I’m building a mountian for my layout, and I’m not really sure on the best way to build it. I know some methods, but I’m not sure if they’re on the dark side.[}:)] Any sugestions?
Needing help,
BNSF34
I built my mountain by stacking insulating foam, carving the terrain, then painting plaster over it. The worst part is the mess cutting the foam makes! Since a tunnel runs through my mountain, I stacked 2x2 square foam blocks along the backdrop for support, about a foot or so apart, and then a full sheet on top, and continued upward. I am able to remove the backdrop and access the tunnel area.
Foam is good, it is what I used, there are several construction shots on my picture trail link below. However other methods work well also, such as the cardboard strip lattice. It depends on what you have access to and what you want to spend on it.
Foam is the easiest, and will look good the first try. Plaster makes nicer mountains, but takes lots of practice. Great rock outcroppings can be carved directly in the foam, and foam holds real rock and plaster castings very nice. Also foam holds trees better than anything.
[#ditto]
Simon,
What did you use for the backdrop??
Thanks,
Jeff
I used masonite on the wood frame wall and thought I would be clever and use a heavy cardboard glued to the concrete of the foundation wall. I then coved the corners with some linoleum offcuts glued into place and then smoothed in with drywall compound (note shiny side against the wall, so you are seeing the backing of the linoleum) The cardboard was a big mistake and quickly started to show the corrugations, I think because of the humidity. I have since covered this over with a large sheet of thin styrene I got cheap from a dress factory liquidation (they use styrene sheet to make dress patterns, who knew?) Then I painted the lot with latex. Some of the backdrops have photo murals I took myself and made with a software program called “Big Picture”
Cardboard lattice covered with plastercloth and sculptamold works very well and is good for forming any shape you want… Easy to make a tunnel this way. Depending on the type of mountain I want, I use a combination of foam and cardboard. Nothing is cheaper than cardboard - hot glue holds everything together - can use for mountains and tunnels.
Ron K.
Having never worked with foam, I can offer little when it comes to advice. However, foam seems to be the material of choice with today’s modeler. I suppose you can try using both material if you want. In other words, foam as your base covered with plaster rock molds.
Thanks Simon
Thought it looked like cardboard (was going to try using it myself) but I see now it wont work.
Thanks again
Almost identical to the method I used on my last layout. It’s easy and fun. Have the vacuum on hand when you carve the foam. Talk about a mess!
Currently, I use foam. In the past I’ve used cardboard strips and paper soaked paper towels. For smaller hills and dales, foam is the best, it’s reasonable fast and controlable. Ffor large mountains, I think cardboard strips is the way to go. It’s inexpensive, quick and most importantly hollow.
Nick
Crumple up newspaper, tape it down and then put plaster cloth on it then plaster.
Foam is great. Cut and shape only with a “hot wire”…no dust, no fragments, no static electricity, no mess. Smear on lightweight spackling compound. Dap makes “Fast 'N Final” (get at Lowes). Other makers have similar stuff. Push it where you want it - until it looks like rock…use small spatula. tongue depressor, your fingertips, whatever. Let dry. Paint desired color(s) with latex. Spray with diluted India ink or something that will emphasize folds and cracks. Enjoy adult beverage while admiring results.
I scrunch up newspaper then paiper mache over it. works for me.
i stack foam cut it then i use plaster of paris to put some on it to mold it in better shape … or some ppl use cardboard strips then make a pape masha type thing then put plaster on that not as stong but might be cheaper
There’s more to a mountain than what’s underneath. If not for water, there would be few mountains, instead, most of them would be high flat plains. Runoff erodes the valleys, and only when the valleys get deep do we have what we usually call mountains.
Given that, the high points form ridgelines, with some sort of creek or river on either side (these may have dried up long ago in desert environments). Where ridgelines meet, there is usually a high point (with saddles or low spots in the ridgelines between high points) and usually three ridgelines will meet at one point. Occasionally four ridgelines will meet at one point, but these are less frequent than a three ridge high point, and the ones that come to mind quickly all involve vertical volcanic pipes of harder rock at the intersection point.
There are scaling issues on train layouts, it is usually hard to make mountains high enough to maintain proper scale. In HO, a minimal 3000 foot peak would be 34 actual feet tall. Two options here, make the mountains out of scale (and as tall as possible), or just model small pieces of mountains.
It is rare to find a sustained slope greater than 45 degrees in most mountain ranges. That means that half a scale mountain in HO would also be 34 feet wide at the base. Bare rock escarpments happen when the runoff cuts very quickly through softer rock, but when looking at the whole mountain, these represent a small portion of the total slope. (Cliffs usually wear a “beard” of talus or loose rock at their base, this usually lies at the angle of repose, the steepest angle that loose rock will sit still, call it 45 degrees for simplicity, unless you want to do some research for your specific area.)
Typically a cross section of a ridgeline will show near flat terrain at the top, much steeper terrain midslope, flatter terrain down near the valley, with the watercourse cut into a small gully at the bottom. When ridges get narrow (knife edged) you will usually find steeper slopes below