MODEL RAILROAD BIG MOUNTAIN in a SMALL SPACE? ONE INCH THICK!
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- Опубліковано 24 сер 2023
- DID I SCREW IT UP? CAN I FIX IT? See for yourself. So much info in this video!
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🕺🏻ABOUT DJ: DJ is a locomotive engineer for CSX Railroad since 1999. He has built dozens of layouts, gave presentations for model railroaders, is a UA-camr, licensed drone pilot, and a great father. - Наука та технологія
We enjoyed the video very much. Usually you are talking about real trains, so it was nice to see you working on your own layout. It turned out great!
Thank you very much! I like to mix it up a bit. Been working on this last section for a while and am actually in a good groove. More to come!
DJ, thank you for sharing this video! This may come across wrong, but it was encouraging to see someone who has experience and who I look up to for ideas and techniques having problems and then asking for help to fix them. Doing these kinds of things for the first time can be INTIMIDATING! Seeing someone with experience have the same kinds of issues gives me a lot of encouragement and hope. I love your videos and layout ideas! Thank you again for sharing! ONWARD!
The great thing about Pennsylvania is the mountains go nearly straight up from flat ground and are almost entirely wooded. Perfect for a layout.
Right!
High DJ, I model in O so things are bigger and thus heavier. I've started my layout 4 years ago and have tried almost every technique some of the best youtube modlers use, everyone being a success. I think it's the best way to model as it expands and develops ones skills and really is what makes it enjoyable. I find the key is to keep the glue or bonding surfaces adequately moist untill each surface is bonded together. So work in small sections at a time. I use a spay bottle of water and 10% isopropyl alcohol and drop of dish soap to break the surface tension and I apply the glue to the terrain with a mixture of 50% glue with 50% water in another spary bottle and then coat the scenice material dipped in glue to the terrain. This bonds the two surfaces to each other in this manner and then spary the whole thing with the glue mixture. White glue dries clear and flat so there's nothing to fear. The best glue to use is artist acrylic matt mediums as it dries absolutely clear and flat without any trace and still stays pliable almost indefinitely and is easily modified to make changes. I also use hairspray to make trees and foilage matts from poly quilting batting. This makes for excellent, all types of ground cover if you know the propper technique in separating the layers and stretching to a fine cobweb like sheet painting and applying scenic ground foam. I recommend watching "boomer diorama" this guy is a professional 3D artist building an HO shelf layout. Another is "Jason Jensen's Trains" he's another artist building an HO layout. These guys are superior artist and know and have all the techniques.
That looks amazing. Even the little extra depth from the second layer of foam really gives it a 3D effect.
You're always so encouraging and helpful - "If I can do this you can too" .. THANKS
You can do it!
Nice job, DJ! You successfully captured the look of that mountain, and in a very shallow space. Great tutorial with encouragement, too. Cheers from Wisconsin!
Thanks a bunch!
Dj , you made the right decision by using hairspray! My brother and I did exactly what you did for our backdrops! Way to go 😊 !!!
I'm just getting back into HO after about 50 years being out. I think I hit a goldmine when I discovered your channel (Subscribed). It's amazing what is available out there compared to the 60's and 70's. I really enjoy your drone footage of of the western Pa. area roundhouses.
Keep 'em coming I'll be watching.
I tried to make learning easier by organizing all my videos into different PLAYLISTS. On my UA-cam channel homepage you’ll find them. Track planning , layout and scenery, prototype operations and more. I am grateful for your support
A RR club I was in, we went through 12 bottles of cheap pump hairspray in two scenery sessions. 🤣 Use to use Aileens full strength to hold Kato track to the foam. If you want to change it, slide a thin filet or putty knife underneath. Comes up with minimal damage. You may consider using some lighter green, and yellow WS on top of some of the trees, fixed with the cheap spray. The powdery stuff. Trees generally appear lighter on top then underneath. Some folks say it looks like a bit of sun is hitting some trees. Once again a great vid.
That the way you do it, it's hard to screw up scenery. Looks good.
Nice video DJ, solving problems is a big part of model building. I always enjoy a chalange.
This was really a good one. Start to finish with a terrific result. Thanks for the tips.
That looks great DJ! I can actually see the forest for the trees!
That looks really great! Thanks so much for sharing your experiences, good and bad and helping us learn from them!
Wow and awesome job DJ i really enjoyed thanks please keep them coming 🙂
More to come!
Well done, DJ! That's just like the hills I grew up with in Johnstown!
Looks excellent, so simple but so effective.
Overlapping layers of foam like you did makes so much more sense than sculptamold, wire mesh, etc. to develop depth. It's light and sturdy. A cheap jig saw with a fine-tooth metal cutting blade slices right through foam sheets and can easily follow any contour line you draw on it. Much easier than a knife or hot wire for situations like yours.
Excellent video, I appreciate it when you show the mistakes you make so we can learn from your corrections. Frankly I would have assumed the undiluted glue should stick at least as good, but the fix was creative and easy.
You did a really nice job on this .Ya know this hobby drives me crazy , it has broke me financially, ruined i dont know how many relationships with women , made me a introvert and yet i love this hobby and im happy ! Yay for me 😂
That looks good I like it
Looks awesome
When making puffball trees, I add a couple of drops of Dawn dish soap into the glue/water mix. It reduces the surface tension and helps the glue to “wet” the surfaces. Also if you paint the backdrop with a darker color than the foliage material, if a piece of foliage falls off it just looks like a shadow and is not as obvious.
very cool DJ - nice job!
Looks phenomenal!
Turned out looking awesome!
👍👍👍Great job DJ
Thanks 👍
Amazing effect! Nice job.
Good for you.
As always nice video keep up the good work can’t wait for the final result and stay safe when at work
Thanks! Will do!
So in a year from now when the clumps and ground foam start to look dull from dust, re-spray the ground foam trees with more hair spray and it will bring it all back to life again like it was when it was all new. I do my N scale layout orange grove and home made trees that way.
Once the clump foliage was down, it needed to be soaked with scenic glue
It looks great! My only criticism is that on the areas higher up, that are supposed to be further from the viewer, the clumps should be smaller. It would add to the illusion of depth.
FANTASTIC!! Looks great! Thank you for all your videos sharing with us! I learn a lot every time!
Sincerely appreciated
Turned out great!
It looks good DJ
Daughter's starting senior year?? Wait, how long have I been watching this channel?
13 years on UA-cam! Crazy, right?!!! She just turned 17.
@@djstrains Best part is when they still want to hit the road with their Dad! I dragged my two daughters to train shows, rail yards and excursions for years, fully expecting them to complain any day. They never did!
Look great DJ. Thanks for showing
Thanks Doug
Great stuff DJ. Thanks for the demo and insights.
Warm greetings from Belgium!
My pleasure!
Very nice tutorial DJ. It came out great. Thanks for the tips.
Thanks my friend
The surface of Tacky Glue dries very quickly, you can't do very large areas. When you added the water you slowed the drying time and Wala it worked nicely, great job.
Rantrak (Richmond area NTrak) uses black polyfiber (Micro Mark) as a base for the forest. You can use larger pieces of poly for this. Get it fluffed up a bit and glue it down until it covers your mountain then glue it down. use give the poly a heavy coat of ground foam, use different colors, then white rain the whole area. That should hold the ground foam in place. It is the ground foam that gives the poly it's color. Any poly showing thru is the darkness under the trees. It takes a bit of practice, but the idea of laying the foam flat as you decorate is genius and makes the process much easier and controllable.
Nice work 👍🏻
Ran into same issue with clump stuff first time I used it -- was always 'falling apart'. So now I treat that foam clump foliage the same as I treat ground cover ... straight glue first to get stuff in place, cover with "greens" (clump foliage, or the turf, or what ever scatter going on the ground), then hit with some wet-water, then soak with scenic cement. Turns the clumps into little hard rocks :-D
Great job Dj! Thanks for doing this video. Very helpful for the mountain walls I’m about to make like this
Glad I could help!
Howdy DJ! That looks great! I love the depth you were able to create on a flat surface like that. It really adds to the realism. I'll definitely be watching your scenery playlist once I get to that point on my layout. Well done and thanks for sharing 🤠
Yeee Haw! Glad you liked it!!
The work you did is great. I’m an N scale model railroader myself. My layout ate present is in the early stages being it’s 4 x 12 at the present, double track. I will be expanding it to 6 x 12 ft. When I will get ready to build an incline of 1.25% grade for the second level. I made 4 water towers using empty Progresso soup cans, during umbrellas, bendable drink straws. Also made 3 sanding towers using empty carpet fresh containers which make good grain silos, fuel tanks. I took an empty Nissan cup of noodles box and made a diesel locomotive shop out of it, only didn’t fashion the doors. My next scratch built project will be make pedestrian foot bridges using ice cream, popsicle stick, sticks from corn dogs. You layout is great.
Thanks so much
I've found good ol' white glue for foam to foam, and foam to plastic (background building) also works good. Your background mountain came out good!
That does look good, DJ! I'm going to have to do that now. I may sculpt the edge of the cuts though, just because my OCD would go nuts having a 90⁰ ridge along the top, even though no one would notice lol.
I had the same issue with clumps I used for bushes, that they didn't want to secure down. I used the same method for ballasting, and sprayed IPA and glue mix over the top, now everything is rock solid and not moving yet still looks like brush
Great looking job DJ
Thanks 👍
Dang it’s looks really good great job bud
That’s awesome!
Thanks, DJ, for the video because I was at the point of trying to decide my backdrop and this is also prototypical forested hills in my area. I made mine similar to yours and the thing I found is that the gluing just wasn't working and after lots of searching I found that using a Clear Latex Caulk (which has silicone but is latex based) was perfect. I found that a thicker base to push the clumps into was better than a thin base. I then misted Woodland Scenics Scenic Cement over the clumps and I could turn the whole thing vertical, tap and shake it and the clumps stayed. I used DAP® ALEX PLUS® Clear Acrylic Latex Caulk Plus Silicone. Lowe's didn't have the clear, didn't check Home Depot but we have Menard's in our area and they had it.
I’ve been working on a similar idea. I had my hardware store mix a gallon of green to match the Woodlands ground foam I like. (1) I am really impressed with your results so will proceed with my plan. (2). I was only thinking of glueing clumps to the top edge of my “mountain” to break up the skyline a bit. I am now also planning on texturing the whole plate too.
Thank you!
Fantastic look! Only thing I would do is maybe use a couple different shades of green for variation.
LoL you just helped me out a lot with this video
Sweet!
good idea to save space
Nice work DJ 👍, very good video😉, take care bud! 👋😎🛤🚂
Thanks, you too!
Looks great.
Thanks!
Looks great!
Thanks!
Hey DJ, I think you did a great job and I really like the way it looks and it only took up about 2 inches and looks like it added 200 feet.
That worked out really well. The end result is stunning. It was great to see that I am not the only one who strikes problems. It was nice of you to share. I am impressed with the use of hairspray. I tried a dilute white glue but the colour leached out of the foliage and made a mess.
Yes! That’s what I was afraid of is the green soupy mess!!
If you're using hairspray (which I've done as well) you might want to get the perfume-less one. :-D
Looks good 👍
Thanks 👍
Awesome, I’m from the “Burg”! You did good!
Awesome! Thank you!
Up to 23:00-14:00 everything looks great.Nice save! You still can spray with rattle can paint to get some color variance. Still looks good.
Good call!
Thanks for the neat video on making a "skinny" mt! Looks fantastic in my opinion. I have also found hairspray to work well. I used it on a mountain I made in the past with dark green lichen covered with different colors of ground foam. That was two summers ago. Still holding up well! Thanks DJ!
Thanks for sharing! I hope mine lasts for years
That’s nice. Thanks for the ideas. As I’m modeling along the Allegheny River, a lot of my scenery will be the tall ridges full of trees behind the tracks and riverbanks in the foreground. It’s good to see that, as I tweak my track plan, if I need to run tracks closer to the backdrop, I don’t really need all that depth to do a tree covered hillside.
Sounds great!
I was doubtful, but that came out really good!
Ha, I know, it was a gamble, lol.
Hey DJ, I didn’t read the comments below so I’m sure someone already mentioned this. But if you were to have misted your scenic clumps with isopropyl alcohol first without using the white glue on the base, then all you’d need to do is spray the foliage with a 50/50 glue water mix and it would’ve stuck together without using hairspray. Which has a tendency to attract dust (which makes dusting impossible) just a thought.
interesting!
I should’ve used a different word than “misting” with alcohol. It doesn’t have to be saturated close to it. But it does need to be able to get through the clumps and down to the base. I’ve tried to shortcut this process before by just using glue and 50/50 glue mix on top without the alcohol but the next morning a lot of the clumps were getting sucked up in the vacuum. But when you use alcohol first then the glue mix, the following day the clumps will actually be hardened. @@djstrains
@@kenholbrook5963 So ... basically the same technique you use for track ballast and ground cover (other than static grass). Nice!
Turned out fantastic! The background adds a great feel without costing you a great deal of space (or material cost). 👍
So, if you claim that you're no "genius", should we call you a model railroading Rainman instead?!? Lol 😹
for this forrest scene, maybe Forrest Gump of model railroading, lol.
@@djstrains Ba-da-bing!! 😹
Nice Video
Thanks for the visit
Great how to video ...
Thanks 👍
It does look good 👍🏻
I’ve used hairspray too but really didn’t like it plus I needed it for my fly way hair, LOL. I always mix up a 50/50 (white glue & water) and spray it on with a spray bottle, after you’ve finished, save the extra mix in a container and make sure you clean out the spray bottle. You won’t be sorry 😊 Ron
your hair is marvelous!!
Great looking backdrop. One inch foam is good solution for this. After stacking it like you did, the foam also can be shaped with a Shurform tool. The white glue for puff ball trees seems too messy for my taste. After spreading the poly fiber out flat, I spray it with the cheap hairspray. Then lay it in the ground foam and start rolling it around. Seems less messy, doesn't need time to dry, and creates a more irregular shape.
That’s how I have always made them, but I was curious to how this way would compare. Sometimes the spray glue makes mine look kinda spider webby. Any tips on avoiding that?
Spray and repeat.@@djstrains
Great job! Perfect solution, now if only that worked on my hair!!
My hair has a mind of its own
😆@@djstrains
I'm in the planning stage for my HO layout, which I'm hoping to cram into a 10x11" bedroom with 2-foot deep shelves. This is a great idea for my mountain layout in SW Pennsylvania.
By the way, I tried 3M spray adhesive on a previous layout and the overspray got everywhere! I would think hair spray wouldn't have that problem.
Dear DJ, humbly think your mountain is too flat. Even though you wanna create a flat rendition of the mountain, it may help to accentuate at least some of the undulations. That will also allow for a natural shade which you can then further accentuate with darker and lighter paint and/or ground foam or other kinds of scatter.
What I also find helpful, especially to emphasize on the illusion of depth, is to use more thin layers to create the different layers of the mountain base, which makes it easier to create the illusion of undulations
beyond the flat surface.
These thin layers also allow for creating different layers on the top of the mountain. With which you can give the slight impression of a slope beyond the peak, which is similar to how a theatre decor gives the impression of depth, or a viewing box.
Further away from the beholder will turn more blueish in the greens. Which will also enhance the field and feel of depth. Cheerio
Good tips!
This is very neat!
Thanks! Remember, if I can do it, ANYONE can do it
@@djstrains I’d like to get with you on some design concepts. Would that require patreon subscription
I no longer have a patreon site, as I am taking a year off (minimum) from making new videos (I'll upload previous unreleased videos). I am focusing on moving in with my girlfriend, my daughters graduation, and my love for salsa dancing and performing. Thanks for understanding, and check out my channels PLAYLIST: TRACK PLANNING
@@djstrains as much as that is sad to hear(taking a year off) I completely understand. Best of luck
Looks awesome....had the same problem....I used spray adhesive...
I was afraid it would have a spider web effect which happened to me in the past. How did it work for you?
@djstrains mine was a smaller area so it worked ok....on your large area...it probably would spider web....
Aileens also sells Tacky Glue in a spray can. I tried it with the Scenic Express tree leaves and it really works great when you need to apply a second coat of scenery material
Noted! Thanks
You could have used Scenic Cement or diluted glue sprayed on that to prevent falling trees as well.
I wasn't sure if it would look milky.
@@djstrains it shouldn't.
Instead of hairspray, which works, but I would have sprayed it with matte medium thinned a wee bit and a surfactant added.
Tell me more about the surfactant..
@@djstrainsHousehold dish soap or alcohol. Anything to make the water "wet water" to break surface tension where the puffballs or any scenery makes contact with the glue. Remember: 1 pre wet with "wet water", 2 add scenery, 3 spray gently but generously with glue/wet water to bond.
@djstrains it's an agent that is added to make liquids flow better.
I don't like using isopropyl as a surfactant because it will affect paints and other glued things.
A few drops of dish soap will work.
Surfactants can be purchased pre-made. Many of the artists' media manufacturers make it. Also, so do several of the acrylic airbrush paint companies, they call it "flow aid".
What do I think? I think I'll steal this for bluffs and hills along Arkansas's White River. Thank you so much!
Pretty good result there. Personally I'd go a step further and air brush the foliage with a zenithal; highlight the top and darken the lower parts just to exaggerate the volumes of the foliage.
What is zenithal? I'm unfamiliar with it.
@djstrains It's a term from miniature painting where you use a dark to light grey priming as an undercoat (artist term is grisaille). So, in this case, using a lighter green (tinted with yellow) from above to catch the top to make it look like sunlight is hitting it from above and then a darker shade of green for the shadows below. Should have made it clearer that the term is zenithal highlighting.
Fillet knives are great for that foam, only bad thing is the sound it makes when the blade gets hot is horrifying bad
Hey DJ, I've followed your channel for quite some time and have finally subscribed. I like your approach to a lot of scenery and the way
you encourage others to try these techniques. I also, tried that approach when I wrote my article for N-Scale Magazine ("Getting Something Started"
Jan/Feb 2022). I covered a lot of the same topics you do/did, Perhaps you and some of your subscribers will check it out. I tried to execute a lot
of the aspects of the scenery, for my practice layout, as cheaply as possible. Like you, I wasn't born into wealth. I prefer to spend the money on the
Models for my scenery. I will stay tuned in. Thanks for your efforts and best of luck !!!!!
Awesome!
I prefer the liquid nails over hot glue on the pink foam. Seems like it releases some chemicals when heated….can’t believe I’ve been watching your channel before purchasing anything lol……I’m still trying to find the best strategy for foliage. For the most part it works for me but sometimes it gets messy when installing to an already built mountain. I also drop a 50/50 mix of glue and water on what I just put down and let it dry for at least a day.
Too late now but have you ever tried to add green coloring to glue?
No, I sometimes add color to plaster, but havent tried it with glue.
I just started doing nscale with Kato track and a ESU cab control DCC wireless controller. .I've watched a lot of your videos. But I cant find any videos on Reversing Loops. Do you have any or can you do one.Thank you.
I filmed it today for you. Give me a few days before I post it though.
WOW!!! SWEET Thank you.@@djstrains
ua-cam.com/video/uYMhBuFjvNQ/v-deo.html
Not a fan of the poly-fiber trees, they read as green rocks to me, not sure if it's just the camera or not. In theory, the closer you are to the trees, the more voids you should see in the foliage, but that's just me... I do think the mountain works really well otherwise! I had the same problem with ground cover on my slot car track, the little bushy things would just fall off and roll around everywhere. Hair spray is a good tip that I would not have considered!
would that idea work for just making diorama backgrounds as well.. I would love to make those for mine.
Yes, absolutely
Have you ever used torn up carpet padding?
How To Make Your Own Clump Foliage for Train Layouts
ua-cam.com/video/FS8Z_heQXI8/v-deo.html
Any suggestion on applying this to O scale?
It’s all about perspective
So just a little taller and maybe a little further away from tracks and it will seem more in the distance
Have you priced insulation foam lately? Ouch!!!
Yeah, actually went down along with the price of lumber from a few years ago. I'm also scourging through packing material for good foam, lol.
Okay I have a question not related to this but related to another I don't know if you ever saw that movie unstoppable but is any of that realistic and number two have you ever been in that area where that all happened in the movie like the Stanton curve they call
The scene where the engine ran away used to be where a new industry is now in Monaca, pa. They tore down industry from movie and reshaped the land and moved the tracks to where it no longer looks anything like it used to! Years of building the shell cracker plant. I work there when on the local. I made a video about the movie, but UA-cam wont let me upload it because I used too much footage. It is on my patreon channel. Movie was very unrealistic in many ways.
@@djstrains thank you for your time
You work on model trains I need some help if you're able to provide on a handful of things about DCC
maybe I can cover it in a video or point you to a good one... whats the question?
@@djstrains okay to start with I am currently on DC and I've been wanting to go to DCC however I'm not sure where to go do I go to the DCC do I go to the dcce do I go to the DCC++EX there's just so many to go with I'm not sure where to go also to add to that I don't really want to throw away the stuff I have so I would like to convert it to DCC however I've heard a lot of bad things about adding decoders to current training people say they get the wrong ones cuz there's not very good information on what to buy for what locomotives now personally I'm HO scale bachmann what I really need more than anyting if someone that has done a little bit of this they can give me directions on which way to go what to avoid what to jump for so I'm not wasting money and wasting time getting stuff that doesn't work or messing up stuff that I should have never messed with
Ok, deep breath. Relax, it's so much simpler than you are fearing. I'll make a video.
@@djstrains ok thanks
The glue did not dry clear it stayed White
On yours or mine?
Where can you source N scale school buses as shown in this video
I found mine at train shows years ago