After trying to build a simple mountain with pink foam,a messy idea that didn’t work, I was in Menard’s,(A big box hardware store). I found a plastic hollow rock landscape formation. I feel it fits right in with my non scale trains and with a little paint and ground foam will fit right in without the mess!
Great Idea!
Kurt
Crip, I’ll second that! A neat and inventive idea for certain. You ought to send one to CTT for use in the Reader’s Photo section… that’s an idea others might like.
An improvement over the long-available standard just-over-the-track green, gray and brown styrofoam moutain. You did a good job cutting the hole for the train to enter. So how is this on price as compared to the typical pre-fab toy train styrofoam mountain? This is a perfect idea for the “toy” train layout or the kid’s first train layout.
Personally I went with blue styrofoam insulation and using wood glue, built it up in layers and then carved the shape as I wanted. It wasn’t that hard, but you have to give it time for the wood glue to dry between pieces of the blue board.
Again, neat and creative idea Crip!
Thanks,
It was $30.00 for the large size,pictured
They also offer a small, medium and extra large, but I don’t remember the prices.
Mark(crip)
A nice tunnel for a single track, however you might have to move it or cut the openings for a locomotive to fit thru around a curve.
I tried making my own tunnel or mountain and it fit across two sections of 027 track on the straight area, only 15 inches long though, made out of scrap wood from where I worked. Used one by one’s for the cross sections and two by fours for the entrance supports inside and put plastic tunnel openings at either end, got ruined thru moving a few times.
I have used pieces of styrofoam glued together and cut to about a 45 degree angle then painted brown for a hill on a corner on my former layout, that was when I had only a 9.5 ft. by 18 ft long room and the layout was 8 ft. by 14 ft. It was the old back porch that I had closed in and installed a cieling fan and electric receptacles in there too.
Lee F.
Hi crip
I get the impression you want to keep the toy railway feel.
My thoughts are you need moulded tunnel mouths to attach to the rock then just give it a very good paint job (take weeks rather than days) including inks and dry-brushing to really bring out the shape and other details, then give it a coat or two of varnish to finish and protect it.
Unless going for a more model railway feel I don’t think I would bother with the scatter and foam finish to it.
[2c]
regards John
Neat idea, got me thinking
Jim
What a clever idea! I second Brian’s recommendation to send it in to CTT. I’ve used cardboard boxes - cut out, stacked and covered with paper.
I took one of those pre-made “painted” styrofoam mountain tunnels, cut the top off of it, added plaster of paris and repainted to get this.
Lisa
Beautiful! So you just glopped the plaster on - formed it - and painted it - that simple? And it adhered?
Yep! Used some plaster cloth too.