Hey guys,
I’ve only been here a few times, so I am fairly new. 
Anyways, I need your help. Below are pictures of my mountains. I just need help making them feel complete. I’ve been contemplating them often, and they just don’t feel like weathered mountains similar to those of the rocky mountains. I need your help. Do I need more turf for them? Gravel? What is it? Here they are:
Thanks so much!
What I see is just the plaster cloth. That is only the first step. It is the form that you have to add to. What you need to do is make some rock castings and put over or on the plaster cloth. I use the Woodland Scenics hand size molds and cast them in place.
Mix one cup of plaster with one cup of water and pour it into the mold. Let it set up so it doesn’t slide out of the mold, but before it hardens up, apply it to the cloth and hold it in place until it hardens. That takes about five minutes. After it is hard you can peel the mold off and have a nice looking cliff face. (Chip off any parts that you don’t want on the casting.)
Everyone wants to get their information on-line now days and that isn’t ideal for scenery work. Get a good scenery book that explains what to do, with photos etc. ‘Water Soluble Scenery’ by Dave Frairy is the one I have.
The first thing I noticed is that the texture of the underlying plaster cloth is still visible. You need more plaster or some such over the cloth to hide that.
There two ways that come quickly to mind. First, is to get some Sculptamold and spread it over the area until it looks about right. Recolor and add ground foam after the Sculptamold is dry. Second, would be if you want a more rock face look, rather than earth. You could form the wet Sculptamold with a palate knife or something similar. The other method would be to make some rock castings out of plaster, adhere them to the layout with Sculptamold or latex caulk. Fill in around the castings with Sculptamold and color as desired when dry.
I’d suggest trying a small area and see how it looks. Since you seem to have several areas to do you could even try different methods in different areas to see which one suits you best.
Good luck,
Richard
Hi Sodoradvertures
First thing you need to do is get rid of the underlying cloth texture this can be done by mixing up some thin plaster. With primary school paint mixed in with it so it doesn’t show white if chipped the poster paint will mess with the drying time so it will take longer to dry.
The paint color will need to look darker than you think it should it will lighten as it drys.
If you want rock face woodland scenics rock molds are ideal to cast the rock face with. Some one else has explained that.
Then you have to add vegetation and trees if thats what is wanted. plus any other details you think fit what you are doing.
You may wish to re visit the bridge in the picture it should have an abutment each end. This will mean a little re-working but its worth it for the right look.
A book or two on producing scenery is a must have for the library the internet while good for finding information some things it is still best to have in good old fashioned print.
Also a good trick is to wrap the book in cling wrap if it is being used as a reference while work is being done on the layout.
You will no doubt get several different answers as to how to. There is no one right way when it comes to scenery it is very much a case of finding the way’s that works for you and gets the result you want.
regards John
Thank you so much everyone for all your help, and I will be sure to buy book on scenery as well. I have some old MR Magazines I can dig up, as I am sure those will be helpful too! One more question, what kind turf would you use to cover the mountain. I am not sure where to begin! Fine, coarse, clump, underbrush? I’m no expert when it comes to scenery…
Thanks, Tanner
I agree with most of the other folks. Your problem is that you’re trying to build a layout, not create terrain.
Use Google Images, travel & nature magazines, or any of numerous sources to find a picture of what you want. As you’re building your layout, work on eliminating any effect (like folds or crosshatching of plaster cloth) that doesn’t appear in your photos. As others have said, plaster cloth is the base material, not the top coat.
Right now, your layout looks like a flat piece of terrain which has had things built on it. Your raised track looks like a railroad came through and created large fills for their track. While prototype railroads do that, it’s only keep from introducing a grade while they cross a low spot.
As someone said, your bridge needs abutments. Prototype bridges are not built into the terrain. They rest, by gravity, on abutments, which ARE part of the terrain. Bridges actually need to be able to move as forces are applied. So that will help. But even more so, your incline going up to the bridge needs to look like it was carved out of the existing terrain, not laid on top of it. It would be a rare railroad that would construct an earth fill simply to create a crossing not at grade level. Most of them would use a level crossing. If that were absolutely impossible, a steel or concrete viaduct would be a better option (look at Hell Gate bridge in NYC).
Please don’t take these comments the wrong way. Most of us are extremely happy that you’ve recognized that your work doesn’t measure up and are seeking improvement!
Several modelers have suggested the use of Sculptmold plaster. While this is fine for areas where it will not be touched, I would suggest the use of Hydrocal plaster, for areas that will get rough handling. Hydrocal plaster is the thing to use for waterproofing streams and ponds. Do yoyu know how to construct trees? For foreground trees, especially, I prefer to use Scenic Express Super Trees. It is a good idea to soak three stems at a time in Matte Medium, which makes the trees less brittle and is an adhesive also. I spray the fine branches with spray adhesive (or hair spray). And then sprinkle on WS Blended Turf,(or varied colors of medium turf, to form the foliage.It is a good idea to drill holes in the terrain, and vacuum up the white powder, before spray painting it. Use WS Clump foliage for background trees,(without trunks), or for shrubs. I change the foliage color of deciduous trees with the seasons. Bob Hahn 
You’ve gotten some good advice above Sodor. I will just add that I prefer a product called “structolite” (AKA gypsolite). It is a brown coat plaster product. Lighter than plaster, quite strong, reasonable open time and has texture to it’s surface. You can sculpt rocks or embed rocks. You can smooth it gently or firmly with a putty knife to leave a rougher surface or create a smoother one. It holds paint very well and it’s also brown so it won’t show white if chipped.
As with any product there will be a learning curve but not a steep one. I have included some pictures for inspiration. Some represent “almost done” and others “in progress”.
This one came out a bit blue because the camera was not adjusted to the fluorescents.
Paint all of it brown then paint the rocks and ledges grey. Spray it with 1 in 10 diluted india ink to pick out the texture. Then drybrush the rock faces with off white. Apply a mis of coarse and medium ground foam then clump foliage then trees etc. Kind of think like nature and build from the bottom layer up.
Steeper parts of the slope will not have trees. As the slope lessens, the size of the vegetation tends to increase.
The fluffy greenery is polyfiber with a dusting of white foam to represent floribunda roses (which are common around here).
I model the Catskills which have mixed forest. usually best to use at least a couple of varieties of trees.
You asked about what scenic materials to buy. The short answer is a mix. Look at nature, there are many colors and shades of colors out there. Not sure how big your layout is planned to be, but my general suggestion is to get a large container of a basic ground foam, green blend or similar, depending on the time of year you are modeling. Then get some smaller containers of a variety of colors and sizes. Clump foliage makes good bushes and can also be used as foliage on tree armatures. A bag of poly fiber is handy too. Stretch it over armatures, spray on an adhesive and sprinkle on some ground foam. (Don’t do all the trees with the same shade.) It can also be used to make puff ball trees for your background trees or vines on your exposed rock faces.
Ii sprinkle my first layer of ground foam directly onto my earth colored paint when I put it on. Saves a step of adhearing it later. Do a square foot or two at a time, so the paint is still wet enough to hold the foam. Don’t put the foam on until it looks like a lawn and use several shades and textures.
Have fun,
Richard
If you really want a rock face that stands out as a showpiece, try Bragdon Geodesic Foam.
This is not a plaster, but rather a binary foam product that hardens into a light, thin casting. Bragdon also makes large molds which may be used with either their foam or plaster for rock castings.
Many have given great point as to developing the scenery over your base. I really perfer hydrocal or Unical for added applications to the base and for rock castings, Sculptamold or a “ground goop” (plaster/ perlite or Durabond, some add sawdust, vermiculite etc) work well to butter and sculpt your terrain.
I have learned much of my technique from “seasoned” club members and following Dave Frary’s advice. Once you dive into scenery, you will develope your own methods that will work best for you.The Bragdon castings are great but not for everyone, I have used Cripplebush rubber rock on large expanse where individual castings were immpractical.
Extremely long cut done in rubber rock and conbination hydrocal castings
Not all has to be cut or rock, unless that is your Prototype, outcroppings done w/ scraps of rubber rock and misc plaster castings. the base is ground goop (durabond, sawdust and brown masonry dye)
As for abutments, for some of the fill as you have, you will need, not only the bridge abutment but wing (retaining) walls
This pic shows the progression, cardbord lattice, plaster cloth, ground goop, placement of rubber rock and start of planting the hillside, You can see the scrap of rubber rock on the hill that is the previous pic
Now this is a combined effort of many in a very large club, some of these methods may help you as you scenic yourself.
These are all hydrocal cas
Yours looks similar to what I started with. I was going more for hills instead of rock. You can mixed up water white glue, paint it on and then sprinkle with turf and then going in with clump foliage. You can what I talking about behind the cement plant. 
Hello? OP? Are you out there?
On my hills, after using the plaster cloth, I make a slurry of plaster of paris and water with some vinegar in it and then I brush it on with a paint brush. It does a great job of covering the mesh in the plaster cloth. The reason for the vinegar in the slurry is that it gives you a longer time to work with the slurry, it won’t harden as fast.
Just plain plaster cloth if of good quality should have enough plaster in it to just smooth the surface.
You’ve got a great start. Someone showed a pic with real rocks - I’m a big fan of them, especially if you can get some from the location you are modeling.
Look at photographs. Not just railroad photos, but any scenic photos from the modeled area.
I like this book:
Essential Model Railroad Scenery Techniques
Pelle K. Soeborg