I am from NYC and have been dying to start a HO scale model railroad layout since I was a kid.
Currently, I am in progress of performing a layout which is part industry and part “Main Street” with some population. 4’ * 8’ table.
There is a river at one side of the layout, which is a bit tricky for me. My fiance and I started on the river today and added some paint to it so we can have a base color. Our plan is to then add in some rocks(talus) and then add in the Woodland Scenics water. Any recommendations on how to add ground to the river edge, which then goes up to the basic layout?
We will remove the tracks and add roadbed next week, after we add in some more ground details such as hills and tunnels.
Make sure that before you put any track down on the foam, that you trace the centerline, and put roadbed down. You will regret that later. On my old layout, I didn’t because I didn’t know about it. I don’t think it matters with cork or Woodland Scenics premade roadbed, but some have other opinions.
I’ve never used the Woodland Scenics water product, but several others here have. They haven’t always been thrilled with the results, although some like it. I’ve used Envirotex, which everyone seems to like a lot. If you haven’t bought the WS water yet, you might consider Envirotex instead. Besides being a very good product, you can buy it at arts and crafts stores like Michaels and A.C. Moore. These stores frequently have coupons good for 40 or 50 percent off on one item, which is a good deal on something as pricey as these water products.
I think you’re off to a good start. Make sure you seal the river bed thoroughly before pouring your water, and do the pours in very thin layers, maybe an eighth of an inch at a time. I used a tip from Joe Fugate’s scenery clinics to add a few drops of cheap acrylic paint to each pour. This gives a bit of color to the water itself, rather than just having a clear view of the river bottom.
Search this forum for recent threads about “making water.” There have been several over the last few months. They’ve got some good tips, and some pictures.
It looks like you have made a good start, (by pinning down the track first, before installing it permanently.) Be sure to save all foam scraps for later use in building an undulating landscape. Use cardboard mock-ups of the "footprints of the position of structures and roadways, that you plan to use. The Walther’s catalog has the “footprint”, dimensions of most structures. Once you have dug out the gullies and glued down the hills, you can cover them with Plaster Cloth, to fill in the gaps.
As to the river, you have made a good start with the “base color”. Is the bottom smooth with the plywood, and is the river perfectly level.? Be sure to feather out the color of the stream from your base color to nearly sand color at the shoreline. There are many methods of constructing the river bank. With your foam base, you may prefer to just round off the top of the bank, and add primer. The idea is to make it irregular. Many of us glue on Woodland Scenic varied colored foam, or real sand. It is very importand to,( first), wet the ground cover thoroughly with “wet water” (water plus a few drops of detergent). Then, use a 1/4 solution of white glue to water. Finally, spray the river bank with spray adhesive. I, personally, used Hydrocal Sculpting Plaster over a screen wire base, and then painted in the river bank. Put a layer of plastic (that is backed up by tape) at the two ends of the river, before pouring in the plastic “water”. I used Magic Water, but Envirotex and other plastics are very good. I placed the rocks in the river just before the plastic “water” hardened. Due to capillary action, the water has a tendency to “creep up”, on the rocks, the shoreline, and debris in the river An eigth inch of plastic is usually quite adequate. For rapids, you will want to stipple on “WS Water Effects” ,which comes in a tube (like toothpaste). You may desire to have your river cascade down
You have a great start there, I too would prime the whole suurface as well before going any further…
The sides of you stream bed could be done with some plaster cloth or just with drywall spacking.However some of the fellas here such as Mr. Beasley would just carve the foam and paint it and it looks great the way he finishes it.
Your bridges, however, need a type of support and retaining for the bank at each of their ends. This could be timber, stone or concrete depending on the era that you are modelling. Your river or stream looks like it is coming along well, but you will find it is much easier in many ways to have the banks and bridge supports and retainment done before the river get “WET”.
Keep up the good work and never be afraid to make changes. It is Prototypical, even the real railroads made changes and adjustments. Nothing has to be fixed in stone. If you try something and don’t like it or it doesn’t look quite the way you wanted, REDO it, it is a learning process and we get better every time we do it.
I am pretty happy with the comments so far, which makes me believe I am doing something right!
As far as the rails themselves, they are only pinned on for initial placement, I have Woodland Scenics HO foam roadbed, as well as several strips of corkbed. We will trace and then rip the tracks off during the week and then install the roadbed.
We have a mountain we will scratch build as well, which will be more fun with foam!
As far as the foundation for the bridges go, I did cut out a “square” section for each end of the bridges. I will be using simple strip wood, painted in “concrete”.
Your layout looks great so far… I’m also a beginner looking to start out on my first layout in the next week or so.
I have some of the exact same foam i’m going to start with, everyone has mentioned priming the entire sheet… what brand/kind of paint should i get to use as a base primer… also what color is recomended?
