In preparation for making a railroad layout, I felt that I should, maybe, learn something about creating scenery.

For my birthday, my mom-in-law, Theresa, gave me a gift certificate to Hobby Lobby, so while down in Fredricksburg a few weeks ago, we stopped off and I picked up a few learning kits: one with trees, one with rocks, another with a waterfall.
With all of those supplies, I was ready to get started.

Step 1

Step 1 was to create something to decorate with scenery, so, using a recent Amazon box, newspaper and plaster cloth, created my very first little diorama.

First step, create a piece of terrain to decorate

Step 2

The next stage involved creating rock faces to integrate into to existing plaster casting.  This are made with Lightweight Hydrocal, a product from Woodland Scenics which is used to create rocks and boulders.  This is achieved with a mold that has lots of features carved into it. Pretty cool!!

Second step, add rocks to the terrain

Next stage will have us painting the terrain. Stay tuned for more!