Change of Scenery
I decided to try something new on this layout in regards to creating scenery, and that is to use rigid foam for building up terrain rather than cardboard strips. I’ve seen it used dozens on times by people online on layouts but never gave it a second thought to use it.
But that changed this weekend. I really wasn’t happy with how the shaping of the cardboard strips was coming for the mountain, so I decided “what the heck” and went and bought some foam.
The foam at the local hardware stores here is the blue stuff available only in 1″ thickness and in 4′x8′ sheets. I simply brought a utility knife with me to the store and right there in the aisle cut the sheets in half (2 2×8 sheets). Made transporting the stuff home much easier in my car (A Mazda 3 hatchback). But don’t be worried about hacking up foam in the middle of the store. Just let the checkout person know how many sheets you have. She didn’t care I chopped ‘em half.
So, here’s what I got done yesterday in about an hour or two.
about 4-5 more layers and the first mountain will be high enough. Then comes gluing and forming.
But working with this stuff to build up terrain like this is much better than cardboard. You get a real good sense of the final product as you put it all together, plus you can really change the the forming once in place unlike cardboard.
Stay tuned for pics as the mountain grows!
Shaun, were you using just a utility knife or did you use a foam cutter also/instead?
Shaun,
Did you make it to the big orange box? They normall carry the ;ink stuff in 1. 1.5 and 2 inch thicknesses, and usually have 2×8 precut.
Phil: So far I’ve just been using a utility knife to cut the foam. I found the 1″ stuff thin enough to where you can score straight lines and jsut snap it in two.
Philip H: Yeah. I went to a Lowe’s by my office in Metairie and a Home Depot by the house in Kenner. Both had just the 1″ 4′x8′ sheets (lowes blue, Home depot pink). I was hoping to find some of the smaller, thicker sheets, but no luck.
I’m a big fan of the blog and new layout. I’m at a similar point with my layout and I am using foam as well.
One Tip is that you can cut the middle parts out of each layers and reuse for the layers above. This would work especially well in the tunnel where you can add a hole from the bottom for emergency access. If not you might be fishing cars out if u have a derailment in the curved tunnel.