Building the RK&M III: The Mountain

The next area that I need to work on is what I call the Mountain. I need to do this now because it is in the background and I don’t want to complete too much of the Hillside and then have to reach across the hillside area to work on the Mountain. The mountain will also serve as scenic separator for the layout.

Here is the area before.

 

I now have some of the foam down for the base of the mountain and for the tunnel portal.

 

Looks like it is definately coming together. More pics as the mountain gets raised.

 

Now here are the tunnel portals. They are from Woodland Scenics. I painted them with Folk Art Clay Bisque. I then dry brushed spots and streaks with Folk Art Huckleberry, Amish Blue, and Dark Gray. Next I painted over them with Folk Art Linen thinned 1:1 with blue windshield washer fluid.





Next is weathering.

 

Here is the almost all of the foam base done for the mountain.





The next photos show the area where there will be a road that crosses the tunnel area.

 

:thumbs_up: This has turned into one of the most unusual construction projects I've seen. It's interestign how the parts have come together and now you're filling in around them. One of the things I enjoy the most is the design-on-the-fly approach. Even though we are in a high tech time with computer aided everything it's good to know that tryed and true "winging it" still works. I'm a pencil scetcher myself and it's good to know others are Old School too.:shade:
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Thanks John!

I design highways for a living and work on CADD most of the day. At work I have to be very percise and accurate. The CADD files I work in are 1:1. The entire state of Pennsylvania nd good portions of the surrounding states fit into the file. At home I have no desire to be that accurate. I have also learned after 22+ years that a set of carefully drawn plans never survives the first shovel full of dirt.

I painted the inside walls of the tunnel black. I also tacked down the road bed.





Next is to finish painting the bottom of the tunnel black and attach the tack.

 

The track is down and the portals are weathered, sealed and in place.

 

I had a request to show some of how I weather my track. Since I need to do the piece through the tunnel before putting the top on I thought I could show how I weather the track.

My tools: A paint brush and Folk Art Asphaltum:



The track before I begin.



I paint the “far” side of the track and the ties with the Asphaltum straight out of the bottle; no thinning.

 

Next I paint the “near” side of the rail and ties, and the ties between the rails.



Now I clean off the rails.



Now let everything dry. I will have to do a second coat.

 

I completed the second coat of paint and the track weathering is done.

 

Tom, I know what you mean about being too accurate. The last thing you want to do is make this into work. I'm enjoying the updates, keep em coming.

 

Thanks!

I have placed the paper towels with plaster. I have then gone back over the towels and “painted” a layer of plaster of Paris.









Next is using Sculpta-mold to fill in the gaps around the tunnel portals and to make rock faces.

 

In the second picture where does the siding go to.

 

It goes to the Grain Elevator Diorama.

This is a photo before the mountain (and the hillside) was begun.

 

Using Sculpta-mold I first shaped the rock faces. I then took aluminum foil and pressed into the Sculpta-mold to make the indentations.

 

I have now finished two coats of Folk Art Honeycomb over the hardshell. I also touched up the rails and ties as needed.

 

The track through the tunnel is ballasted using Woodland Scenics Medium Gray Ballast

 

Added some foam to the tunnel roof.

 

Next I began the paper towels and plaster. I am about half done.