I'm in the process of building my first layout and I've already torn one down completely and started from scratch. It was too big, too complicated, and far too ambitious. I'm currently on a simplification binge with a new smaller layout with no grades, bridges, or tunnels. Right now I can look at some of my original ideas (electrified catenary, tortiose powered switches) and say "just what the heck was I thinking?" Maybe one day I'll have the big layout with wide curves, bridges, and all sorts of other good stuff, but for now I'll be happy to have a working layout. Maybe one day I'll add lights to it, but not until everything else is up and running.
using aerosol paint cans and getting globs of paint means or indicates to me that the cans have not been shaken up enough and thefinger tip extending out over top of spray nozzle into spray pattern. there is usually a ball bearing in the bottom of each can and they need a allot of shaking to get the paint mixed and that ball bearing rattling around in the can freely before you start spraying. cans need to be room temperature also 78 is better than 68 F. Second after each spray wipe the plastic nozzle and get rid of residual paint on the nozzle. I also use a special handle designed for spray can that clip onto can top in depression around the nozzle and gives me a pistol. grip and trigger to pull instead of finger pressure down on nozzle. Works best on short cans rather than tall ones. While spray cans can do the job they take practice to use well and are tougher to learn to use than a simple air brush,and the spray can was easier than a dual action air brush in my experience. and like the others have commented it takes time and we have all thrown out our first attempts at lots of things in doing scenery.The suggestion of scuptamould is a good one and another isto add more realistic rock to your mountains is use rock moulds with ink stains and water sprays for colouring rather than paint. Drying the products before decorating. hot and humid takes a long time to set up and hot and dry a lot less. Set up a fan to blow air over area to be dried is also a help, but the main ingredient is time, lots of it. cheers Garth
Thanks John: I did some tinkering over the weekend and using advice given by Dave et el, re: the glue/water 50/50 mix, I was able to finally secure all the undergrowth and bushes so that at the very least, you have to physically remove them with your fingers or tweezers. But I found that using this formula, didn't work as well as I had anticipated. Oh it secured them right enough, but even after drying overnight, one could blow on them ever so slightly and they would become dislodged. So, I decided to go whole hog on this (Mostly because I was extremely fed up with things not working) and put put Elmer's clear school glue full strength over each and every bush and patch of undergrowth I had on this module and before anyone has a fit about this, let me just say that it worked. Since this particular glue is clear and dries clear, it can't be seen and to my surprise, not only are these little devils secured, but they have managed to retain their subtleness. My son was over this afternoon and we was happy that I managed to solve the problem. So we are now good to go. I just got finished planting all the trees we were intending on putting on the mountain as well, and even though things didn't work the way we had hoped, it don't look half bad. That's not to say we didn't make a few booboo's. We certainly could have used a second base coat on the mountain as the holes in the plasti-cloth and underlying white, is showing through. You can't notice it from a distance or if your focus is on something else on this module, but if you take the time to study the terrain, you will see it. Also there are a few overlapped seams that should have been smoothed out more then they were. You can notice a tiny bit of lumpiness at these joints. It would have been better if we had laid the second layer of cloth horizontally instead of vertically. At least these lumps would have given the appearace of strata in the rock. Oh well. What's done is done. When we do the rest of our modules, we will know better. The one thing I found out today that none of us realized is that one of our portals in about a quarter inch to low. I was testing our stackers and they won't go through. So I am going to have to round it up just that much so they will clear. Don't think the hot wire will do it with the cloth on so I'll have to use my Dremel with the grinding wheel and take it up a bit. The rest of the portals are fine. I guess we missed that one when we placed them.
Thanks Garth: Actually the paints we used were Acrylics as mentioned in the numerous videos and books. We mixed them to the correct proportions and put them in brand new spray bottles. The kind sold by Woodland Scenics. The paints we used, except for two, were all Woodland Scenics as well. The other two we had to get at an art store as none of the trains shops here carry that particular colour. Can't figure that one out. The only thing we actually have left to do with this particular module is test run and entire traing through the mountains and over the tracks to find any problem areas that might need shimming and such. Aside from one portal that needs to be recarved, and the laying of ballast where we have flex track on cork roadbed, we are pretty much finished with this module, but as I mentioned to Dave, what we have learned so far has proven invaluable. So when we start the next module in October, we will know better what to do. One thing is certain though. We are going to try to stay away from the wadded up newspaper as it takes far too long for the plasti cloth to dry between layers, and we will be overlaying a coat of Hydrocal so that the plasti cloth will be sealed and it will be easier to paint or put the powders on and there will be no tell tale white showing through afterwards. This may not always be an option, but the hot wire shaping of foam pieces seems to be a much easier way to go.
Whoooo . . . a lot to read at once. Couple of comments. Great, you got a good plaster foundation down and white plaster cloth. All good there. Painting: If you painted the surface with building supply store acrylic latex paints, not much will stick to it other than building store paint so I think you did not use this type of paint for the base. If you SPRAY that Woodland Scenics paint and also some other hobbiest/arts supply paints with a finger pump sprayer, you will need to thin them. But there is a limit to thining as too thin and it will run (on sloped surfaces). Test first. HINT: lean you mountains over so they are no longer slopes. On with the show. That virgin white plaster is a sponge - until you seal it with acrylic paints. So, if you get too much on it and it dries, the second coat will NOT adsorb into the surface well and will tend to run or puddle. I always use water colors (acrylic, but they will dissolve if wet again. Art supply stores). The Black that is mentioned is a 'wash', normally 10% or so paint, 90% water (and a few drops of alcohol). Don't use a big brush until you test for the thinned wash to proper flow on the surfaces, it will tend to gather in the cracks and corners. Intermission. (catchy tune here) Scenery: The issue here is that you need to seriously overspray with diluted white glue. Seriously. Wet. borderline runny. Repeat on larger ground foam. Most people are not comfortable with drowning the ground foam, especially the larger shrubs. But it WILL dry COMPLETELY clear, like it was never on there !!! Prepare: In a QUALITY spray bottle, you need to dilute white glue at least 2:1 (water:glue), usually 3:1 (water:glue) in order to get it to spray with a HARD pull on the trigger. Add a few drops of dish soap. Shake really, really, really well. Do it again every few minutes. This is used AFTER you put the find ground foam on (read Next) The base scenery fine ground foam: dilute white glue 1:1 in a bowl, maybe a bit more water. Several drops of dish soap. Brush it on over a smaller area, say 12" square. Sprinkle the various color ground foam until it looks mostly covered but not all the way to the edges, you need to now brush on more glue, repeat. When you are done with this fine ground foam, Shake that diluted white glue sprayer again and Test it Again. If it sprays will, then spray the ground foam you put down until it wet looking (note, it may run a bit in concentrated areas - spray less, wait until it dries for hours, repeat in this case) - HINT: lean you mountains over so they are no longer slopes. Ground foams for shrubs: regular white glue in a squeeze bottle, Woodland Scenics "tacky of foam' glue, craft stores tacky glue, etc. Put a good size drop down or drool over an area. When done, spritz with some wet water (a few drops of dish soap in a quart bottle). DROOL white glue over this larger foam - it should EASily dissolve into the foam (a few seconds). If it just lays on top of the foam, spritz again with the wet water. Or put a few more drops of soap in the 1 quart sprayer. As others have said, if the foam comes off that easy, you can always brush it off and reapply. But I bet if you spray with wet water a dang near soak whats already there, it will stick (NOTE: it can take up to 24 hours, maybe more for all the wet glue to dry. No Touchy for a day ! ) .
Although we were disappointed with our first attempt at making a mountain, we were really quite surprised and delighted that people at a recent train show we attended with our layout, thought it was quite good. REALLY! I guess in retrospect, we all were far too critical of our handi work, but especially me. Somehow, even with the mistakes we made in construction and adding scenery, it didn't turn out too bad after all. We managed to capture the essence of a mountain in the Rockies. I guess adding all the trees, bushes and underbrush, helped to hide a mulitude of sins, and even the parts that were supposed to look like bare rock, caught a lot of people's attention. I thought it was far too dark, but many people asked us where the particular area we were modeling was. They were quite surprised when we told them that it was just a free style construction with no particular theme or area in mind. I know we have a lot of learning to do and we will do so on our next two modules which we start next week now that we have all had sufficient rest. Using all the suggestions as outlined by others responding to this thread, we are going to take things a lot more methodical and deliberate. Since our next show isn't until next April, we don't have to rush. We will of course make some corrections to our first attempt, but we will concentrate on the two new modules we want to have ready to add for next year. One of them will have a water fall and small river. That should be interesting. So all in all, our first attempt surprised us when it came to the comments of viewers. Hopefully our furture attempts will be much better. Maybe we ain't as bad at this mountain stuff as we thought we were. Go figure eh?
Good to read that your work was well accepted. I find I'm too critical of my work as well. So much so that I probably wouldn't finish anything to my "standards". When I'm landscaping I try to keep in mind my Bob Ross Rule ("indications of happy little things") and the "3 foot rule" (if it looks good at 3 feet...). Mark
Scenery has been the toughest part of the hobby for me. I have a modular layout and scenery has been torn out or gone over again on quite a few parts. I only model the midwest, I couldn't imagine trying to take on mountains. Good luck on the endevour.
Thanks Karl. Oddly enough, I drove out to the mountains yesterday and just glanced at those that had bare rock showing, and being a cloudy day, they appeared quite dark from a distance. Or course one can't say that when you get up close as in a stone's throw from the highway. So I guess you could look at the dark part of our mountain and think it's a cloudy day. Perhaps one day, the skys will clear and the sun will shine and we will have to lighten things up a bunch. Oh well. Such be life. I really do have to take some pics and post them here.
