I recently started putting cork under the trackside buildings to elevate them to track height. I was woundering how to make the transition from the building to the rest of the scenery? Do you cut the cork at the base of the building or do you extend it out from the building a little bit?
tim
Well, generally the foundation is pretty much flush with the walls. Perhaps some ‘concrete’ paint would be in order. Just an idea.
Tim, how you approach this depends on just what you are attempting to represent with the cork.
If you want the cork to be the building’s foundation, then it will naturally conform exactly to the outline of the building’s base.
On the other hand and the situation that I think is usually the norm, where the cork is meant to represent the ground, then it should extend well beyond the building’s base, tend to be somewhat irregular in outline and be made to gradually taper into the surrounding terrain.
CNJ831
Hi,
As said earlier, painting the foundation “concrete” is a nice touch. I also - on not all but several structures - put some ground foam around the foundation to cover it. And where doors exist, I would lay out some very thin sheet styrene for sidewalks or driveway, or lay out some fine ballast type rock for a walkway or path. Lots of options to do this, and they make a major difference.
IMHO, one of the signs of a well scenicked RR is having the structures appear to be “planted”, rather than just sitting on the ground surface.
Mobilman44
They dig foundation holes for real buildings, set the basement in the hole, and then back fill dirt right up to the walls. For a model building you want the siding to come down to a masonry foundation, and then have that foundation “attached” to the ground. Cracks of daylight showing around the bottom of the structure spoil the illusion. If the building model lacks a foundation I make one up from wood, soft pine is what I have kicking around the shop. You can paint the wood with concrete paint giving the look of a poured concrete foundation, or cover it with masonry or brick paper. Or, just paint it white or gray and it looks like a painted cinder block foundation.
Cork has a texture that suggests masonry, but the natural color is too dark. Fieldstone foundations are gray, not dark brown. I’ve never tried it, but perhaps if you painted the cork a stone gray it would look about like a stone foundation.
The foundation walls of real building are underneath the walls of the structure, they have to be, 'cause the structure rests upon the foundation. I would cut my cork foundations no bigger than the footprint of the structure. I would not extend it out from the building at all.