Race track scenery silliness!

[noddaz]

Yes it is! 1st up is the second to last turn on my track which had been missing it's insert for many, many years.

Looks sort of naked and boring.

This will fix it!

[noddaz]

And in place!

[REL13]

BOY, That came out real nice. It add a lot to the looks of the track.

[noddaz]

Thank you! And I don't have to worry about cars wrecking it because of the clear plastic wall.

[noddaz]

Next up, the control tower for the track!
It started with two empty AW slot car boxes and has ended here:


I may never make tiny computer monitors again!

[Austin]

WOW what a difference Love it

[Mitch58]

I'm at that point on my track, but I'm not sure where/how to start.

I was going to paint the infield green for now but my wife pointed out that then I might never get started and she is probably right about that.

[Pappy]

Google "how to build model train scenery books". It's real easy to do scenery, just takes time, but it's fun to do.

[mattb]

Check out Thunder Mesa Mining Company model railroad...The creator has a blog showing how he built mountains and cut styrofoam to create mountains and landscaping. ..Pretty common among railroaders and easy to find stuff on youtube and the net.

[chappyman66]

When I worked for a raceway in the 90s and we built a trioval, I learned the saying "It's just a piece of wood". If we broke it we got another one. No biggie.

When I built my first routed track, it was "I can do another one later". I am on #3 now.

Scenery is like that. I hemmed and hawed. Then my grandson got interested and involved, and things happened. It's fun, it's easy, and it's not permanent. I don't worry anymore...we do things together and if we don't like it we change it. Enjoy it! Even spray foam makes decent rolling hills with some paint and "grass".

[Pappy]

I used sheets of foam covered with the plaster of paris covered cloth that they use for making cast's for broken bone. Just cut it to length, soak it in water and lay it on the foam.

I had a book to tell me how to do it and in the book it said that there are very few perfectly flat surfaces in the world. So I sanded and cut sheets of foam so it looked like rolling hills then put the plaster of paris cloth on it. To make rock walls I casted rocks out of plaster then sliced them with my band saw and stacked and glued the slices like bricks. Touched it up with a little plaster and it looks like a rock wall. They make a special dye to color plaster so it looks like rock. They also sell a clear liquid to make water. Just paint the surface where you want water different shades of blue (light in the shallow areas and dark blue in the deep areas). Then pour the liquid on it.

Trees are real easy. Buy the flat plastic tree branches, bend them to make them 3D, paint them with a thick glue and dip them in a bag of green tree material. It comes in different shades.

It's all pretty simple to do.

[mattb]

this is the Thunder Mesa and he shows how he created it on his blog.

[noddaz]

The railroad guys know what they are doing! Amazing!