NEW NIGHT TIME PHOTOS 8/5/17 - Easy to make Mountains and Hills with Spray foam and fabric Batting.... Finally installed on LAYOUT

Great idea! I thought they came out rather good. Many ways to skin a cat.

I like this Chris! I too have seen that video in the past and went to it recently when you posted it here. I plan to use the batting material and this technique on sections of my layout. It seems pretty simple and the results, from your pics and the YouTube video, look wonderful.

Please continue to show your progress to us.

I am so doing this!! thanks so much for this !

Got alot done today, so figured I'd update the post with progress photos.  

Looks good. Kinda reminds me of one of the videos. 

Thanks,  What I am really excited about is I got the whole mountain built in about 10 hours total  work time,    and it only weighs about 10 pounds total.  Total investment so far is about $35.00 in spray foam,  scenery materials, flat latex paint, and it really doesn't eat up the grasses, clump foliage, shrubs and ground foams.... I don't even want to think how much plaster, plaster cloth and hours I would have spent mixing enough plaster to cover an area 3' x 8' long x 2' deep.   

You have really nailed this technique. Your mountain is every bit as good as traditional techniques, and a lot easier.

Chris, like your mines and mountains. You model the nice rolling hills of the South, I'm building the Cascades. I have three mines on the electric short line. This is one of them. Very small operation. Don

Thanks Don,   Great photo... The aging and weathering on the mine buildings is really well done.  My (3)  On30 side dump mine cars showed up Friday, so I have to go buy a 3 foot section of HO flex track and complete that, the mine entrance and the conveyor from the mine track to the tipple/loading building...   After spending a whole day and a half making trees I wish I was modeling the desert...  Finished staining the rock castings in the mountain and mounting all the trees.... This had to be done before I can slide the Coal Mine scene in behind it.  

This is a very interesting technique.  One thought I had while watching the original video is wow, sure eats up the paint. Seems like using a plastic tub and dyeing the batting in RIT first may be an easier solution, the if wanted paint could be added after words either brush or spray but much more sparingly as your're not trying to cover up all the white.

Also does the batting come in different thicknesses?  Would be good for other projects if you could get a thinner type.  It certainly adds a lot of texture and depth.

Thanks for your comments....    I actually thought I would be using more paint than I have used.... So far I have built the module shown above, plus a large corner module (3 ft. x 4 ft.) which I will post a picture of below, and I haven't gone through a full gallon of flat latex paint yet.  I am probably around 3 to 3.25 quarts consumed...  Plus one other benefit is the large quantity of paint also serves as the adhesive for the grasses, earth that you apply....  So I am really not using much in the way of adhesives...  I glue down the larger clump foliage with diluted white glue,  and the mountain module above I shot the whole thing with Scenic Cement as most of the surfaces are near vertical and I wanted to make I didn't have tree leaves dropping down on the tracks below.

  I went to HD and bought a gallon of their mid-range Behr flat latex for around $23.00 maybe....   

Regarding the "loft" of the batting, you want to use "Low Loft" which is the thinnest......   I am not sure dying it would work as it's synthetic fibers....  but you could probably hit it with some of the 99 cent flat black spray paint.....  I think using the expanding foam under the batting is cutting down on the paint consumption as it bonds to the back of the batting and it's seems easier to cover than the first time i did it over pink foam....  Hope that helps...   All in all, I still figure it's way more cost effective than getting out the plaster and sculptamold and plaster cloth...  and I have done it that way,  Problem is I have had to move twice in the past 10 years and the plaster based scenery doesn't do well moving it around, way too brittle.   

Chris,

The scenery has turned out fantastic!  All the structures are first rate as well!!  Thank you for the tutorial with all the great photos!!

 That scene looks great Chris. The mountain looks like it should with a mixture of green trees. Even though it is done in a very shallow space. The MTH building looks good with some added paint. Really like the way you elevated it slightly with the retaining  wall. Rather than just placing it on a flat surface beside the road.

Thanks to everyone who has shared comments and positive feedback...  

Mark,  I am normally not the tutorial type, but after trying this technique I really wanted to do what I could to get someone else to try it.  I am really thankful I found Kevin's video from Scale Model Trains & Colorado's Joint Line.    It really isn't difficult to achieve the same results, no expert level skill required.....    Hopefully my video skills will get better next time...  I am actually contemplating on the next section, letting the whole thing dry and set up and then cutting in rock castings after the fact for any rock out croppings.   

Dave C:   I really appreciate your comment about the elevations and grading.  When I first did this scene, and put a post up on the forum, I noted that my goal,  was for first time,  to build a scene with a building and roadway on grades, not simply sitting on a flat surface...  

If I didn't mention it somewhere in this or one of the other posts I am totally sold on Gorilla Glue for gluing  Pink, Blue or Green rigid insulation to itself or to wood....  Found this searching You tube also....  It expands when it sets up, dries hard in less than 3 hours, and produces much stronger bonds than any of the latex caulks, or foam adhesives I have used.   While the foam project adhesive worked, I found that the pieces tended to shift overnight while I was waiting for it to set up ??  Maybe I am the only one that happens to.... Doesn't happen with the Gorilla Glue

Well Chris, I have used plaster, blue/pink board, spray foam, and I am going to try this method.  I agree, I am not going to use plaster again,  Too, too messy!

What did you do or use behind the building on the hill to make it look like tree tops. The round greens puff looking stuff.

hrspla posted:

What did you do or use behind the building on the hill to make it look like tree tops. The round greens puff looking stuff.

Does anyone know how those are made?

 Not sure what Chris used for the tree tops. You can get by modeling only a couple of rows of  actual trees. As long as what's behind them rises up steeply. You can use a product called Poly Fiber. Woodland Scenic's carries it. Basically you tear it apart and stretch it out to an odd shape. You want it thin  and be able to sort of see through it. The one bag at first. May not seem like much. But it should go a ways. Hit it with a cheap aerosol can of glue. No need to by the expensive 3m stuff.  Get a decent sized sealed plastic container and fill it about 1/3 up with some ground foam. Drop in the Poly Fiber piece you sprayed with glue. Put the lid on and shake it around. Pull the piece out. Shake it a bit and set it aside. Do some more and then change up the color from say a light green to a dark. You do want to settle on one dominant color. You then can place these on your mountainside stacked accordingly and secure themwith some craft glue. Your basically creating an illusion. Your creating trees beyond the modeled ones. The fact that the mountain rises steeply aids in the illusion that you don't need a trunk or branch structure. For the forrest floor. In the fall you can gather up real leaves and grind them in a blender. Scenic Express. I think sells it. You want to stay away from anything that looks like a lawn under the first  few  rows of trees.

Sorry HRSPLA I didn't see your question.....  They are commonly referred to as "puff ball" trees.  I have made some with Woodland Scenics "Poly Fiber"  in Green Item # FP178...  However you don't get much Poly fiber for $3.25 per bag....  

I am getting the best results using something called Poly-Fill, it's 100% Polyester Fiberfill used for making pillows and stuffed animals....  It's white, pretty sure I bought this stuff at Walmart, or one of the craft stores like Micheals, or AC Moore..   I pull it out, kind of tease it and stretch it so I get rough straggly edges then spray it flat black with the cheap 99 cent paint from Home Depot....  Then I spray it with 3m 77 spray adhesive and add a variety of scenic grass, Leaf material available from Scenic Express and or Woodland Scenics..   I will shoot a couple of  close up photos.... and post them tomorrow....  

These newer larger puff ball trees that I am describing are above, and to the right of the large mountain, in the photos above.... If you right click on the photo you can open it in a separate window and enlarge it to zoom in and look around.  I grab them with a large pair of hobby tweezers to hold them when I spray the adhesive and dust them with the various scenic textures... Let they completely dry for 1 or 2 days, then I now attach them to the vertical backdrop with Hot Glue.  

Hear are some photos of the Puff Ball trees sprouting leaves..... Also a photo of the material I would highly recommend as it's cheaper easier to work with and can make larger trees with more unique shapes.   

Also added some photos from today as the details keep getting done... Finished the timber coal mine entrance a & wooden retaining walls and stained/weathered them ... Kitbashed an older Plasticville Coaling tower and added it to the tipple building in the foreground ...  Finished and weathered the walkway between the coal hoppers where the loaders operate the chutes... Getting closer !

Thank you for showing me how you did this.

Chris, you got me back in the train room and working. Nice, nice, nice. Can't wait to see your mine area all done. I love old buildings and mines. I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel or should say canyon on my mining short line. Have about six more feet to go. Then string overhead wire for the small electrics.  One of the mines will be partly burnt down. Believe it or not I built a mine building from a craftman kit board by board and now have to somehow burn about half of it down. Don't ask, it goes with the story of the canyon. As you can see the town isn't doing very well. Don

Hello Don,  thanks.   The rock work in the canyon is really impressive.   Are you casting those rocks and piecing them together ?

 If you're carving or creating those with something other than molds,  then you are a really gifted stone worker !   Buildings look incredibly realistic as well... Love the guy with the 35 MM on the porch.... 

Your canyon photos remind me of being in Yosemite Valley so you're doing a great job modeling the Cascades.    Chris

Chris-

I like your technique. Looks great. The spray foam does stick to EVERYTHING... even you hands and clothes!

I use stacked extruded foam and then glue plaster casting on it...

I created this mountain with cardboard webbing, stacked foam, and some expandable foam as well...

Other construction methods include just stacked extruded foam with plaster cloth draped over it... then carved.

Chris, most of these are made from molds. I made a few of the molds when we lived on the mainland but most I bought from a guy that makes hundreds of different kinds in California. Some are two and half  to three feet long. I use everything and anything for the mountains. Even real rocks that I have to paint because everything here is red. I dry brush the "stone" after painting the entire rock wall flat black. Don

scale rail posted:

Chris, most of these are made from molds. I made a few of the molds when we lived on the mainland but most I bought from a guy that makes hundreds of different kinds in California. Some are two and half  to three feet long. I use everything and anything for the mountains. Even real rocks that I have to paint because everything here is red. I dry brush the "stone" after painting the entire rock wall flat black. Don

Is he still selling the molds and do you  have contact info if he does?  Thanks Don!

Kerrigan, I think he is still doing business. It will take a little while for me to dig up the info. Will get back to you ASAP. Don

Kerrigan, he's still in business. Here is his site. https://www.bragdonent.com/smpic/cattable.htm

Please excuse the mess. Making mountains isn't easy. This is just a small section of the canyon. Don

Scale rail,

The mess is well worth it to get the results you got!!  It looks great!

Adding some new photos, getting pretty close to putting this module in place up against the backdrop... Of course I have said that the last 3 days in a row !!  Got the grade between the mainline and coal loading sidings done today, the road is almost done,.  Made the tall concrete retaining wall at the end of the spur tracks, which I will cut to length when I slide it in behind the mountain on the layout.  The decking between the tipples is weathered and has it's railing on, and I built a circular poured concrete foundation for the tank in the foreground......

That looks really great. 

Doug,  thanks very much....  it's a blessing and a curse being a perfectionist...  It's taking way longer to complete this than I thought, but I am not willing to give into "that's good enough"...   Not sure I can build the entire layout at this level of detail, but it's been a fun challenge to find out what I am capable of accomplishing...  

I have seen a ton of really exceptional modeling done on the OGR forum and have wondered what it takes to achieve those kind of results...   Of course I have to thank Google, cause I have searched a ton of google images for coal mining, coal tipples etc. etc... What a great resource for finding prototype photos and articles.  

Lots of great work here and very inspiring. I have been stuck with where and how to build my access panels, just couldnt get the visualization I needed and here it is. Thanks for sharing your techniques.

Hi Chris, WOW.

Great thread sharing your technique. Very timely for me as I am in the planning stages of a layout for our new home. Sure looks like it beats the heck out of plaster.

The link for the rock molds was also greatly appreciated.

Chris, maybe I missed it - but do you have a track plan you can share? Once again - looking great!

Paul

Paul,  Thanks.   The only form that I have the plan in is RR track, I don't have the current release but I designed in v4.0... If you are using their software I could email you the file...    

Last September there was a thread on "show us your layout"...  I posted some overhead photos looking down from a stepladder and also shot a short walking tour of the layout the link to the YouTube video is in the OGR thread ,  the link is:  

https://ogrforum.com/...64#64358525797652364

Moving forward, I am limiting my use of plaster or hydrocal to "cast rocks" and then plant them in this Low Loft batting scenery ....     I was thinking when I was working on this module, that it's like creating your own custom textured scenery mat that conforms to whatever shape you create underneath...  

Chris,

How did you create, what looks to be a grade crossing, between the tracks? I am having trouble creating a concrete road between my atlas track. I am going for the look Eric Siegel has on his #55 layout update.

I like the method!  Well done.

Luvindemtrains,  I used some black O scale roadbed foam.  Put the angled side upside down against the center rail, then put a 1/8 spacer inside the outer rail to hold it in place while the wood glue dried....    You could also use black foam core or some other material....  I like using the closed cell foam as its flexible....  I plan to go back and apply a thin coat of dirt or fine coal dust to the top.   thanks for asking.  One suggestion,  next time I am going to leave the spacers in place during the ballasting as it's not the easiest place to get rocks out of, particularly with the Ross track nail spikes down there...

One word sums it up well...... Inspirational !!!

Jesse     TCA