Well, I was rolling on Temple Hill for a minute, but forward progress has stopped for the time being. I might get going again this week.
I had the base down and, after fixing the damage done by using the wrong adhesive on the foam and having some of it eaten away :::grin::: , I got to work on the build up and hill creation.
I went with the sculpting plaster option. It seemed like the right stuff for this part of the project. I had used other plasters in the past, but this was a lot more fun to work with.
It basically ends up like oatmeal paste - rough and gritty, but easy to lay down and build up when mixed properly. Mixing more was easy as well. There wasn't much I needed to work out there.
After I got that set in place, I started sculpting stairs and ramps with clay. I had some left over from my shelf layout project and thought it might do the trick for the roadway ramp and ramps up the hillside to the various levels of temple hill. I'm sure there are other ways to do this, but I went with this before and it seemed to work out, so I went with the option again.
The hardest thing about this for me was getting the slope of the roadway correct and working out the scale of the steps in areas were people would be walking. I think I got close and whatever isn't working can be re-done and reset with the use of paint or scenic materials. (Yes, I've done that before as well!)
I painted the areas where dirt and foliage were going to be placed to get my base "dirt" color. I'll go over the whole of it with scenic material and the like, but I had to get rid of the pink color. This is standard stuff, but it's always one of those steps I see left out from time to time and I thought it was worth mentioning.
I've had some folks ping me who are "flying under the radar" in model rail circles. The stay silent and tinker with their projects and don't put themselves out there for fear of being snickered at by the more "professional" hobby folks. I say, put yourself out there! I do it. I am FAR from pro and hack/slash my way through many projects and have fun doing it. The best part about doing is learning from what you've actually done - making note of what worked and did not work for future reference.
So, as I continue to stumble through, I have a lot of fun seeing things progress. The next big thing to get through is getting some layers going on my layout. Raised layers for certain areas. I just need to work out the base structure for it to achieve the look I want.
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| Kobe, Japan |
