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Model railway
scenery: Landscapes (by Chris Ellis)
Carrying on from the previous two artides in this series —
building a baseboard and planning and constructing tunnels, we
come to the third key element in building a realistic layout —
the creation of a convincing landscape. Some modellers
especially beginners, put this stage off and run their model
trains on flat baseboards or just use basic scenic items like
trees, scattered around with no particular purpose. But
landscape building is both fun and creative . It can turn
railway layout building into an art form
and give your layout its own distinctive character.
There are endless aspects to scenic modelling and they cannot
all be covered in a single article. However, if you want
tunnels on a layout. you need to think about the landscaping
at the same time, since the hills through which the tunnel
pass have to continue on naturally through your model railway
environment. The hills under construction in the demonstration
layouts shown here would carry on each side from the tunnel,
though they could be built on after tunnel construction has
been completed. Virtually all model layouts depict only a
chunk of landscape adjacent to the rock area, so you can think
of it in model terms as creating cross-sections, as though you
had cut a segment out of the real hills or embankment around a
real railway.
This means you need 'profile boards’ depicting the edge of the
landscape modelled and giving you basic
support on which the visible landscape is modelled. These
profile boards are most often cut from softboard, plywood or
hardboard although some modellers use plastic foam core or
even very thick
cardboard if the height is low. For wood or hardboard, you
need a power jigsaw to cut the profiled outline but with
plastic or card, you can use a knife. For younger modellers
please seek guidance from an adult.
On a large
layout you can be very creative in landscape work. Here is big
layout with a steep canyon style of Scenic treatment. A piece
of retaining wall has been built into the plasterwork (centre)
and there are rocky outcrops below it. These have been
sculpted in the plaster but an alternative is in progress,
with some bushes added and most of the rough grass scatters of
the
sort you would find in mountainous areas.
(See scenery right)
The photographs
and description below take you through the individual points.
1. The simplest form of profile board, as might flank a
tunnel mouth. In this case, plywood is used for
the
profile board with a strip of insulating tape along the
top to prevent splintering. Simple wood struts give
support for the steep rockface being modelled and wire
gauze (sold in DIY shops) is used as a
base. Euroscenics plaster is being used here for the rock
face, trowelled on to the gauze base, then given a
"strata" effect with the modelling spatula.
You can equally well use an ordinary patching plaster such
as polyfilla for this but always add brown (e.g. row
sienna or burnt
sienna) powder paint to the mix so that it
does not show up stark white if it chips or cracks later
on.
2. More gently sloping hillsides require a profile board
at the back and contoured profile supports. Here
softboard
is used and some of the offcuts
have been shaped and pinned in place (on left) to give a
rocky ledge outcrop look. Over the contoured supports you
can pin or glue brown paper, wire gauze or plaster
modelling strip, shown here in three sample strips from
left to right. Use Hornby R8070 "Modelling Rock” which is
probably the easiest way of making a basic landscaping
surface. Though it is mainly intended for rocky faces if
smoothed out and gently contoured it can also be used for
the basis
for grassy hill sides and so on.
 3. Another view of the same demonstration landscape shows
the three alternative surface treatments - paper, wire
gauze or plaster modelling strip (left to right), with a
modelling plaster final covering on the fourth strip and
the start of surface texturing on the fifth strip, those
between them
depicting the stages of landscape building.
4. If you have only a narrow baseboard section or odd
corners to fill or an oval layout of the smallest type,
then you can often make the most of the landscaping from
scrap foam packing of the sort supplied with domestic
equipment and usually thrown away. Collect any
you find. Blocks can be cut out to shape for cuttings or
rock faces etc, using a Stanley type knife. I advise working
over lots of old newspaper and
clear up quickly as
the fragments of cut foam can spread everywhere and are
awkward to collect up. Once pinned or
glued with white PVA glue); to the baseboard, give the
foam plastic a thick coating of domestic emulsion paint to
stop it crumbling You can use a small knife or screwdriver
to get a stratified effect in a rocky cutting, such as is
being modelled here, after the paint coating has been
applied. Again, for
younger modellers please seek guidance from an adult.
Model railway scenery by Chris Ellis.
Thanks to
Chris Ellis for this article. If you have any
secret tips that you would like to share with us, then
please drop us an email at
feedback@stocktonmodeller.co.uk,
include your web address and we will link to you.
Cheers
Stockton Modeller Team
feedback@stocktonmodeller.co.uk
Stockists of Hornby, Bachmann and Heljan Model Trains, Coaches and
Wagons.
Also stock all accessories to compliment your set with full
kits available.
http://www.stocktonmodeller.co.uk
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