So I made my first attempt at creating a mountain out of foam. After about an hour's worth of work, I think I finally am getting the hang of it. That plain sheet of foam looked pretty intimidating at first, but it went much easier than I thought. I am close to starting my layout, but want to get down some of the basic techniques before I start gluing things down permanent. One thing I already figured out is that I need to wait several days between gluing the pieces together and actually working with it. The foam doesnt seem to absorb the glue much, so dry time is extended quite a bit. I need more practice, but there's no stopping me now, i'm hooked!
If you use a non-water based adhesive, e.g., caulk, Liquid Nails (foam friendly version), etc., it will dry quicker. When I first did this I used Elmer's and that thing took days to dry due to lack of air flow.
Looks good. I have the next step with a layer of cement you use for gluing tiles. Here are pictures like I build a small module, text - sorry - in German. :angel:
wolfgang try to find contact glue for foam. it doesn't eat the foam and works quite fast. i tried it on my new layout. just make sure you use some weight to hold the foam in place. btw, how do you intend to cover your mountain ? if you need some hints feel free to contact me.
I use Liquid Nails (for foam) to cement the foam together. I also use cardboard strips to form the outside contours of the mountain and then shape it with plaster cloth and hydrocal. You could also use fine screen mesh as another option. Have fun making mountains......
LOOKS GREAT!!! I have used foam like that before and was it messy!!! Next time I might try using the cardboard strips and plaster cloth method.
Here's an updated photo with some paint and grass. I'll do better sculpting and blending on the real thing. I think i'm ready to give it a go now.
951TG, I have used long drywall screws to hold foam layers together. It enables selective scenic demolition for modifications later. I have a Ground Cover Tutorial in my RailImages you might find useful for your foam landforms. See the caption of each photo for instructional narrative.
