Enthralled By the Scenery

I was at the Model Railroad Club in Auburn viewing their amazing display. Seeing the various locomotives, cars, planes, people, and so many small details in this layout. There were a lot of rivers too, people fishing, and massive lines of train cars being pulled. Looking under the tables I saw the massive amount of wiring and wire routing it took to run all of the lights, switches, track, etc. It was amazing to me the detail in this setup. I noticed one that literally stuck out. They had these massive mountains that towered over everyone and everything there. I was interested, to say the least.

Looking at these mountains I wanted to know how they were constructed. I had a layout myself that was a rough draft. I had the track plan laid out and I had a few buildings and one locomotive set but nothing yet serious. Seeing these mountains I was inspired to make my own. While I was looking at them I was trying to think how they were built, I was thinking it would be something pretty difficult to pull off since I was new to this whole hobby. I thought maybe If I asked that it would be too much for me to try and figure out on my own. I asked anyway. A club member was happy to tell me how they were built. It was so simple, just newspaper with plaster cloth and some Plaster of Paris over it, and then paint it. Upon hearing this I was already ready to get going on building my own for my layout. A couple of days later when I got some Plaster of Paris, and I got some newspaper from my grandfather, I got to work. I started by making a cardboard base that was at a right angle since the mountain was on a corner. I had crafted a foam base to glue this cardboard to as well. I started by balling the newspaper up into small pieces and stacking them in the base I had made. Once those were all in I laid the plaster cloth on. A plaster cloth is just cloth coated in a plaster. By now it was starting to take shape and I was glad I was embarking on this. Once the plaster cloth dried, I put actual plaster all over the mountain to create a paintable shell-like surface. Once everything had dried, I then began to pant. The painting is what really made this come to life. I used different grays, and black colors to mimic rocks. And for the final touch, I put snow on it and it really looked like the mountain I had seen at the railroad club.

If I hadn’t asked this simple question that I was hesitating to ask, I wouldn’t have been so eager to start making them for my train setup. Fast forward to now, I have a massive snow-covered mountain towering over my layout. Followed by many other small hills and rocks, I had many cars now too.

After pondering over my layout I was glad that I asked this question. If I hadn’t asked then I might not have anything close to as cool as what I have now. This goes to show that we should always ask questions, and be more of a listener than a talker. If you just talk about what YOU know, you will learn nothing, but if you listen to what others have to say about something you might learn something, also learning to never underestimate someone and their knowledge in any subject or field. In instances like these asking a question may be daunting to some people but that’s how we learn to do different things in life. Being naive can make someone stay in the same place forever in life. Without asking questions most of us might not be where we are today. So if you know something ask about it.

“Ho Scale Trains” by djaytoo (d*jay) is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.