Sorta did my first scenery last night, only it had nothign to do with a train layout. My older son needed to do a school project and he was building a diorama of a dinosaur dig in the Badlands. Last week he wanted ideas, so we went to HD and I showed him the foama nd gave him some ideas on cutting it. He took a single piece of 2" pink foam and cut it into thirds and stacked them, leavign the bottom one as a base, the middle as the basic 'ground level' with pits dug down in it, and the third layer for the higher cliffs around the area. I also explained about ground foam and painting the ground an earthy color before adding anythign on top. last night he showed me what he had, which was the foam all put together with nice pits dug in it and all painted a brownish color. He had a couple of colors of ground forma, and earth and a slightly yellow fine turf that sort of looks like sand. And a cement sprayer. I mixed a little of the yellow foam witht he brown earth to lighten it, and went to town. For the pit walls I sprayed on the cement and then took a sppon with foam on it and blew on it to push it against the side walls - I'm sure I read that somewhere, I doubt I just came up with it. Overall it came out very nice. We took it outside and dumped off the excess and I left it to him to recover any of the more bare areas. And to place his dinosaur bones and construction equipment. Overll, it looks really nice. I found some pictures of the area ont he internet and what he made looks very close.
Maybe now he'll be more intereted int eh hobby. I of course waited until I was partway done to tell him I had never actually done scenery before, but I think it came out nice in the end.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Does that mean that maybe I should try my hand at a decoder installation, Randy. If you can surprise yourself, maybe there's hope for me.
I am happy to hear of your foray into the wonderful world of terrain creation. I find it very appealing and relaxing. It may not look any screaming heck in the raw state, but once the green is added, it seems to come alive.
Congratulations.
-Crandell