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Train Scenery Mountains, Ground, Water and Rocks

I begin with wood 1x2, 1x4 & tunnel portals outlining outer portions of mountain.

Then make more detailed outline and shape using heavy gauge wire.
Next screening material is fixed to the outline using small gauge wire for ties.
These are examples of sections ready for the next step. 
 MOUNTAINS & QUARRY:
Next I apply a single layer of casting material over the wire mesh.
Some surfaces remain relatively smooth such as the marble quarry, the snow cap mountain tops and the grassy areas.
After the castings were in place, I then applied multiple coats of stain.
I use thinned black to highlight the crevices.

Close up look.

I use Woodland Scenics Turf to get that 3 dimensional look.

I also use Woodland Scenics grass matts, Heki hedge rows & matte board for  sidewalks.
Here is an example of home made "Jersey barriers" & a rock walls.
I have attempted to make my own molds, but it is easier to just buy them.
 SIDEWALKS & GRASS:
 ROCKS:
Rubber mixing bowl, kitchen scale, Hydrocal plaster and strainer (not shown)
Stain plaster - all surfaces:

Apply ground cover:

Place trees & bushes:

More grass and sidewalks.

 OTHER:
 WATER BODIES:
TIP:
The Jersey barrier is 2 pieces of shaped balsa wood filed, glued & painted.
TIP:
The rock wall is fish bowl base glued with Liquid Nails onto curved matte board.

<<<
Top - center original sheet of bricks
Right - mold made out of latex rubber
Bottom center - plaster cast of bricks

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Below is a step by step description of the mountain project.

Build frame of wire and screen mesh:

Move structures that are close to mountains:

Cover track near and inside mountains:

Place plaster gauze on wire mesh and let dry:

TIP:
I use Pop Art Plaster of Paris. Cheaper by case loads from an art supply wholesaler and ACTIVA Rigid Wrap Plaster Cloth, 5 pounds from  Amazon.com.

Paint loose plaster mixture over gauze and make r emovable cutout mountain tops - looks like witches hats:

Then I decided on the type of surface (rock molds, rock texture, grass/dirt, snow) and do one of following:

I had help getting started with the plaster gauze phase from Sydney and Brendan:

Build portholes to make it easy to see in hidden portions of the mountains:

Rocks:

Textured:

Make rock castings using rubber molds from Woodland Scenics and Hydrocal.

Place molds on vertical & hilly subalpine mountainsides using Liquid Nails.

Notice the glue and gaps between rocks.
Some larger gaps are filled with newspaper.
Filling gaps is a difficult and tedious process.
Tools used to fill the gaps between rock molds:
Small stainless steel wax carving tools and small artist palettes, syringes.
Fill the gaps and cover the exposed glue.
Tools are mixing bowls, etc. (seen above) and artist pallets.
Plaster is applied thickly with a smooth large pallet and textured with a smaller grooved pallet.

Smooth:

Snowcap Peaks:
(Interesting fact:  I used about 450 pounds of dry plaster - with water added probably closer to 700 pounds.)

Stipple:

Most textured and smooth surfaces are then dabbed with a thick plaster mixture using paint brushes. 
 GROUND COVER & FOLIAGE:

Peaks are removable so I can gain access to harder to reach areas. The snow portion is just plain plaster brushed horizontally to simulate a windswept look.

The vertical mine took on a more subdued look.

Staining the mountains and rocks required many steps and layers of stains.

Test panels had to be created to judge how stain would take & the result of multiple layers of spotted stain.

Initial layers and spotting resulted in a fairly washed out look.

Ground level (Earth) was done first leaving rock outcroppings for later & a slightly different process.

Layers of earth and rock tone allowed for a buildup and a more “earthy” look.

I could only reach one side at a time.

Finished look.

Individual rock outcroppings were then done.

Some areas were mostly rock.

I went for the muddy waters look - not to be confused with the blues singer.

After coloring, I poured in layers of Woodland Scenics Realistic Water.

Some areas had rocks in the waterways.. You have to wonder how the boats get through.

These logs were placed into a second layer of Realistic Water before drying.

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