|
|
By now you should have a nice hard shell terrain surface on your train layout. The next step is to
add the permanent features like roads, streets, and rock facings to the terrain.
Lay out where the buildings, towns and farms will be located. If you have the actual buildings set
them on the terrain and mark locations with a pencil. If not - try to use the catalog to get
dimensions of the buildings to mark. If this is not practical, or seems like too much work, estimate
where these things will be located. Try to be as accurate as possible, this can be ‘fixed’ later if
you guessed wrong, but its easier to get it right now.
Mark in the streets and highways with a pencil. Use paving tape or balsa strips to build a form for
the asphalt or concrete roads. For gravel roads, don’t do anything but mark location for now. These
will be put in later. A Woodland Scenics product called Smooth-It works best for roads. Mix according
to package instruction, and pour into the forms. Allow to dry and remove the forms. Smooth-It can be
used for roads, parking lots, and other concrete or asphalt areas. Painting will be covered in a
later installment.
If you will have mountains, banks or other places where exposed rock faces may be found you will need
to model these rocks. The easiest way is to make your own rocks from hydrocal and a rock mold.
Choose a rock mold from the extensive selection of molds available from Woodland Scenics. Mix
hydrocal - a lightweight plaster material from Woodland Scenics - and pour into the rock mold.
Allow to dry and ‘pop’ the finished rock from the mold. Glue the rock to the terrain with tacky glue
or a glue gun. Fill in behind the rock with Mold-A-Scene. Mold-A-Scene is a type of modeling plaster
which has a more clay-like consistency than Hydrocal. It is easier to work with than hydrocal is for
filling in behind rocks and repairing mistakes on the layout. After the Mold-A-Scene has dried, it
can be carved to shape.
Painting the rocks, roads, and terrain will be covered in a later installment of Hobby Hobnob.
Gravel driveways and roads are best left to last - when the track is ballasted - to finish. Putting
the water in waterways will also be covered later.
Now is the time to look over the finished terrain. Repair any places which didn’t turn out the way
you wanted with hydrocal or Mold-A-Scene.
To Check Availability and Purchase Products Featured Here
Visit Our Ebay Store
Plum Creek Toy and Hobby
|
|
