More mountains!

Over the past few weeks my rail empire has been the scene of neglect, as I've been very focused on work of late.  My work project just passed a major milestone and now I find myself with time again for life, and that includes my trains!   I have a broad goal of making things both operational and presentable by Christmas, as family and friends will be visiting, and so with that in mind I've forged ahead in my construction efforts.

I began my mountain making by balling up newsprint and taping it in place, to give my mountain some internal structure.   As advised by others online I balled my paper inward, ensuring that the edges of the paper were all curled inside and underneath and the top facing portion of each crumpled paper ball was smooth.  This prevents harsh edges which can give the plaster cloth an odd appearance.

If I were a more dillagent blogger I'd now share images of my newspaper mountains.   Balls of paper wadded up and securely taped in roughly mountain shaped piles.  However, I am not, so I leave this to your imagination.

Next I cut plaster cloth into strips.  I pre snipped 4 rolls, so I wouldn't have to stop once I began plastering.  Once ready I used a paint roller pan to dip my plaster and applied the strips to to my structure.   I used a staple gun to anchor the plaster where there was a convenient wooden edge to use.  Once the basic structure was complete I left it alone for 24 hours to dry.

Again, were I more on the ball I'd now offer up images of a damp white plaster mountain-scape.

The next day I applied more plaster cloth, paying attention to layer it wherever it was weakest.   This was followed by another 24 hour wait.   Once it had hardened I painted, as you can see below.  This paint is an undercoat, it's purpose is to prevent ugly white plaster from peeking through the ground cover.  It also helps me visualize where the rocks will go.

My next step will be to cast rocks, and then attach and paint them and after that comes the ground cover, but I will reserve those topics for later posts.