleys with the use of a jig saw. My layout has a large river though I used the cookie-cutter approach and have lots of elevation making it easier to model valleys, ditches...etc. Plus I plan on adding foam on top of the cookie cutter benchtop for even more terrain modeling. If you've got flat-top benchwork, you might wanto add a few inches of foam underneath the layout to be able to dig a bit deeper down when modeling terrain features such as depressions, gullies..etc. Don't know if this helps, maybe more experienced modelers can chime in. Steve

[ChessieFan13]

I have a few hills a river with two places that the main crosses but the rest is flat. Flat is a relative term. My track has been laid and ballasted onto a homosote board with foam layered over it. Colud I carve out depressions, or should I just build more layered contours with more foam?