I am to the point where I am adding a corner (1/4 piece of the pie) mountain to the layout. It will have two recessed tracks within it accessed through portals; the tracks are curved so I want the structure removable in case of derailments. I am looking at a "triangle" approximately 4 foot by 4 foot, by 4 foot, stairstepping back to an overall height of around 3 foot. I am trying to model traitional slate rock faces seen throughout the midwest. Any ideas, pictures, or help?
Don't use chicken wire.
If you want to lift the entire mountain then use foam.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
This isn't removable but I built something similar with foam, newspaper, and plaster cloth. I'm just cutting access holes to reach inside.
The question you are asking is rather unspecific! What type of answer do you expect to get? A step-by-step description on how to make a mountain on your layout, including a double-track tunnel?
I am afraid you won´t get that type of answer. If you do a web search, you will find lots of pages dealing with just that issue, including lots of H2 videos. Last and certainly not least there are plenty of books from our host Kalmbach describing how to add scenery to your layout.
Do your search and do your reading!
dehusman Don't use chicken wire. If you want to lift the entire mountain then use foam.
I built my first mountain with screen wire, an then plaster It was messy and then heavy. Might have been my modelling skills.
My nxt few mounains ( at a club) were foam. Less messy, easier clean up, an removeabl by Not gluing to anything else. One of them I left the topremoveable by not gluing it to the mountain.
My home layout has foam mountains. Buying foam is expensive.
Just my experience. If using foam, use water based glue, not solvent.
Dave
Foam is cheap, like free, just use thew beaded stuff and cover with plaster cloth. My whole layout is like this and the largest section 4'x4' can be lifted with one hand as except for the base of 1x4's it is all foam.
All my scenery is some kind of mesh material (either bridal veil mesh or fiberglass drywall tape) over a web of hot-glued cardboard strips. I find this method very easy to control and it's also pretty cheap.
Here's drywall tape being glued onto the cardboard, and a layer of plaster starting to be brushed on.
The scene looked like this after the plaster was done and painted.
After the backdrop was completed and initial ground cover applied it looked like this.
Rob Spangler
Beautiful work, Rob. I love your signature look, it really conveys the feeling of that space. Your color choices are a big part of that, at least from how I look at doing scenery from the San Juans in my own case. A tangent from here, but worth pointing out as a feature of what they see.
Here's my somewhat feeble and formulaic interpretation of both actual scenery and my Cascade Branch, which made operations more realistic of you're actually moving stuff around with a plan. I built the Cascade Branch planning to make it mostly remoavebale scenery. Probably 75% is popups. I went back to redo track and wiring later, just having a main most of the time, so this made it easy. But even if you need just one piece, a good method. If you do wire and plaster (never again, he says...) cool, but need a pop-up you can handle, build it out if layered foam.
The mountain pictured with the elaborate structure looks intresting, but probably beyond my patience. I build it up, the carve it, so mine is a bit of a mess unless you're really freindly with the shop vac, so you learn to control it. But with the right tools and techniques, you can minimize the mess and fuss.
I've got a lengthy thread on how I built the Cascade Branch this way.
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/219241.aspx?page=1
Lots of pics. There's even a couple of mountains that I go around in various ways that make it more intresting than simply a couple of tunnels that are too obvious. If you mountain is big enough and the train short enough, it's out of view and as if it were in a tunnel, so depends on how you rock with that. Just sitting a mountian in front of things may be simpler than a tunnel.
As for amount of materials, if it's moe toward eye level, the mountain can't be as tall, but take less material. Again, depends on what you aim form. Most of the Cascade Branch has a celing height less than 24 inches, but the mountains look OK to me at the viewing angle I'm at. I have steps that help. Crater Lake Junction is about 10" tall...
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
mlehmanBeautiful work, Rob. I love your signature look, it really conveys the feeling of that space. Your color choices are a big part of that, at least from how I look at doing scenery from the San Juans in my own case. A tangent from here, but worth pointing out as a feature of what they see.
Thanks a bunch, Mike. What you note about color is important. More of us should take heed from real world observations of scenery colors.
Found some old pics of the main layout. This corner is used for an MTs in/Loads out mine. There is a third stub ended track for narrowgauge loading, but everything is dual gauge if you want to confuse yoruself or others. I usually assign a dual gauge coupler equipped switcher and let it handle things. But I digress. Here is a foam layer mountain that sets in place.
Another way to lighten things is to use RubberRocks. They are thin and light, ideal for tight clearance needs. You can attach with hot glue like I most do or via some other bonding methods. They are obvious in this pic in raw form.
Note also you don't have to make the whole mountain removable, if that helps.
And the thing comes off in 3 peices, at least the part you can see here. I later made a water fall at one of the seams to disguise it that came out well.
Layered foam is covered with a thin layer of Sculptamold. You can finish it in various wats or embed rock molds. It's easy to punch holes in and with the foam underneath supports your forest well. Strong and light.
Here's what the scene looks like now.
Next is Big Arse Mountain, named after a certain former politician I'm sure you can all think of (no, not out loud please, it's for humorous effect, insert YOUR own favorite polictican here, but in private please.)
Anyway, it is a little more permanent. I can reach the area under it from the bottom and sides. This is a just in case pop out, if major repairs were required for some unlikely reason. I simply made a large insert without getting too fancy, then scenicked over it.
On the very left side is a bit of stairstepping disguised as the layers of a cliff face. I could still go over that, but the general idea of being abke to gain access is what's important. Sometimes you have to think of that as you go along, which is what I mostly did on the Cascade Branch.
Here's the mountain that's in front of the tracks, then we get to the really big one.
In place
Plucked out
A nice long mountain, ~6'
Levitation under way
This is how it was easy to reach for the several thousand trees that were added later.
It's surprisingly light. The use of forced perspective and high layout height works well together.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
I'm another..''there is no wrong way" believer. When I was younger...long time ago, LOL, I was a big fan of the late John Allen, especially His ceiling to floor scenes...anyway, I tried to copy some of His inspiration of that principle, in a layout I built in My parents basement. Started out with open grid construction in it's entirety, three level plan with the mountains made out of three ply cardboard, plywood forms, covered with window screen and texture paint filler, the kind they add to paint. Comes in 50lb bags and looks like plaster, but it is not...it's actually very light. I got it from a friend of My Dad's that worked for a paint Mfg'er. I don't believe they even use it anymore. Anyway, it mixes just like plaster and can be brushed on or use a putty knife. The largest mountain was not removable....but it was hollow...You could actually sit inside of it on a stool, in which I did, many times...You could not be seen, but could get at everything. Below is a pic' of it from 1959...I was 17 yrs. old at the time...layout was never really completed, but the people who bought the house in later yrs. wanted us to leave it. They wanted it for their Son's. The pic' isn't the greatest....but It will give an idea of what I'm talking about. Oh, the bottom floor level, had kick boards surrounding the perimeter. It was code 100 Brass track, hand layed on cork road bed, with infamous fiber tie strip....which by the way...never gave me any problems.
Take Care!
Frank
I used cardboard strips secured to the layout w/ a hot glue gun. On top I add mesh material sold at the craft stores. You then get plaster of paris or similar material to spread over the mesh. Nothing too hard or expensive. You can then paint using cheap craft paints or get an earth color from the 'oops' paints area at HD.
Creating elevation is important and easy b/c of the realism.
Hope that helps!
Hi,
Forget the chicken wire or other hard wire screening. My favorite is nylon (plastic?) window screening. Its easy to attach, easy to cut, and you won't tear yourself up on it.
Cover with the strips of paper towel soaked in a plaster solution, add a second layer, and then spatula/brush on plaster and cut in rock formations, etc.
For this old guy, foam just isn't for me, but that doesn't mean it won't work for you.............
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
Instead of chicken wire, use steel mesh subflooring. It is cheap, cheap, cheap! It has the strength to stay in the shape you put it in even with stuff on it.
I have a corner where I am building a canyon to the floor. As a guy that is always trying different ways of doing things, the plan is to line my canyon with the mesh and then using a bread knife, cut thin slices of foam and hot glue it to the mesh. I have had great success cutting 1/8 to 1/4 inch slices off the face of sheets of foam and using it where very limited space for a rock face is available. It bends when it is that thin.
If the foam doesn't work in that situation. I will just spread a thick goo of choice over the mesh and that should work instead. Or maybe a combination of the two.
Just as the real railroads worked their way across the continent, I am moving towards this canyon.
The spline will be cut out and a large bridge of some sort will take its place.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
I use card board strips hot glued to the layout. Then I cover the card board with paper towels or bed sheets dipped in plaster of paris. I make rocks from molds using patching plaster. ( it doesn't set up very fast ). I attach the rocks to the scenery using drywall mud. The mud ozzes out from behind the rock filling in any uneven spots.
South Penn
I used layers of bead board, covered with plaster cloth. The plaster cloth give a solid base for the plaster rock castings made with Woodland Scenics rubber molds.
Using foam keeps the weight down.
I made the base for the bottom side of the mountain and the top side of the base from 1/8" sheets of pine. I first, glue the base down. Once the adhesive sets, I clamp the bottom side to the top, then drill holes through both. I then glue 3.8" dowels the base piece. This helps align the mountain when I set it back in place. Rock castings hide the seam.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
AND it looks great
Bob
Don't Ever Give Up