04-11-2009, 03:32 AM
I think it was former Model Railroader editor Linn H. Westcott, who first introduced the terms 'hard-shell scenery' and 'zip-texturing' in the late 1960s. The methods were described in detail in Bill McClanahan's book 'Scenery for Model Railroads' (printed by Kalmbach).
9. Before building up the real hard-shell I built up a vertical rock wall at the entrance to the narrow gauge tunnel. For a start I took a piece of white Styrofoam board, which I treated with some light dabs of lacquer thinner. The stuff sort of melts away at the surface and thus resembles somewhat a blasted rock wall. I glued it to the contour board with unthinned white glue, fixing it with sprung clamps. I let dry for some days.
10. This picture shows the rear 'wall' of this landscape section. Again it is a contour panel (this time made out of thick cardboard).
(Directly behind this panel I'll install the double sided backdrop shown on the track plan section above. So the 'mountain' I am building has the footprint of a triangle between the layout edge and the scenic divider.
11. And now the construction of the hard-shell scenery starts in earnest. To model the rough contours of the landscape, I ripped some newspapers to pieces, then I formed loose wads from them. These wads were fixed between the two contour boards and the flat ground with masking tape. You can always correct the shapes by tearing away or adding some more paper wads, until you get the rough outline of the landscape you have envisioned.
9. Before building up the real hard-shell I built up a vertical rock wall at the entrance to the narrow gauge tunnel. For a start I took a piece of white Styrofoam board, which I treated with some light dabs of lacquer thinner. The stuff sort of melts away at the surface and thus resembles somewhat a blasted rock wall. I glued it to the contour board with unthinned white glue, fixing it with sprung clamps. I let dry for some days.
10. This picture shows the rear 'wall' of this landscape section. Again it is a contour panel (this time made out of thick cardboard).
(Directly behind this panel I'll install the double sided backdrop shown on the track plan section above. So the 'mountain' I am building has the footprint of a triangle between the layout edge and the scenic divider.
11. And now the construction of the hard-shell scenery starts in earnest. To model the rough contours of the landscape, I ripped some newspapers to pieces, then I formed loose wads from them. These wads were fixed between the two contour boards and the flat ground with masking tape. You can always correct the shapes by tearing away or adding some more paper wads, until you get the rough outline of the landscape you have envisioned.
Boss of the Trim Creek & Western RR (H0 & H0n3)
Running through the hard-shell mountains, not around them!
Running through the hard-shell mountains, not around them!