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Post by runamuckchuck on Jun 17, 2024 22:20:15 GMT
The Shaper Sheet system from Woodland Scenics can produce some terrific results and can be reused/reshaped if you do not like the initial results.
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Post by steveoncattailcreek on Jun 18, 2024 0:14:05 GMT
I’m thinking of a layout that kinda looks like Lancaster, with the rolling hills, lots of grass, trees, and wood houses with barns and maybe silos. So my question is for making the rolling hills I was going to use sculpta-mold. Has anyone else had done something like this and is there molds for this? I am new to landscaping so any tips, advice ,and suggestions are appreciated greatly. First, Sculptamold *can* be used with molds, but it's not necessary to have molds to use it. Think of it as plaster of paris mixed with loose cellulose (to make the mix lighter and more, well, *fluffy*!). Second, it's really a matter of volume. While Sculptamold is not terribly expensive, you really should use it just as a coating over cheaper material, like layers of extruded foam or styrofoam, screening, even wadded paper or strips of cardboard stapled over framing. Think of it as a flexible middle layer between the structural support and the visible top of the landscaping, which can be shaped to simulate contours and outcroppings, and which, when hardened, will provide a stable surface for your final landscaping touches. There are a ton of videos out there on YouTube and elsewhere than offer guidance on the many, many construction options, and specifically on the uses of Sculptamold. Good luck!
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Post by af3020 on Jun 18, 2024 0:28:54 GMT
If you want to do it on the cheap then all you need is scrap cardboard, scrap paper such as newspaper or the paper that comes in a lot of shipping boxes, Elmer's Glue, a cheap paint brush, a hot glue gun, a few cans of various colors of green spray paint, and the basic ground cover of your choice. First you decide on how you want your hills to roll - cut the scrap cardboard contours and hot glue them either directly to the layout or, if like me you want the hills mobile (in my case for different diorama pictures), to a scrap cardboard base. You will need to hot glue at least one support across all of the contours - note the back piece of cardboard.  From here, depending on what you want and what you intend to do with respect to adding scenery, you can either hot glue additional supports as I have done  and then fill in the rest of the contour with crumpled up scrap paper  or you can just fill in the contours with nothing but the scrap paper. In my case I knew I would be continually changing the trees and other things so I wanted a stronger support when I drilled a small hole for the tree trunk. Either way, once you have this you take more scrap paper, cut it into long thin strips, paint each strip on one side with Elmer's glue and drape the strip across the hills until everything is covered and then paint the entire surface with an additional coat of Elmer's glue.  Once it is dry - spray paint with the green paint. I made it a point to shade the contour depressions with darker green - but that is just a personal choice.  ...and after that is dry paint the surface with Elmer's glue (you will want to do this in sections) and sprinkle on your basic ground cover. Use a paper towel to gently press the ground cover down on the glue and then leave it alone. When everything has dried spray the surface with a dilute solution of Elmer's glue and let dry - this will lock the basic ground cover in place - once you have the basic covering you can go wild with respect to trees and any other kind of vegetation you want to have.  For this particular diorama I wanted the rolling hills to look very distant so I used small pieces of scenic foam to give the effect of distant groves of trees. |
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