New layout - Mountains, Tunnels, Portals Under Construction

[perry1060]

Hi all,

I've decided to build a new layout, and I'm starting with the mountain ranges and the tunnels through them. 

This layout will be fictional, and I've already defined the scenic features I'm interested in building.

Here's a look at my early construction if anyone is interested. By the time I'm done with this layout, my kids will be asking me for the car keys and I'll be retired. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[alexweiihman]

Nice layout Perrey,  Looks like you are a good customer of foam suppliers

[mistyk11]

Wow! That makes our little mountain/tunnel look like a mole hill! It's great to see how one starts out and the different stages of it. Please, if you will, post some pictures of the different phases so that us newbies can see what it looks like during the process. It's absolutely fascinating to see what ideas that people can come up with. That's what helps motivate my son and I when it comes to making our own scenery! Good luck with it and I can't wait to see more of it!

[baltimoretrainworks]

Man, for a few seconds I thought you were building your layout out of cinder blocks!!!

Looks really good!

[Frank53]

Perry:

I am r-e-a-l-l-y looking forward to seeing the process of building a new layout, your stuff is tip-top.

[Jumijo]

Great photos, Perry. Another southwest themed layout? It's shaping up to be a bute!

What's the deal with your other layout? Are you dismantling it?

Jim 

[ChiefEagles]

Perry, you work for FOOD?  Thought I would get you to come and do my screnery.

[Anonymous]

Perry,
Looks awesome!

How much did you have to pay the models?

[perry1060]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for all of your comments. I'm not taking down Castle Canyon Scenic Railroad. My new layout will be in another location of my house, and I'm leaning towards an  landscape with a futuristic theme. A little bit of fiction, science fiction, and lots of unexpected scenery. At least that's the plan...

 

 

*** There will be no red mountains on this layout as I'm quite tired of that color. ***

 

 

[laz 57]

COOL, PERRY, If you need an 800 lb. bear I can lone him out to you,  He does like beer though.  Good Luck on the new layout.

laz57

[dwiemer]

Perry, good luck with it.  That one mountain looks like "Devil's Tower"?  If so, you could have a space ship looking scene with multi-colored lights and play the theme from Close Encounters.  As for your daughters, you have my sympathies.......you will have your hands full keeping the boys away.  I have one daughter and one son, the girl is 2 and he is 4.  Long time before the dating starts .  Speaking of the girls, are you going to build a place for them to hang out under this layout too?  Good luck and please do post your progress.

Dennis

[Andrew Falconer]

A futuristic layout that is not red, orange, and yellow would have to be mostly blue, violet, and white.

Andrew

[Brutus]

Great work as always - thanks for the post and pics, Perry!  Will you make room for the dinosaur attacks?

[perry1060]

Dennis,

The kids are too big now for that. Instead, they may help more with the new layout construction this time...

 

Jim,

You bet! T-Rex fun will continue...

 

^^^^^^^^

[Anonymous]

Perry,
I see you are using 2" foam boards and sculpting them as needed... how do you get all the little foam balls collected?  That work area is far too neat for a foam construction area!  I'm very interested in your response because I plan to use 2" foam on my layout and my construction area is going to be the layout room which is fully carpeted and finished...

[Jumijo]

Perry, you have the perfect train for that new alien layout! The Phantom!

Brent, there's a new invention that will suck up all those foam balls. It's called a vacuum cleaner!

[Anonymous]

Jim,
HA HA!  Very funny... seriously, I have used a shop-vac and different vacuums and for the most part they do an OK job, but they don't get them all - some just spread them around even more!  I was wondering if there was something I could put down (maybe some plastic or blanket) to trap em and then toss the whole mess in the trash... unless there are other uses for the little pests?

[fifedog]

PERRY - Do NOT (repeat) DO NOT take CHIEF up on his offer!!!  You know what you'll receive a steady diet of.....

88 - Tippi Hot Foam Cutter (taint no mess.)

[Birds]

Perry,

You make it look so easy!

Have you seen the diecast models of the various spaceships in Gerry Anderson's "UFO" and "Space 1999" TV series?

Looking forward to more pictures and the completed layout.

Chris 

[perry1060]

Brent,

I have so much scrap foam that it would choke a shop vacume, which I don't even have. Two-thirds of all the foam is literally carved away and on the garage floor. That is where I build my sections of carvings and do the messy water putty work.

The kids and I simply shovel the wasted foam into the big A.J. garbage can you see in my first pictures with dust pans and our hands. The tiny foam balls too small to collect are blown into the driveway with a fan and a broom, and the wind takes care of the rest.

You working in a train room and carpeted too...becomes a different issue for you.

 

Chris,

I've not seen those spaceships...they sound really cool...

 

Here's a few more pictures as I've continued the foam carving on the left side of the mountain range. I'll be purchasing transparent glass rods in the next few days and beginning construction of my alien power generator...to power the tracks of course and some other features as well.

Glass rods are here...

http://heritageglass.com/mcart/index.cgi?code=3&cat=3

 

Latest pictures of carving foam almost complete...

 

 

 

 

[cnw1995]

Perry, I saw you stacked and carved the foam - then did you spray on insulating form and carve that too to get the swirls?

[perry1060]

Doug,

What you see now is just carved foam with my kitchen knives. The foam spray idea might work very well, but I'm sticking to what I know for now. I'll coat the foam with Durham's water putty and as the foam balls vanish after many coats, the correct texture will begin to show itself.

 

 

[Brutus]

Somewhere on the layout you should put that weird rock formation that used to appear in all those tv shows back in the 60's and 70's, esp the episode of the old Star Trek where Kirk and the lizard man fight it out in hand to hand combat (Gorn?)....