Update on my HO scale train table layout

It’s been a long time since I had an update on my HO scale train table layout, and that is mostly due to the fact that I haven’t actually done anything on it. Over the last several months I tried setting aside some time to work on it, mostly creating the mountain and tunnels on the far side.

In my last layout post I had the track laid out and I knew where the mountain would go. Initially I was going to have one tunnel through the mountain but I thought it looked better if both tracks on the far side went through the mountain, which would allow me to have a larger mountain.

I went with the balled up newspaper foundation method for the structure then used plaster cloth on top of the paper to form the top and sides of the mountain.

I left a flat area at the top of the mountain for a cool little castle ruin that I found which will overlook the town.

After getting the mountain formed I used lightweight hydrocal and two different Woodland Scenics rock molds to make some rock faces so the mountain would feel more like a mountain rather than a lumpy mound. This was the first time I’ve ever used any of these materials, but they were pretty easy to work with. The hydrocal set pretty fast, especially when I used it to act as a glue for the rock faces.

I decided to try painting the rock faces and the tunnel portals using washes, but since I had never done that before either, I don’t think I did it very well. I probably used too much water vs paint in the mixtures.

Then I put a coat of earth brown on the mountain and basically did nothing else for another couple of months. I wanted to start adding grasses and trees after the brown paint but since this is my first layout and first time doing scenery, I was a bit apprehensive.

When I did get back to the layout, I started covering up the incline sides with plaster cloth. I also used spackling to fill gaps between the dried plaster and the bottom of the table, as well as making the sides look a little more realistic. I painted those areas brown as well, and now I need to start adding the grass, shrubs and trees.

I also need to finalize how the town will look. I have some random sized pieces of foam sitting in the middle but I haven’t formed it yet since I don’t know how big the town will be. Maybe in another twelve months I’ll have that figured out.