Hello everyone,
I decided to take a few days off from model building so I can make some progress on my layout. I made a lot of progress in the three days i played hooky lol. I started the first of three access hatches and also started my mountain scene. There's so much to go over and I'll do the best I can to explain everything correctly, it's hard to explain every detail so please feel free to ask questions.
Starting with the access hatch I simply marked out the area i needed to cut out so i can reach and work on that certain area of the layout, it's a fairly large opening which measures approximately 25 inches by 25 inches, i finished off the edges with one by two firing strip.
As for the mountain, I wanted to try this system that Woodland Scenics puts out, and I must say, it's the easiest mountain I've ever created. First I used their product called Shaper Sheet which is so simple to use. Just cut the desired size you need and use your fingers to mold it by pushing, crumbling, bending, and creasing the sheet and in a few minutes, you have the shape that you're looking for. Now simply mix their super strength plaster and brush it on the Shaper Sheet. While waiting for the plaster to dry I wanted to start making many rock formations so I used their rock mold form and rock mold plaster and mixed the plaster to a consistency so it will pour easily into the rock mold. They only take 40 minutes to dry and then can be applied to the Shaper Sheet. By this time, the plaster was dry on the Shaper Sheet and I started to apply the colors for the mountain and the rocks. It's a very simple process and very easy to do (to get full videos log onto woodlandscenics.com). After the colors were applied, I waited one hour or so then added my ground cover and trees. It's a good idea once you're happy with the way everything looks to spray scenic cement on the entire area. The scenes you see below aren't complete yet, there will be be shrubs around the rock forms, and more ground cover added.
Once again I will say it was the easiest mountain I've ever created. I found using plaster cloth and cardboard strips is so much more involved and also takes a lot more time to do then the Shaper Sheet method. Please feel free to ask any questions, it will be my pleasure to help out.
Thanks for looking,
Alex
Please note all materials in the photos aren't dry, so their appearance will be different once dry
