how to make realistic mountains

[Lodens5]

Hi This is Dennis for New Zealand,I have made mountains using poly styrene You my call it strofoam over there. It is very easy to shape with a wire brush,and very light. It can be easly painted with latex paint I got all my ideas from aticles by Malcom Furlow in the great mag. modelrailroader

[Anonymous]

The other replies you have had have dealt with the making of mountains, and are valuable for their information. I'll try to address the "realistic" part of your question.

First and most important thing is to OBSERVE MOUNTAINS. Treat them like a prototype that you are modelling, and spend some time looking at pictures of the kind of topography you are trying to create. For me and my Northern Virginia / West Virginia layout, this means regular trips to the area, and reading/owning books about the region, with pictures. The kind of info you can get for free these days via the internet is staggering, so just find those resources.

The second most important thing, I think, is to GIVE MOUNTAINS SOME ROOM. I mean, plan on dedicating a large portion of your horizontal area to the mountain(s), because once you study the real thing you'll see that most mountains are much broader than they are tall. Of course, with methods of forced perspective and controlled veiwing angles, we can get away with some tricks to compress them, but to feel right, a mountain is just gonna have to be wide and fat. If you do it right, of course, then you make it look as if your railroad really had to contend with the rigorous terrain, rather than ending up with a "hill" that just conveniently droops away from one side of the tracks.

Thirdly, I would expound on the above to say that the way your right-of-way encounters the mountain ought to be varied. It isn't always giant bare cliffsides and deep canyon-style ravines; include some long low cuts and fills, a few culverts in retaining walls, short low trestles, relatively few tunnels, and perhaps even a "daylighted" tunnel (one that has been turned into a deep cut). The tracks should run at various angles to the direction of slope, even though railroad engineers try to keep them mostly parallel to the contour lines (i.e. perpendicular to the slope); this is because the mountain's undulations happen too frequently for the track to curve in and out all the time.

Finally, I'd say that you should never hesitate to plant more green growies. Soil will collect anywhere it can on a moutain face, and trees will grow there, even if it's right in the middle of your big detailed cliff rock casting. Try to avoid big bare stone patches, unless of course the geography you are modelling calls for it. Cliffs erode over time, leaving little piles of talus that collect on ledges; you can easily simulate this by sprinkling fine sand or gravel over your cliffs and seeing where it collects; then, fix this in place however you like, and be sure to plant some shrubs or even trees in it.

Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

i used broken ceiling tile and blue board to form the face, then build up the back portion with cardboard support covered with newspaper brushed with wallpaper past mixed on the thick side then laid over the frame.JAD

[Anonymous]

what i used on my previous layout was old newspaper balled up in a give or take shape of what i wanted, then used my home-made plaster cloth with hydrocal and paper towel. then i ued rocks and rock molds to do the rest. then just coer what u want with ground foam, trees, or whatever u think is best

[Anonymous]

Try useing Woodland Scenics Mountain Kit. from seeing other layouts its very good. www.woodlandscenics.com

clay --*16 years old*--

[Anonymous]

how do u make realistic mountains