Newbie, to forum and modelling

[Injury20]

I have attempted my first go at paint rock faces this evening, I have a number of moulds and attached them to the incline to the 2nd level. The below are practice goes with a rockface not yet used.

Firstly dabbed some watered down sand colour in random spots

Then did the same with light grey and then a darker grey

Finally added some black into the deeper cracks

Will add some scatter and foliage when on the layout,

Thank you youtube, don't know how i would do this without it..

oh and below is a pic of one that didn't work to well

[Injury20]

Progress below on the incline and 1st stage of raised area, I built up above the tunnel using old bits of polystrene to get a general shape and cutting with a hot wire. then used a couple of layers of plaster bandage.

Cut out made for track up to planned coal mine below (only temp needs a lot more work here yet)

you can see below how i finished the back of the tunnel and glued random bits on top

this is where I have got to now with the rockface moulds attached and a few loose rocks and boulders ready for painting once dried out properly

[Injury20]

I'm Stuck, help.....

So, this is where I am and now looking for as much help, tips and ideas as possible please.

The two tunnel portals are placed approximately where I want them.

The below picture shows a highlighted red area. This is going to made into a hillside sloping up towards the track. This is where I think I will need a lift out piece of scenery, I don't know how to do this and disguise the joins could any of you experienced folk give me some suggestions please.

Here is a view from the front of the layout,

The red section will hopefully form another mountain of some sort, maybe with snow top peaks, happy to take ideas what I could put here please.

The blue section is where I would like to build my coal mine scene that supplies the layout, As this is a raised area I could go down from the surface with shafts and tunnels etc. One of my thoughts would be to use maybe 'N' gauge here for coal wagons/shunter etc which wouldn't be connected to the main track. Would this be a good idea or would the smaller scale make it look odd??

I would also like to have some sort of features and movement here other than the trains, again looking for ideas that could work?

Oh and I still can't think of a name for my layout, ahhhhh...

Thanks in advance and i'm looking forward to your ideas

[JJ73]

Hello Injury20

Welcome Back - liking the up-dated Photos...Glad to see that you used my idea of the Stone Entrance of the Tunnels like I said about back in 2020 with my Photos from the Monsal Trail - now gone b/c of the upgrade of the forum 😐Also like the Smoke affect on the tunnels - which you have done 🙂

Well if your going to have some 'Snow Peaks' then it might be fun to have some 'Snow Men' on them!!!

If your going to have a 'Snow Peak' then may be call it 'The Snow Peak Layout' perhaps??? 🤔

The 'Coal-Miners' Layout (But don't let them 'Go on Strike' like they did in the 1970's!!! 'Coal not Dole' !!! 😄

I don't think that also having a N-Gauge track for the coal wagons/shunter etc would look odd at all - that is b/c that is what you would have found in the Coal mines in Wales - they would of used a small track to transport the coal from the Coal face to the Siding of the waiting Main Line loco - to take the Coal away!!!

On the Topic of Coal Mining - why don't you have a a BIG 'Winding Wheel' (I think that is what they called it) to take the lift up & down the lift shaft for your 'features and movement'

Hope this helps... 🙂🚂

[JJ73]

Hello Injury20

Welcome Back - liking the up-dated Photos...Glad to see that you used my idea of the Stone Entrance of the Tunnels like I said about back in 2020 with my Photos from the Monsal Trail - now gone b/c of the upgrade of the forum 😐Also like the Smoke affect on the tunnels - which you have done 🙂

Well if your going to have some 'Snow Peaks' then it might be fun to have some 'Snow Men' on them!!!

If your going to have a 'Snow Peak' then may be call it 'The Snow Peak Layout' perhaps??? 🤔

The 'Coal-Miners' Layout (But don't let them 'Go on Strike' like they did in the 1970's!!! 'Coal not Dole' !!! 😄

I don't think that also having a N-Gauge track for the coal wagons/shunter etc would look odd at all - that is b/c that is what you would have found in the Coal mines in Wales - they would of used a small track to transport the coal from the Coal face to the Siding of the waiting Main Line loco - to take the Coal away!!!

On the Topic of Coal Mining - why don't you have a a BIG 'Winding Wheel' (I think that is what they called it) to take the lift up & down the lift shaft for your 'features and movement'

Hope this helps... 🙂🚂

[Injury20]

Hi all, my latest update to my build,

So after a few practises I decided on the technique highlighted in red below for panting the rockface at the side of my incline.

After it dried I real didn't like how it looked I thought it came out stripy and un natural and for the last week I have been trying other ideas/techniques on some un used moulds and finally went with the below option which is much darker.

So much happier with this 2nd effort, today's job will be to ballast the incline and then try my first bit of grass cover around the tunnel entrance.

I have also ordered a static grass applicator which should turn up to play with today

[JJ73]

Looking good so far...🙂🚂

[Injury20]

I have now finished adding the ballast around the front of the tunnel and along the first stage of the incline, weathered the track etc and now ready for the first bit of grass and foliage to this area now my static grass applicator has arrived. This will be this evening project after the footy.

[Injury20]

Whilst the above weathering was drying, and after following advise from here I made a start on the removable section of scenery for the end of tunnel area. So if any problems I will be able to reach the end of the tunnel and the track that will be hidden under the mine. I wasn't sure how to go about this but after speaking with a lovely bloke called Mike at a model train shop in Droitwich he suggested using dowels into the base board to locate the section.

So I found some bits of wood and started on the supports, drilled holes in the board and fitted some dowels to the 4 supports

Finally I attached a piece thin hardboard to the top of the frame before gluing an offcut of polystyrene to it ready for moulding the rest of the hill.

I'm thinking about some sort of small building being attached to the top edge secured to the wooden frame so it can be used as a sort of handle to lift it up,

Any thoughts on what building it could be and ideas for hiding the scenery joins folks??

[37lover]

Injury20,

Some sort of Folly, or search Google for Wellington Monument and perhaps a smaller version!

I have attached a photo of how I fixed grass matting hanging down along the edge of my township to try and hide the join, the tape measure is only there to show the gap! Perhaps a similar method could hide a horizontal joint.

[What About The Bee]

Hello Injury20

Re: hiding seams and joins. Flip the problem over! When making a joint between any two surfaces, you will fundamentally not be able to hide it by subtlety. I have found that emphasizing any joint fools the eye. For example, a fence or hedge, right at the line. The edge of a roadway. Etc. This trick is used quite often in woodworking, a joint is brought forward as a design element rather than being papered over.

Re: those dowels. Please be very sure to allow plenty of clearance between the dowels and the holes they go into. Wood changes shape over time and too snug a fit will lead to you flexing the part to force it into position, destroying the materials on top. Yes to locating it via the dowels. No to a snug fit. Build in tolerance.

Bee

[What About The Bee]

I should hasten to add. Hiding a seam from another person can be accomplished. Hiding a seam from the person who did the hiding? Not going to happen. You will always see it. I've some projects around that are many, many years old. I can never un-see that "thing".

Bee

[Injury20]

Thanks for the tips on the dowels, I will make sure they are not to tight.

I could use both your ideas Bee & 37, use the grass flap on the top of the hill and with a stone wall to cover the front edge.

a monument is certainly something I never thought of and would be fun to try and scratch build something too.

thanks all

[Injury20]

I have had a go at grass this evening, here are some pictures of where have got to so far. I definitely need a better spray bottle for layering as what I used seem to just flatten the previous when I applied the glue. I am very pleased with how the little rocks look in front of the tunnel peeping out the grass

I have been watching lots of youtube videos but none seem to say if you have to wait between layers for it dry. Can anybody tell me if once you have the first layer you can apply more glue and start on the next please or do you need to let it dry first?? thanks

[The Doc]

@Injury20

Looks like a very neat grass job to me. Nice work!

[Injury20]

Hey all, another little update from my project.

So I have added grass over the top of my tunnel

and then had a play with a bit of foliage, this didn't stick very well using PVA so will look at this tonight as most of it fell off, may have to get the glue gun out

I have also cut the base to size for the mine and the mountain to built on at the back of the layout, you can see approx where the tunnel portals are going to be placed where the track will disappear into the mountain, and the removal section to the front of the picture below.

I'm leaning towards a 009 gauge using flexi track for the mine so I can have a nice tight curve dropping through the foam board and mountain. I don't know much about this gauge could anybody point me in the direction of some track plans so I can get an idea of radius's etc. It will need to be able to take a small loco and 2 or 3 coal wagons. The area I have to play with for the mine track is approx 60cm x 60cm, this could be extended to 110cm x 60cm if I use the area just in front of the incline raisers you can see in the middle of the above picture. It would be great if I can do do a loop of some sort and not just a single line going back and forth.

Love to hear some ideas for this, thanks all