Breaking Up Flat Scenery???

You’re onto a good idea. You could also add some rock forms from the foam, just cutting irregular pieces and hot glueing them to the flatter foam forms. Then fill in a bit with scultamold and paint. If you do it off the layout it’s easier to spray paint the whole piece (I start with gray primer as I model the Appalachians), then add some lighter or darker craft gray, then dry brush rock edges with white. Add grasses and some foliage and you should have some realistic land forms. Easy to correct things as you go if not totally satisfied. 

I agree that using irregular pieces of foam plus sculptamold or paper mâché is easier than trying to carefully sculpt the foam to a precise grade. You can also finish the edges using strips of paper or even masking tape. Build us a contour with several layers, paint with glue for stiffness, and cover with landscaping material and you will be all set.

You may also want to think about raising some track in a section if you have room to go up and down. Mine is one inch with a 2 degree rise. I also have a 2 inch raised portion against a wall for an industrial section. The track up there will be non-powered going into a building at one end and disappearing off the board at the other end.
Joe

I agree about slightly raised track. Even a couple of inches can work wonders by changing a flat board to a gently rolling hill.

On my flat areas I use Fusion Fiber, Make slight elevation changes, rutted roads, half bury some rocks, scenic material sticks to it.  A forum member use to make and sell it, Bill was his name, i think Scenic Express handles it now.

In building layouts, I elevate the (level) trackage above the plywood table top by placing it on extruded pink foam. The amount of elevation is personal preference and depends on the terrain you're modeling. I used 5 inches on my latest layout so that I could have a truss bridge crossing above a river and also built up the terrain (a hilltop) to 18 inches above track level. For realism, there should be terrain both above and below the tracks. Obviously, it's easy to add elevation (between the tracks) even after all the track has been mounted on a level surface - plywood, cork, homasote or foam.

MELGAR

I have used Fusion Fiber in the past and have a bag on order, just wondering if something different has come along in the past couple of years.

Track is all in place, need to fill in between industries.  I really need to start making trees but I'd rather watch paint dry.

I think a combination of foam to increase elevation and fusion fiber may do the trick.  I know fusion Fiber sticks to plywood, does it stick to foam?

I usually tint it with paint, then sprinkle on Woodland Scenics turf.

What are you using for gravel parking lots?

I did paint the sides of my ballast with some Rust-Oleum Textured paint, looks good I think:

Now to run the foam and Fusion Fiber (and whatever else I use) up to it and blend it in.

So far, painting/"ballasting" the roadbed sides is all the scenery I've done on the new layout.

Should the foam be covered with something like the plaster bandage wrap stuff or just apply the Fusion Fiber on top of it?

Believe it or not, there ARE flat areas in the USA...Delaware being one of them. My layout has a city scene on 2/3rds, circus/amusement area on the rest. 3 story buildings provide a break, as well as the fun of doing interior room detailing. I wonder if minor surface changes would even be noticed.

I use a lot of Fusion Fiber, available here. When shaped with a rasp-like tool, it adheres pretty well to foam. For surfaces not roughed up, I use drywall tape or latex primer to get better adhesion. It eliminates one step, as the glue is already in it. Just apply ground foam, and spray wet water over it. You can rewet it anytime to add more ground foam, ballast, dirt, etc. You can cover unused material and use it later. if it stiffens up, just add water again. I even used it on cardboard for a vertical rock wall.

Thanks, John. I bookmarked their site.

Lew

A couple of examples 

John H posted:

A couple of examples 

Looks great John!

I forgot to mention that you can tint the fiber with acrylic paints. I usually us a brown so the base looks like dirt. Gray would work for rock. You can use latex, but then you can't rewet it to add more scenery.

Seeing John H's rock......gave me an idea to pass along....and that is to make a Quarry scene having a mound or mountain of "rock" with perhaps an animated front end loader going back and forth towards the rock wall.  The mound of rock does break up the "mundane"  flatness, and the animation does draw more attention away from the flatness.  I know K Line had made such an animation.....or with a litlle "McGuivering",  you could construct your own animation...with a spur of Hopper cars nearby.

I ordered the 2.5lb bag of Fusion Fiber Sunday from Scenery Solutions and the mailman just dropped it off!!!  That's quick service!!!

Now to get some foam board, what kind should I look for at Lowes/Home Depot?

Bob Delbridge posted:

Now to get some foam board, what kind should I look for at Lowes/Home Depot?

Pink or blue. 4x8' sheets.  Various thicknesses--I almost always use 1/2".

I use a lot of ceiling tile, also. You can find damaged ones for cheap. It makes a good river bank or shale edge when broken apart.

John H posted:

I use a lot of ceiling tile, also. You can find damaged ones for cheap. It makes a good river bank or shale edge when broken apart.

I'm using ceiling tiles also for the present layout under construction. 

The good:  Great sound deadening.  Relatively cheap.  Makes very good track underlayment on top of plywood.  Easy to carve and make into scenery.  I'm actually using a layer of 1/4" cork on top of the ply and under the ceiling tile.

The bad:  It's messy.  And, it will dent if you put a knee on it or a "support" fist with your weight.

Overall:  I like it as a building material. 

I first saw ceiling tiles used on a large layout at the Ocean City Club in NJ (thanks, Ted!).

There are many ways to create ground forms. I made this hill from 1" extruded styrofoam, rough cut with a knife, glued together and shaped with a Shurform tool. It's just foam painted brown with grass, trees and bushes added. Shaping some foam in various sizes and thicknesses to fit in any spaces available would take away the flat look, plus it's very easy to do.

P.S. The trees were freebies from Menards.

John H posted:

John, THAT's what I'm looking to achieve, THANKS!!!

I have ZERO artistic ability, can't even take a decent photo.  Guess I'm gonna have to learn

Country Joe posted:

There are many ways to create ground forms. I made this hill from 1" extruded styrofoam, rough cut with a knife, glued together and shaped with a Shurform tool. It's just foam painted brown with grass, trees and bushes added. Shaping some foam in various sizes and thicknesses to fit in any spaces available would take away the flat look, plus it's very easy to do.

P.S. The trees were freebies from Menards.

I'd recommend this as well. As a bonus the foam terrain can be shaped off the layout, which makes less of a mess on the layout. Once shaped you can glue the terrain to the layout and blend it in.

As an aside I've found 3M Super 77 spray adhesive is the best stuff for gluing pink foam sheets together.