Paper mache time

Mt Adams lurches back into high gear again...

Trackwork

Believe it or not but the double crossover is now complete!

I've cut the electrical gaps in the right (I hope) places, and it passes the multimeter tests. All that is left is to solder on the the throw bars and glue it down!

Fascia

After deciding to make the fascias after doing the scenery, I proceeded to change my mind and make them first. With so many tunnels though, I needed a way of getting inside them to clean track, rescue trains, etc. So I needed some little access panels. Now I could painstakingly cut them out by hand, however with a high power laser sitting in town, it was obvious which way I would go! So last Friday I popped down with my thumb drive and a pile of wood, and 15 minutes of cutting time later (total cost: $7 donation to the library) I had a stack of access holes, and matching covers.

Here they are glued and stapled in place:

And a few minutes later after being attacked by circular saw and plunge router:

Tunnels

Now that I had fascias, I could add some tunnels. I've already detailed how I make my tunnel profiles, and here is how I fit them in place.

Step one: bend to shape.
Step two: slap on some hot glue and cardboard and hold it in place till everything sets.

Crude, but simple, and it worked well enough. Then I lined and painted the tunnel, before gluing it in place.

Scenery profiles

Now, finally, the fun can start! I raided the pantry and stole all the cereal boxes, ditto for Tiger's cat food boxes.

It is very low tech, by there is a certain pleasure in hot gluing cardboard strips in place. It is fun to see the scenery take shape, and easy enough to make changes if I decide I want a hill somewhere else. One day later I had this:

All ready for paper mache.

Paper mache time

Flour and water mixed together makes glue; add some newspaper and you have scenery.

A few hours work and I have a nice layer of paper mache over everything. I've left a few strategic holes in places where I can backfill the scenery. I've already hidden as much scrap polystyrene as I can inside the hills; once the paper is dry I'll squirt some expanding foam in there to fill in the gaps, and (fingers crossed) I'll have nice solid hills.

So pretty exciting stuff here in Utrainia this weekend!