scenery ideas

[Anonymous]

I am just starting model railroading and am looking for easy,simple ideas for roadbed, platform surfaces, and mountain forming that may be available using house-hold items, or may be available at the local hobby shop. thanks for any ideas

[DocDan]

I would suggest that you lay your hands on one of the many books out there on scenery. Dave Frary's scenery book describing his water soluable method is great.

You can also try the wide variety Woodland Scenics products available at your hobby shop. They have a video clinic, a book, and even a learning kit.

Lastly, one technique that has both pluses and minuses is the use of extruded foam board insulatiuon which you can either buy or pick up as scrap at construction sites. It can be stacked cake style and carved with files, knives, sureform tool, or hot wire foam cutter. There are probably other folks on the list who can tell you more about this method for creating a scenery base.

Hope this helps.

Dan

[CSXFanAlso]

Dan has some great ideas that he stated. One thing I want to make sure you are clear on is to not use the white beaded styrafoam. That is not easy nor fun to work with. The stuff you are looking for is the pink or blue styrafoam. That is the prefered stock.

I just finished laying track on my layout and I used AMI's Instant Roadbed as my roadbed base. It works great and is easy to work with. I would recommend it. No gluing or tacking. Just firmly press in place. A word of caution though is that it grabs the track well, which is a good thing, but not when you are not ready to have the track stick! I used flex track exclusively so I would roll out the roadbed, peeling back the backing material. (The backing material is stiffer than the roadbed and therefore does not bend in the turns as easy.) Then tearing a few strips of the backing material I would lay that back over the roadbed and work the flex track into place, marking for cuts. Then, when you have everything ready, remove the backing material and press the track in place. Don't get me wrong, you can peel the track up, but it's a pain. I personally would recommend this way to go, it's quick and easy.

Enjoy!

[Anonymous]

Jim
The others are right about the blue styrofoam, it is really easy to use. But about track laying, whatever method you use, make sure that the track is alligned because pulling up track is really boring! Personally, I like to use cork as a roadbed and tack everything down. It may take longer, but in the end the track wont go anywhere and you feel very accomplished. Have fun!

[Anonymous]

The Woodland Scenics Scenery Learning Kit is cheap at your local hobby shop and made me and instant "expert." Plus, you have a finished product to display when you are done!

[Anonymous]

Jim,

Try your local library for back issues of MR and also for modeling books. My local library has about five years of MR there. Lots of great reading and a lot of tips too.

[snowey]

I use plaster-impregnated-gauze for scenery, and I highly reccomend it. It's clean, easy to work with,and you can stop,take a break, watch TV, answer the phone, whatever, and then start up again whenever you want. It's that stuff the doctor uses to make a cast for your arm, or leg. You can buy it from a medical supply house, or from the hobby shop, or a craft store. Woodland Scenics, Faller and some others make it for model railroading. Just cut it into pieces and dip them in water. You can put it over anything!

[Anonymous]

Jim
for mountains I find that using chinken wire for mountains is the best house-hold material to use. you can then cover it with paper mache' or can get bits of paper towel painted with wood glue placed on there in about 3-4 layers. I am also new in model railroading but i have been lucky because I have an uncle with countless friends that have taken up the hobby and i get hints for stuff from them. please email me at [e-mail] and we could share ideas with each other on the hobby.
yours sincerely Luke

[Anonymous]

hey Jim.
Personally for roadbed I prefer to use 3 ply cardboard, This way I can cut it to the deasired shape with a jig saw. Also If I want I can make it wider than the width of the track, up to a foot or two sometimes so the track isn't elevated all the time. As to scenery I'd stick with blue styrofoam. Good Luck

[Anonymous]

Jim,
Jeff is right. Getting back issues of Model Railroader, or even subscribing(if your not already)is the best way to get ideas and tips in scenery work. I tell you , the tips and ideas written there have really helped me out. And like everyone else is mentioned, Woodland Sceneics is the best for making even an "rookie" look like a pro.
Good luck, Ed G.