CaptO's New Year's Layout

[CaptOblivious]

Some of you may remember that my wife and I did a Christmas layout last year (although it didn't get reported until May!). That was pretty low-class. This year, ?????/'>were going to do it right.

[Bernard]

Don - Nice start. In the blog you say the "brown bits" will be hidden in a tunnels in mountains, have you designed the mountains for easy access?

[Bernard]

Don - How is the New Year's layout coming along?

[CaptOblivious]

Oh, it's coming along great! I haven't posted links here, but I've been doing weekly update on my blog. I'll post links here later today when I finish the latest post.

[CaptOblivious]

As promised! Here is a link where interested readers can follow progress more closely:

http://akihabara.artificial-science.org/category/shogatsu-layout/

 

For the not-quite-so-interested-as-to-follow-a-link (not that there's anything wrong with that), here's a photo of the current progress:

 

As you can see, it's going to be quite mountainous! And, Bernard, there's lots and lots of hidden track access on the sides and in the back (not pictured)! With so much of the track hidden, it would have been a real problem if I didn't do that. :D

[Bernard]

Don - you've made great progress! That is going to be one large mountain with the village on top. Are you going to put hydrocal cloth over the risers?

Yes, WS foam pins are too expensive, I go to Walmart or a fabric store and buy quilting pins to tack down foam or anything for that matter. The quilting pins are extremely long and can get into hard to get at places.

 

You're layout looking great! 

[CaptOblivious]

Here is the latest update on the layout:

http://akihabara.artificial-science.org/2008/11/23/the-mountains-gain-flesh/

 

I've begun the newspaper infill. It's really starting to take shape, and I'm quite excited!

[Bernard]

Don - the layout is looking great. Making mountains out of newspaper is why I get the Sunday NY Times, that seems to do the job for me. I like the fact that you divided the layout in 2 parts, was this for storage later on?

[CaptOblivious]

Don - the layout is looking great. Making mountains out of newspaper is why I get the Sunday NY Times, that seems to do the job for me. I like the fact that you divided the layout in 2 parts, was this for storage later on?

 

Thanks! I can't believe how 1) easy this is turned out to be and 2) rewarding it is! Mountains, I can't believe it!

 

And, to answer your question: Yep! There's no room in the apartment for a permanent setup, so we'll have to store it in the basement. We're going to either try and find some very large plastic tubs, or I'll make some sort of crate from scratch. Also, the dimensions (whole) would require us to turn the layout sideways to move it through doorways, which would limit mountain-height, and moving would be a two-person job. Cut in half, we can build the mountains as tall as we like, and I can move the halves by myself. As a bonus, it makes automobile transportation, if we ever decide to exhibit the layout, much easier; it also makes placing the sectional track inside the tunnels easier too, effectively providing an additional "window" to reach in and connect things.

 

As it stands, the two halves sit together pretty well on the table: It takes a serious bump to move them apart. That said, we'll be making a nice fascia out of matte board that will span the entire width, and that will velcro on to help hold the layout together while it's on display.

[serenityFan]

That looks great mate... and I just realised that it is infact 2 parts.

 

When you first thought of making the mountain, did you always plan on using newspaper + plester cloth, or did you also consider using foam/stryrofoam?

[CaptOblivious]

That looks great mate... and I just realised that it is infact 2 parts.

 

When you first thought of making the mountain, did you always plan on using newspaper + plester cloth, or did you also consider using foam/stryrofoam?

 

Thanks!

 

I briefly toyed with the idea of using layers of foam. However, even living very close to a good hardware store, transporting sheets of foam is onerous. I have to cut them into thirds to fit them in my car—a station wagon with fold-down seats! Plus, I had thought that foam would be a lot more expensive, but doing a little math, I figure doing the mountain would cost only a little more to do it in foam (plaster cloth is not exactly cheap). So I pretty much aimed at newspaper+plaster from the beginning. Plus, you don't want to see my foam sculpting "skills" at work—no-one does.

 

The one advantage to using foam is that I would have a little more control (I think) over the winding hiking path up the mountain to the shrine. As it is, I don't quite have that sort of fine control over the newspaper, so I'm unsure how that trail will turn out.

 

Anyway, I finished up the newspaper job on this half tonight!

http://akihabara.artificial-science.org/2008/11/24/the-american-who-went-up-a-hill…/

[Bernard]

As I said before, this is looking great! I've used different methods on my layout newspaper and hydrocal strips - layers of foam - cardboard strips interlaced & even chicken wire (Ouch!)  All have their advantages and disadvantages but for me I fine the newspaper method the best.

[CaptOblivious]

After I posted this last night, I saw in the photo that there were a couple of areas that needed a little fill-in. This is one nice advantage of newspaper: You can always go back and add more! (At least before you plaster.) To bulk up a foam hill would require cutting out a portion and replacing it.

 

There is another system from Noch that looks interesting, and yet really tedious. They call it TerraForm: It's like TinkerToys for mountains, then you cover it with crepe paper. Crazy!

[Bernard]

Don - have you heard of the product Sculpt-A-Mold?

Here is one link to it if you haven't heard of it:

http://www.continentalclay.com/detail.php?cat_id=404&sub_categoryID=237&PID=1281

 

It's a paper mache mixture which is easy to apply. What I like about it is that it give texture to a flat area. It's messy like paper mache but is easy to clean up after use.

[CaptOblivious]

Don - have you heard of the product Sculpt-A-Mold?

Here is one link to it if you haven't heard of it:

http://www.continentalclay.com/detail.php?cat_id=404&sub_categoryID=237&PID=1281

 

It's a paper mache mixture which is easy to apply. What I like about it is that it give texture to a flat area. It's messy like paper mache but is easy to clean up after use.

 

Yeah, in fact I've got a bag of it that I was going to use on my Suigun Line diorama. Military diorama types really love this stuff. I made up a test batch to see what it was like, and found it largely impossible to work with. I was likely doing something wrong. That was so long ago I don't quite remember what I tried using it for, or how it turned out...I do recall it dried hard as a rock, which is great for durability, but awful if you need to reshape anything afterwards. I recall that, being very difficult to apply, I was sloppy with it, thinking I could just sand it down later. This was a mistake :D

 

I even bought a fancy tupperware container to keep unused portions in—I like that you can just refrigerate it for up to a week, and it remains usable. But tight now, that very container is containing some chili for today's lunch.

 

Perhaps I'll give it another go with Shogatsu, since I'm sure I'll have a few patch jobs when I'm done plastering.

[Martijn Meerts]

Noch's TerraForm is terrible to work with.. Actually, many Noch products are terrible to work with, except the stuff that's just rebranded Woodland Scenics =)

 

 

I've also tried a paper mache mixture once for a mountain, and it turned out really bad. I went back to old fashioned chicken wire and plaster. Using the lightweight hydrocal stuff actually works fine, although the stuff dries awfully fast =)

[SubwayHypes]

Awesome thread and awesome project, cant wait to see the results.

[CaptOblivious]

Yet more! Getting pretty close to the home stretch here...

 

http://akihabara.artificial-science.org/2008/11/30/i-beheld-the-mountains-and-lo-they-looked-surprisingly-good/

 

[serenityFan]

Wow, that looks awesome ... forget WS plester cloth, I am buying me some pregnancy belly cast kit!  ;D

[CaptOblivious]

Wow, that looks awesome ... forget WS plester cloth, I am buying me some pregnancy belly cast kit!  ;D

 

No, don't. Those are even more expensive! $30 for five 4" wide rolls, which retail for about $2 each online—for a net loss of $20! Ours was a gift, and so free :D Anyway, it's the same stuff as the WS (except that WS comes in 8" wide rolls).

 

http://www.google.com/products?q=plaster+cloth

[Bernard]

Don - your layout is coming together real fast :o

At this rate you'll be done before Xmas. I love the overall shot in your blog comparing the left side to the right side. It really shows what you did and what you plan to do. At first I didn't realize the photo you posted in another thread with the tunnel was from the New Years layout. Great job and well planned.

[CaptOblivious]

Thanks again for the nice compliments :D

 

Here's a very very small update, but with a pleasantly surprising photo:

http://akihabara.artificial-science.org/2008/12/02/addition-of-foliage/

 

 

OMG, where did the Scopedog come from!?

[Bernard]

Hold the phone! What are the 2 little things in front of the EF66-28? Are they the gardens of the mountain? Nice job on the foliage.

[CaptOblivious]

Hold the phone! What are the 2 little things in front of the EF66-28? Are they the gardens of the mountain? Nice job on the foliage.

 

Two little things? You mean this guy?

[bill937ca]

Looking great.  I've got to get back to work on my mountain.  ;D