Have been feeling like the layout is stuck in the mud and want to get it out and moving again. I have the mainline down, unless I change alittle of it. Some scenery started. But been have been working on a budget for the layout and it seems sometimes to slow me down.
I am looking for an advice,tips etc on how I can do quick, easy and cost effective scenery ( mountains, landscapes, etc) that will cover alot of ground fast. I feel then that I can get the layout back in gear and feel ashamed about not showing it to anyone…
am I crazy to be asking this… well I know I am crazy… [:|]
What scale is your layout? What kind of help do you want? Are you in DC or DCC? Can you Post a diagram of your layout? At what stage of construction are you? Are you planning a switching or self controlled “round and round” layout? Do you intend to stress operation? These are all factors that we must know in order to be of the greatest help! Bob Hahn
First things first. You are using a newer version of Internet Explorer which doesn’t work with the text editor used to write posts. To set IE in backwards compatibility mode, click on the icon looking like a ripped sheet of paper next to the URL (starting with http://cs.trains.com/) on the tool bar.
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THe layout is HO, its 15 X 23. ITs an along the wall, walk in design. With one long mainline that crosses itself to give the illusion of a two track mainline. I am going to do alittle of switching and mainline running. I am DCC and love it. Have been working on it for over 7 years and just want to get over this little stumbling block and then it should be ready for the next level…
Well, I guess all of us have been in the doldrums or have had second thoughts about our layout. Building a layout of the size you do requires a lot of patience, time and money. I have met folks, who got so frustrated because progress was so slow, they gave up the hobby.
There is no cheap, quick & dirty way to finish a layout. Either you continue within the time and budgetary constraints you may have, or you take it down and settle for something much smaller - that´s the route I am following.
Mike, far as cheap hills and mountains try foam used for insulation. If you can find a damaged section at Home Depot you can usually get a 75% discount if you ask the department head.
I have around $65.00 in all the foam in this picture, all so try building sites. You maybe able to get scraps for free if you ask.
Trees, I use super trees. A box is around $30.00, add $21.00 (3 colors) for ground foam then $1.00 or so for cheap hair spray. You can make around 40 to 60 trees. If you only get 40 trees that is 76 cents per tree.
While not free they look good and will cover a good sizes area.
I use Rit dye to dye sawdust for ground cover. If you have a woodworking shop, take the saw dust and sift it through window screen. Then dye it different colors. You can check out my videos at YouTube.com under diamonjim6.
I agree that given the size of the layout that you have started to build, you have gotten caught in a situation of paradox. What I am trying to say is this: in building scenery you generally have a choice-quick or cheap. Unless you have been given ultimatums by the other significant people in your life, pick your self up, dust yourself off, and choose. Some people seek out professional layout builders and modelers to their scenery, and get delightful results. Other people look for various ways to take common materials (foam, scrap lumber, hardware cloth or window screening, wadded up plaster soaked newspapers, strips of corrugated boxes,etc., etc., etc.) to create the illusions of mountains, hills, gulleys, rolling country sides and so forth. These approaches normally are not costly, but do take some time, effort and focus to accomplish. The best advice I can give you is to pick a spot and dive in.Do not worry if your initial efforts do not match your mental picture of what the results ought to be. just build and if some portion does not work out, so be it. frankly, I became more accomplished when I decided that my most favorite tool for construction work was my chisel. As one area improves, and shows another area detrementally, out comes the chisel, and in due course something different and improved fills the newly emptied gap.
Integating scenery into the rails that you now have in operation is just one of the fascinating parts of this hobby. Be fearless and totally enjoy what you are building.
If you look about a third down the right hand side of the page amongst the advertising you’ll find the “Search our Community” box. type in your query and be prepared to be overwhelmed and /or slightly confused [(-D], I must admit that I find phrasing the question to receive the correct answer slightly difficult at times.
That said there’s nothing wrong with asking like you have, in my opinion that’s what the forum is here for.
Anyhow here’s a link to one of the previous threads regarding starting scenery…
I had a holding section that needed something. There was a fairly wide area on the backside, so I made a rock outcropping using pink insulating foam and some Woodland Scenics rock molds.
The area where the outcropping was going is the area to the left of the tracks. The fascia at the right side has been cut to follow the shape of the scenery.
I started by stacking and gluing sections of insulating foam. The blue color was from a project the wife was working on and will either be carved away or painted over. I used acrylic latex caulk to glue the foam to the layout and each layer.
After all the gluing is done. I let the caulk set for 24 hours before beginning the shaping.
After carving. I used a razor knife (the kind with the longer snap-off blades) and a wire brush to shape.
It’s messy work, but it’s easy to work with, and very lightweight. You DO have a shop-vac, right?
Any large gaps are covered with plaster cloth. Save yourself a lot of grief by covering any track, existing scenery to protect from plastering later.
What I’m doing on my layout is using 2" Woodland Scenics risers under the track, so the layout isn’t flat and I don’t have to cut away the benchwork for a river. In an area I want to add scenery, I use wadded up newpaper pieces and masking tape to get the general shapes of the hills I want.
Then I take pieces of paper towel (usually about 1/2 a paper towel is “just right”) and in a little aluminum pad brush on white glue front and back, then stick it on the paper towel hill. It goes quickly and is a lot neater than plaster. I usually add a second layer, and/or brush on straight white glue. I do use plaster for casting rocks to add.
When that’s finished, I mix up brown sanded grout from the local ‘big box’ home supply store. It mixes like plaster, but unlike plaster it comes in different colors (including several shades of brown) and isn’t smooth like plaster but has a texture much like dirt.
For a cheap and easy way to add scenery, I use 1-2" wide corrogated cardboard (the typical tan box) and hot glue them to the layout to create the basic forms. I then use paper towels dipped in a soupy plaster/hydrocal mix and drape it over the cardboard framework. This sets up rather fast so you can move along at a good pace. This is what got me ‘going again’ on my layout as i got tired of seeing open benchwork. Now I do areas of scenery every couple of weeks and it keeps the interest and anticipation up. This is what works for me.
The photos show various areas and stages of scenery construction. As you can see I jump around a lot.
PS: I had an electrostatic flock gug I bought on Ebay a couple of years ago and decided to give it a try. WOW, now I can’t wait to get more of the big areas of scenery done so I can use it.
All these suggestions have given me a new found inspiration, what I had been doing and like it alittle for mountains was taking the rolled sheets of grass, putting them over some crumbled newspaper and then putting a heat gun to them and they would form around the shapes. Works real nice, and then I can add some ground foam lichen, trees etc… and even alittle paint to give a little contrast… but am ready now to move the road block I had…
The area where the outcropping was going is the area to the left of the tracks. The fascia at the right side has been cut to follow the shape of the scenery.
I started by stacking and gluing sections of insulating foam. The blue color was from a project the wife was working on and will either be carved away or painted over. I used acrylic latex caulk to glue the foam to the layout and each layer.
After all the gluing is done. I let the caulk set for 24 hours before beginning the shaping.
After carving. I used a razor knife (the kind with the longer snap-off blades) and a wire brush to shape.
It’s messy work, but it’s easy to work with, and very lightweight. You DO have a shop-vac, right?
Any large gaps are covered with plaster cloth. Save yourself a lot of grief by covering any track, existing scenery to protect from plastering later.
