TGtycopro
09-19-2006, 08:11 PM
Ive been doing a scenery article at another site and thought I would also share it here.
This is for those who would like to build a permanent home course and do detailed scenic elements like those in the model railroad hobby do.
40 years in the model railroad hobby taught me a few things..........but I am still learning.........so anybody can feel free to pitch in with thier idea's and thoughts on scenery or the methods they use.
And so with that let us begin......
__________________________________________________ ______________
Before doing scenery work it is important to have the tools you need.
Also, deciding on what medium you will use (plaster, foam, ceiling tile, Styrofoam extruded foam insulation etc.)
For ground coverings, Base paint, various colored ground foams, colored sawdust, ground shrapnel (homemade ground cover made with leaves & Cypress mulch blended and screened), and various twigs, sticks, sifted dirt’s, rocks and any other details which will be made permanent. Don’t forget some moss green color for stone viaduct shadow area's and for around culverts etc.
For tools you should have spreaders, carvers, gougers, Molds, Spray bottles, adhesives, saw blades (for making rock strata) In various configurations. A dremel or motor tool is nice to have but not critical.
For coloring plaster you should have some good earth tone colors of paints ( I use artists acrylics and inexpensive acrylic craft paints) that can be mixed very thin with water . Raw Umber, Burnt umber, raw sienna, burnt sienna, yellow ochre etc are among the needed colors. These will be blended very thin making them more of a thin stain or wash.
India Ink & Alcohol mixed into several different tints.1 tsp to a cup..1 tbsp to a cup 2 tbs to a cup.
This mixture is sprayed on to define shadow areas. It can also be used on your figures to help define creases in clothing etc and to give light to heavy weathering affects to buildings.
A spray bottle of wet water (water mixed with a drop or two of dish soap) This helps your adhesive to flow into all the nooks and cranny’s.
Part 2 - BASIC FRAMEWORK
Traditional Methods of building your tabletop include:
1 - The Flattop Over Box frame
2 - Open Grid
3 - L Girder
4 - Cookie Cutter over Open Grid
One somewhat newer method:
5 - 2”Extruded Foam Insulation Board with built up contours using various thick nesses of this same extruded insulation board. Extruded Insulation is very dense foam-board and IS NOT Styrofoam with all the little beads, which has very little strength.
Each method has its own Advantages and Disadvantages and the method you choose will ultimately affect your landscaping choices.
Lets take these 1 at a time and assign each with a skill level suggestion.
1 - Flat Top Method - Skill Level = Beginner
Advantages - Quick, Inexpensive, Solid and Strong with flat layouts, very basic building skills required.
Disadvantages - difficult to introduce grades into your roadbed, scenery options more difficult to introduce. Below grade features like streams & canyons near impossible.
With the Flat top method you must use additional material to make an elevated roadbed-gluing risers in place for that roadbed to get grades.
The flat top method generally works best if you plan on a flat track with very little in the way of scenic elements. While you can introduce scenery to this type of basic bench work, it is not the best or most ideal for the purpose of scenery and is ideally suited for the beginner to build his first layout while learning basic techniques as it helps to get a circuit or layout up and running quickly keeping the excitement level and forward momentum that a beginner needs.
2 - Open Grid - Skill Level = Novice
Advantages - Very Strong, Easy to scenic, ability to introduce low or dropped area’s into scenery, Ability to create multiple grade changes easily, Allows for underneath access for wiring purposes, Allows for Pop outs for difficult to reach area’s to scenic or simply maintain. Easy to Finish, Uses less material generally.
Disadvantages - More planning is needed in developing the overall scene before building. Additional Tools may be required as well as skill to create the risers and get plywood roadbed cut and installed
3 - L Girder Method - Skill Level = Novice/Advanced
Advantages - Lightweight, Strong, and Easy to scenic above and below grade, Front finish of layout can use radiuses for smooth flowing and visually appealing finish of project. Uses less Material. Easily formed Ideal for Screen, Plaster Hard shell Scenery, Easy access underneath for adding lighting extra wiring etc. This is a Professional method for building a permanent layout.
Disadvantages - Requires greater skill Level, Requires detailed planning before construction.
4 - Cookie Cutter over open grid = Beginner/Novice
Advantages - easy to put in some grades and some below grade scenery.
Requires minimal tools but a hand sabre saw will be required. Material needs to be strong enough to support track and cars easily; it must also be thin and flexible enough to flow with a grade. 3/8” Plywood sheathing seems to work well. Hairpin turns and Mountain switchbacks are very possible with this method.
Disadvantages - Limited below grade scenery, subject to temperature change problems if in an area like a garage where temps and humidity are not fairly constant or slow changing. Not recommended for any unheated space or space subject to exterior humidy and moisture fluctuations.
NEWER METHODS - Softer techniques
5 - Extruded Foam Insulation = Beginner/ novice
Working with this material requires some different tools than our traditional methods. Working with foam requires the use of Hot Wire cutting and forming tools with the quality examples of these being rather expensive and the Cheap variety’s being worth less that the postage to receive them.
Advantages - The weight strength ratio is very good for this method and this is a very viable technique for the temporary /permanent layout. With this method large modules can be built and easily moved being put together to form a complete circuit in minimal time. Imagine 4 x 6 foot tables that weigh under 25#s fully sceniced and that can be stacked in one corner taking up the space 1 small table would yet holding 6 fully sceniced modules that form an 8 x 18 ready to run Circuit. These are the possibilities with this method of bench-work.
Disadvantages - while strong for its weight it will not take the abuse a plywood tabletop will and it may require the occasional scenic touch up from high speed hits into soft material.
Can be expensive to buy and set up, particularly if you want grades.
Tools to work with this material can be a bit prohibitive.
Setting Your Terrain
While there are many methods used I will touch only on the main approach used by most to developing your scenic base,
This method has been used for many years and includes building up with wood and using screen or cardboard slats weaved over newspapers or a combination of wood screen and cardboard followed by a covering of Hydrocal plaster. This is called the Hard Shell Method of Terrain modeling and is used by most advanced terrain modelers.
Extruded foam is another method but this author simply does not have enough experience yet with it to do justice to the material as a scenic medium.
With this method combined with an open grid framework you can build above and below the bench work even running terrain all the way to the floor. This is an effective way to get into the scene and has been done by several accomplished modelers the most famous of which is John Allen who built the Gorre & Daphetid Model railroad. In his scenery you literally walked into a Canyon with mountains rising to the ceiling and the canyon walls going to the floor, which was painted blue to act as a river at the bottom of the canyon. His incredible model railroad was featured for many years in many publications and he almost single handedly changed the face of terrain modeling forever.
But this is not about John’s incredible feat. ( a simple online search will tell you more about his innovations including using mirrors within the scenes etc.)
No, this is about building YOUR scenery. It does help to study how others have done things however which is why I mention him here.
One thing that many folks forget to do is Add a backdrop onto their scene in area’s where it should have one. In Model railroading this is quite common. Not so much in the slot world but when we build against a wall a backdrop becomes an extension of our racetrack. Now is the time to determine HOW you want to do a backdrop if you will have one. In this way it can be worked into the terrain naturally. Most folks use 1/8” Masonite for their backdrop board but anything flexible will do.
Once you have your Backdrop board in place and have determined where you want elevations etc you can paint the backdrop a Sky blue color running this down below where you will attach your terrain forms. Painting in ground and tree’s can be done later as well as cut out buildings to detail your backdrop if you feel the desire. Photo mural backdrops are also an option for those artistically challenged, but be warned they can get rather expensive and some of these are So good, they actually will distract the viewer from the real stars of the show.... Your collection of racecars.
I picked up a rather simple method of painting a backdrop from Dave Frary.(author of Modeling Realistic Scenery) and I will share that here.
Get yourself some nice sky blue latex paint a rich medium blue...not too dark (do not go past the 3rd color on the paint chip)
Also get some basic White to match Flat finishes always work best in scenery modeling.
Start by grabbing a 3 or 4” brush and painting your Blue along an area about 6-8 feet long. Now, while it is wet use a 2” brush and work some white paint into the blue down low lightening the sky blue leaving more and more blue as you rise. Now take the same brush dip it in some paint and remove most of the paint by first brushing on some cardboard. Now stipple a little light cloud streaks up higher on the backdrop.
Move on to the next section and repeat until finished.
The great thing about this method is this
#1 - it is inexpensive
#2 - it is simple to Do Over if you do not like how it turned out
#3 - it will add a lot to all of your other scenery having that sky in the background.
OK this is finished so now we will add our risers, and cardboard or screen to form our hills. (Don’t forget to leave flat spots for buildings and little mini scenes)
Screen needs to be stapled to wood and requires a bit more work.(and a bit more money)
This method will cost more but does work very well.
Cardboard on the other hand is free and strips can be cut with a utility knife or simple box cutter and glued with a hot glue gun.
Once you have all of your screen or cardboard in place its time to cover this with our hardshell.
This will require
#1 - a mixing pail (ice cream pails are excellent)
#2 -a stir stick
#3 - a spatula for smoothing (go to the dollar store do not steal wifey’s)
#4 - a scoop
#5 - Paper towels
#6 - Hydrocal plaster (or Plaster of Paris if Hydrocal is unavailable)
#7 - Something to cover the floor etc like plastic tarps, plastic sheeting etc.
#8 - water (enough for mixing AND for cleanup)
NOTE. DO NOT DUMP ANY EXCESS OR CLEAN PLASTER INTO YOUR DRAINS.IT WILL CLOG THEM AND CAN GET VERY EXPENSIVE!!!!
This type work can get a little messy so my advice is do it when the wifey is out SHOPPING....... she’ll be excited about her purchases when she returns and will be less likely to notice the fine dust you just covered everything with because you didnt mix outside!!!
Tear paper towels into strips about 3” wide. You will need about 15 sheets torn into strips for a small batch of plaster so prepare plenty because once you have mixed the plaster it does not wait for you to tear up more, it simply sets up in the bucket.
Mix your plaster into an ice cream pail to about a cream soup consistency and dip individual sheets into this completely covering. Drape these plaster soaked sheets over your scenery forms starting at the bottom and working your way up. Do not worry about getting a perfect look; this is rough in work only.
Continue this until you have covered the entire area. As plaster starts getting thicker you can pour this into any area’s you feel are a bit thin and smooth with a spatula.
If any plaster is left over or did set up in the bucket, do not throw this away.
Let it harden and we can use it later for rip rap or talus along cliff edges etc.
If you want to you can add colorant to your plaster as you mix. Some people like to add powdered pigment or paint colorants to get an Earthy color that goes all the way through the plaster. I don’t think its necessary for this base coat but it does give the impression of getting somewhere rather than having a snow-white landscape LOL.
Once this is completely dry its time to do your rock molds or Glue in your Foam rocks .
Next time we will discuss GROUND GOOP and how to start getting that realistic look!!
This is for those who would like to build a permanent home course and do detailed scenic elements like those in the model railroad hobby do.
40 years in the model railroad hobby taught me a few things..........but I am still learning.........so anybody can feel free to pitch in with thier idea's and thoughts on scenery or the methods they use.
And so with that let us begin......
__________________________________________________ ______________
Before doing scenery work it is important to have the tools you need.
Also, deciding on what medium you will use (plaster, foam, ceiling tile, Styrofoam extruded foam insulation etc.)
For ground coverings, Base paint, various colored ground foams, colored sawdust, ground shrapnel (homemade ground cover made with leaves & Cypress mulch blended and screened), and various twigs, sticks, sifted dirt’s, rocks and any other details which will be made permanent. Don’t forget some moss green color for stone viaduct shadow area's and for around culverts etc.
For tools you should have spreaders, carvers, gougers, Molds, Spray bottles, adhesives, saw blades (for making rock strata) In various configurations. A dremel or motor tool is nice to have but not critical.
For coloring plaster you should have some good earth tone colors of paints ( I use artists acrylics and inexpensive acrylic craft paints) that can be mixed very thin with water . Raw Umber, Burnt umber, raw sienna, burnt sienna, yellow ochre etc are among the needed colors. These will be blended very thin making them more of a thin stain or wash.
India Ink & Alcohol mixed into several different tints.1 tsp to a cup..1 tbsp to a cup 2 tbs to a cup.
This mixture is sprayed on to define shadow areas. It can also be used on your figures to help define creases in clothing etc and to give light to heavy weathering affects to buildings.
A spray bottle of wet water (water mixed with a drop or two of dish soap) This helps your adhesive to flow into all the nooks and cranny’s.
Part 2 - BASIC FRAMEWORK
Traditional Methods of building your tabletop include:
1 - The Flattop Over Box frame
2 - Open Grid
3 - L Girder
4 - Cookie Cutter over Open Grid
One somewhat newer method:
5 - 2”Extruded Foam Insulation Board with built up contours using various thick nesses of this same extruded insulation board. Extruded Insulation is very dense foam-board and IS NOT Styrofoam with all the little beads, which has very little strength.
Each method has its own Advantages and Disadvantages and the method you choose will ultimately affect your landscaping choices.
Lets take these 1 at a time and assign each with a skill level suggestion.
1 - Flat Top Method - Skill Level = Beginner
Advantages - Quick, Inexpensive, Solid and Strong with flat layouts, very basic building skills required.
Disadvantages - difficult to introduce grades into your roadbed, scenery options more difficult to introduce. Below grade features like streams & canyons near impossible.
With the Flat top method you must use additional material to make an elevated roadbed-gluing risers in place for that roadbed to get grades.
The flat top method generally works best if you plan on a flat track with very little in the way of scenic elements. While you can introduce scenery to this type of basic bench work, it is not the best or most ideal for the purpose of scenery and is ideally suited for the beginner to build his first layout while learning basic techniques as it helps to get a circuit or layout up and running quickly keeping the excitement level and forward momentum that a beginner needs.
2 - Open Grid - Skill Level = Novice
Advantages - Very Strong, Easy to scenic, ability to introduce low or dropped area’s into scenery, Ability to create multiple grade changes easily, Allows for underneath access for wiring purposes, Allows for Pop outs for difficult to reach area’s to scenic or simply maintain. Easy to Finish, Uses less material generally.
Disadvantages - More planning is needed in developing the overall scene before building. Additional Tools may be required as well as skill to create the risers and get plywood roadbed cut and installed
3 - L Girder Method - Skill Level = Novice/Advanced
Advantages - Lightweight, Strong, and Easy to scenic above and below grade, Front finish of layout can use radiuses for smooth flowing and visually appealing finish of project. Uses less Material. Easily formed Ideal for Screen, Plaster Hard shell Scenery, Easy access underneath for adding lighting extra wiring etc. This is a Professional method for building a permanent layout.
Disadvantages - Requires greater skill Level, Requires detailed planning before construction.
4 - Cookie Cutter over open grid = Beginner/Novice
Advantages - easy to put in some grades and some below grade scenery.
Requires minimal tools but a hand sabre saw will be required. Material needs to be strong enough to support track and cars easily; it must also be thin and flexible enough to flow with a grade. 3/8” Plywood sheathing seems to work well. Hairpin turns and Mountain switchbacks are very possible with this method.
Disadvantages - Limited below grade scenery, subject to temperature change problems if in an area like a garage where temps and humidity are not fairly constant or slow changing. Not recommended for any unheated space or space subject to exterior humidy and moisture fluctuations.
NEWER METHODS - Softer techniques
5 - Extruded Foam Insulation = Beginner/ novice
Working with this material requires some different tools than our traditional methods. Working with foam requires the use of Hot Wire cutting and forming tools with the quality examples of these being rather expensive and the Cheap variety’s being worth less that the postage to receive them.
Advantages - The weight strength ratio is very good for this method and this is a very viable technique for the temporary /permanent layout. With this method large modules can be built and easily moved being put together to form a complete circuit in minimal time. Imagine 4 x 6 foot tables that weigh under 25#s fully sceniced and that can be stacked in one corner taking up the space 1 small table would yet holding 6 fully sceniced modules that form an 8 x 18 ready to run Circuit. These are the possibilities with this method of bench-work.
Disadvantages - while strong for its weight it will not take the abuse a plywood tabletop will and it may require the occasional scenic touch up from high speed hits into soft material.
Can be expensive to buy and set up, particularly if you want grades.
Tools to work with this material can be a bit prohibitive.
Setting Your Terrain
While there are many methods used I will touch only on the main approach used by most to developing your scenic base,
This method has been used for many years and includes building up with wood and using screen or cardboard slats weaved over newspapers or a combination of wood screen and cardboard followed by a covering of Hydrocal plaster. This is called the Hard Shell Method of Terrain modeling and is used by most advanced terrain modelers.
Extruded foam is another method but this author simply does not have enough experience yet with it to do justice to the material as a scenic medium.
With this method combined with an open grid framework you can build above and below the bench work even running terrain all the way to the floor. This is an effective way to get into the scene and has been done by several accomplished modelers the most famous of which is John Allen who built the Gorre & Daphetid Model railroad. In his scenery you literally walked into a Canyon with mountains rising to the ceiling and the canyon walls going to the floor, which was painted blue to act as a river at the bottom of the canyon. His incredible model railroad was featured for many years in many publications and he almost single handedly changed the face of terrain modeling forever.
But this is not about John’s incredible feat. ( a simple online search will tell you more about his innovations including using mirrors within the scenes etc.)
No, this is about building YOUR scenery. It does help to study how others have done things however which is why I mention him here.
One thing that many folks forget to do is Add a backdrop onto their scene in area’s where it should have one. In Model railroading this is quite common. Not so much in the slot world but when we build against a wall a backdrop becomes an extension of our racetrack. Now is the time to determine HOW you want to do a backdrop if you will have one. In this way it can be worked into the terrain naturally. Most folks use 1/8” Masonite for their backdrop board but anything flexible will do.
Once you have your Backdrop board in place and have determined where you want elevations etc you can paint the backdrop a Sky blue color running this down below where you will attach your terrain forms. Painting in ground and tree’s can be done later as well as cut out buildings to detail your backdrop if you feel the desire. Photo mural backdrops are also an option for those artistically challenged, but be warned they can get rather expensive and some of these are So good, they actually will distract the viewer from the real stars of the show.... Your collection of racecars.
I picked up a rather simple method of painting a backdrop from Dave Frary.(author of Modeling Realistic Scenery) and I will share that here.
Get yourself some nice sky blue latex paint a rich medium blue...not too dark (do not go past the 3rd color on the paint chip)
Also get some basic White to match Flat finishes always work best in scenery modeling.
Start by grabbing a 3 or 4” brush and painting your Blue along an area about 6-8 feet long. Now, while it is wet use a 2” brush and work some white paint into the blue down low lightening the sky blue leaving more and more blue as you rise. Now take the same brush dip it in some paint and remove most of the paint by first brushing on some cardboard. Now stipple a little light cloud streaks up higher on the backdrop.
Move on to the next section and repeat until finished.
The great thing about this method is this
#1 - it is inexpensive
#2 - it is simple to Do Over if you do not like how it turned out
#3 - it will add a lot to all of your other scenery having that sky in the background.
OK this is finished so now we will add our risers, and cardboard or screen to form our hills. (Don’t forget to leave flat spots for buildings and little mini scenes)
Screen needs to be stapled to wood and requires a bit more work.(and a bit more money)
This method will cost more but does work very well.
Cardboard on the other hand is free and strips can be cut with a utility knife or simple box cutter and glued with a hot glue gun.
Once you have all of your screen or cardboard in place its time to cover this with our hardshell.
This will require
#1 - a mixing pail (ice cream pails are excellent)
#2 -a stir stick
#3 - a spatula for smoothing (go to the dollar store do not steal wifey’s)
#4 - a scoop
#5 - Paper towels
#6 - Hydrocal plaster (or Plaster of Paris if Hydrocal is unavailable)
#7 - Something to cover the floor etc like plastic tarps, plastic sheeting etc.
#8 - water (enough for mixing AND for cleanup)
NOTE. DO NOT DUMP ANY EXCESS OR CLEAN PLASTER INTO YOUR DRAINS.IT WILL CLOG THEM AND CAN GET VERY EXPENSIVE!!!!
This type work can get a little messy so my advice is do it when the wifey is out SHOPPING....... she’ll be excited about her purchases when she returns and will be less likely to notice the fine dust you just covered everything with because you didnt mix outside!!!
Tear paper towels into strips about 3” wide. You will need about 15 sheets torn into strips for a small batch of plaster so prepare plenty because once you have mixed the plaster it does not wait for you to tear up more, it simply sets up in the bucket.
Mix your plaster into an ice cream pail to about a cream soup consistency and dip individual sheets into this completely covering. Drape these plaster soaked sheets over your scenery forms starting at the bottom and working your way up. Do not worry about getting a perfect look; this is rough in work only.
Continue this until you have covered the entire area. As plaster starts getting thicker you can pour this into any area’s you feel are a bit thin and smooth with a spatula.
If any plaster is left over or did set up in the bucket, do not throw this away.
Let it harden and we can use it later for rip rap or talus along cliff edges etc.
If you want to you can add colorant to your plaster as you mix. Some people like to add powdered pigment or paint colorants to get an Earthy color that goes all the way through the plaster. I don’t think its necessary for this base coat but it does give the impression of getting somewhere rather than having a snow-white landscape LOL.
Once this is completely dry its time to do your rock molds or Glue in your Foam rocks .
Next time we will discuss GROUND GOOP and how to start getting that realistic look!!