11/21/2023
Progress report. I don't think I've ever told about this process before but here we go.
When we're doing scenery we have a three-step process. The first step is foam. Once we have the base layer of the layout scenery which is usually big chunks of pink foam we can add layers of foam to the basic foam board. This allows us to build hills and other features. Carving this foam allows us to shape the hills to a natural contour.
The second step involves a material known as mud. Now those who know about thermal insulating it's known as an insulating compound to insulate heat. The Jupiter and 119 replicas at Promontory Summit used this on their boiler insulation with calcium silicate blocks about 1 and 1/2 inch thick.
However this is modeling mud, which is a mixture of paper mache, glue, vermiculite, Lysol or Pine-Sol, and black paint. This compound allows us to raise up the foam board height without actually raising the foam. It allows us to fill up the height to track level. Once dry it's very hard to remove.
The last step is to add ground cover and scenery. The ground cover is a green powder like substance that is sprinkled on to the "ground" and is held in place with a mixture of glue and water. Once set it's very durable. There are other ready to use products such as scenic cement from Woodland Scenics, but the water and glue mixture has been used since the beginning of model railroading. From there you add trees and other pieces to make it look like the real world.
Photo 1 shows the foam prior to mud laying. Photo 2 shows dry mud awaiting ground cover. Photo 3 shows our bucket of ground cover.
Photo 4 shows a completed scene.
I hope you all enjoyed this look into scenery!
