When you are building your train layout one of the most fun things to do is add scenery. I think it is fun because there are no rules and you can do anything you want with the scenery. So enjoy making your Scenery and use some of these tips to make your railroad even more realistic.
Basic Scenery tips
- Placing trees near buildings is much more effective than placing trees in an open plane
- Having Interior lighting makes a very real effect if you want to have night scenes
NEW- A Guide to making mountains
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| A Mountain that I Am currently building for my layout |
Making Mountains is fun but sometimes can be challenging. On my layout I have one large mountain that I Built at 3 diffrent times. I am currently working on my third mountain for this layout. This mountain connects both of my tables (Before i had two tables placed about 30 inches apart from each other) and the two old mountains were separate
TOOLS required
News Paper
Water
Elmer's Glue*
Duck Tape
Bath Tissue/Toilet paper*
Plaster Cloth*
* Item not necessarily
NOTE you will either need plaster Cloth or Elmer"s glue to complete this Project
There are many ways to start building a mountain for your layout. You can use 2X4s chicken wire and plaster cloth to make the mountain or you can make a "screen out of cardboard and staple it to some 2X4s. Sometimes these methods can be a little bit pricey though so i prefer to use a much cheaper method that works just as well as the other two methods.
The method i will teach you about has crumpled up newspaper to support plaster cloth or paper mache
To start you will need to crumple up newspaper. Start from the corner and work your way to the center. Tape this together and set them aside. You will need a lot of these. Stack and place these newspaper balls in the shape of your mountain. Then take plaster cloth and lay over the Newspaper rolls. Let this dry and then paint. ----------Plaster cloth can also be replaced with paper mache, bath tissue, and newspaper strips.--This is the method i used
MAKING TREES
You have a hill or mountain that you would like to cover with realistic trees but do not have enough money to by woodland scenics tree making kits you can make them at home for much less. All you need is some small straight branches from real trees, craft wire, Woodland Scenics Fine Leaf Foliage, Woodland scenics Clump Foliage, and some hot glue. There are two different kinds of trees. One is made with a wire core and the second kind is made with a wood core.
WIRE CORE
Step 1: Take a small strip of craft wire and bent it in half and twist it
Step 2: Apply hot glue to the wire
Step 3: Apply the clump foliage and a small bit of fine leaf foliage
Step 4: Let dry and place on your layout
WOOD CORE
Step 1: Take a small piece of wood and put hot glue on it
Step 3: Apply the clump foliage and a small bit of fine leaf foliage
Step 4: Let dry and place on your layout
Using Wax paper on your layout
Using wax paper on your layout can make lots of things look real. You can use wax paper to make mini window panes for Plasticville buldings or use wax paper to make a pond. Wax paper can also be used as small bits of trash if you have a mini dumpster.
Guide to Making Billboards And Signs
Making billboards can be fun and easy. All you need are some pecies of copper wire, hot glue and some advertisments for companies that can be printed off of Google Images. Print the mini advertisments onto buisness cards (you can laminate them if you want) And Print them. Then Take two 4 inch strands of thick copper wire and hot glue them to the back. Let this dry then apply to layout.
Realistic water
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| A1 |
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| A2 |
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| Tools needed to make realistic water A3 |
Tools needed to make realistic water
- Sponge
- Sponge Brush
- Mod Podge
- Hot Glue Gun
- Hot Glue Sticks
- Black Tempra Paint
- Brown Tempra Paint
- Model Magic Clay
- Cork
This methood is to make a very deep river or pond that does not have any shallow area
MAking water is easy but takes a ver long time. Usially this methood takes about 2 days (includes drying time) to finsh but the effect is worth it. Follow these steps to find out how to make realistic water today!
- Start by clearing an area out where you want to put the river or body of water.
- Take the cork and tear it into strips that are 3-10 inches long and about 1/2-1 1/2 inches wide then paint each strip dark brown LET THE PAINT DRY OVERNIGHT TO ENSURE THAT NO PART IS STILL WET!
- Spread a layer of model magic around where the river will be. Before the model magic drys pound a sponge into it to make a wave effect. Let the model magic dry for 24 Hours.
- Paint the model magic black.
- After the black paint drys spread 2 thick layers of mod podge LET This Dry for at least 2 hours
- Stack the cork strips up in stacks of 4 and hot glue together
- Glue the cork so it is pushing up aginst the model magic ( See photo A1 [top Photo] for an image of how it should look)
YOU ARE DONE!!
