# Mountains Rising in the Distance



## riderdan (Jan 2, 2014)

With the fall weather definitely started (high was 68 today) it's time to tackle some more outdoor projects.

Yesterday afternoon I formed the bones of my mountain "range" from pencil rod and this morning I covered it in chicken wire. I'll be using the "Mountains by Dennis" technique (Dennis, do I need to add a little plaque at the foot of the range?) mostly, so the next step in forming the mountains is to add mortar-soaked burlap over the frame.


(click for a large version)

The black buckets you see are for planting some dwarf Alberta spruce and other live plants--I have some fake trees, but at the lower altitudes I want real ones.

One thing that still needs to be done before I put the burlap on is to build a "post" for the LGB Rigi Duo that will be running up from the plain. I plan to use concrete blocks to build a square just short of the chicken wire to anchor the building that will house the pulley and hooks for piano wire at the top. Hopefully ten 8x12 blocks full of cement will be hefty enough that I can pull the wire taut.

More pictures as progress continues.


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

Hey Dan, that's looking great!! 

I predict that your mountain-building process will prove addictive...

===>Cliffy

PS / edit: that looks more like the stucco lath that Dennis uses (and which I have used, inspired by Dennis' work). Not chicken wire, which would be way too coarse for the mortar to stick on. Lath, right? E.g.,
http://www.homedepot.com/p/27-in-x-8-ft-Steel-Lath-2-5-METAL-LATH/202093395


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## denray (Jan 5, 2008)

Dan, You have made a great start, keep us posted with pictures and posts.
Dennis


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## riderdan (Jan 2, 2014)

CliffyJ said:


> Hey Dan, that's looking great!!
> 
> I predict that your mountain-building process will prove addictive...
> 
> ...


Actually, this is a combo of T.J's mountain technique and Dennis'--I'm building a shell out of chicken wire and concrete-impregnated burlap, a la TJ, and then using Dennis' "pre-formed" sections on top of that to get a different look. I think T.J's technique is great for making "Western" mountains, but I need something more granite-like since this is supposed to be the Alps/Carpathians. They can't have any "rounded off" contours at all (IMO).

Here's today's progress:



It was sort of funny--it's the most family-inclusive day of working on the layout I've had. My 10-year-old daughter wanted to participate (it's quite a bit like paper mache) so she helped me for about 20 minutes before lunch. The two younger ones (7 and 4) came out to watch. Then later, much to my surprise, my wife offered to help out. So for about an hour and a half in the late afternoon we worked on it together while the kids ran around like wild Indians (I'm probably not supposed to say that, am I?). Fun! We only stopped when I ran out of supplies: I used two bags of mortar and about 8 yards of burlap and am about 1/3 done. So I'm definitely going to quite a bit more burlap and mortar.

And she even had some ideas about how to fit one additional feature I've been thinking about (a small castle) that I thought might not fit. I don't want to overcrowd the limited space. But she pointed out that if I move the water mill close to the town, there would be room on that side for a castle by the shore of the lake. So my idea of Zenda Castle (right next to the water) may turn out to be possible after all. I have to say that marrying my wife was one of the best ideas I've had 

All in all it was a really nice day.


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## denray (Jan 5, 2008)

Dan , Good thinking about saying that Marrying your WIFE was your best idea.
Remember,,,,If momma aint happy, nobody is HAPPY,
Dennis


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## riderdan (Jan 2, 2014)

denray said:


> Dan , Good thinking about saying that Marrying your WIFE was your best idea.
> Remember,,,,If momma aint happy, nobody is HAPPY,
> Dennis


Yep. A quote I often reference: Happy wife, happy life!


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## riderdan (Jan 2, 2014)

*More progress*

Here's today's progress. I am *so* thankful that fall is finally here.

Click for larger

I measured the tunnel portals and closed the tunnel ends to the correct dimensions. I added a low section on the left to represent a "cut" before the start of the tunnel. I finished covering 90% of the shell--that opening on the lower right is a "foot hole" so I can get close enough to fill the blocks.

There are still a couple of bits to sort out. First, the concrete block is in the position of the upper end of the Rigi setup. I need to fill the blocks underlying that one with concrete and put some bolts into it so I can mount my station/pulleys. Second, I'm not completely happy with the line of the mountain on the far left. I think it's a little too straight, so I'll need to build a "hump" there to make it look less artificial. And I need to bring the dirt level up to cover the bottom of the shell. Also, it's much too "rounded" to be a respectable alpine mountain--I'll need to work on that with my cover layer of mortar and pre-formed sections. That will have to wait until the shell has achieved full strength in a day or two.

I have additional mortar and some charcoal grey colorant. I need to mix this up in repeatable batches so I can put some in to the pre-formed sections I'm planning to add, and have some for attaching them to the shell. Tomorrow morning I'll mix up some and make my pre-formed sections and let them set. Once everything is ready, I'll spray the whole thing with water a few times and put them on with another layer of mortar.

My current thinking is to give it a color wash of darker exterior paint and possibly a dry brushing for some highlights. Then I'll do the top with white and sprinkle with crushed glass to represent snow.

I the places where I've put planters, I'll plant some small dwarf Alberta spruce I have (they were seedlings and are mostly still under 6" tall) and perhaps some ground cover to trail down the sides. I need to fish some drip lines down the inside so I can water them. It will also help when I put in two "foothills" in front of the mountains using real dirt. If I use the right ground-cover, I can make "hills" out of soil that are about a foot high and will stand up to the ridiculous Kansas rain.

More pictures as progress continues


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## Mike Paterson (Dec 27, 2007)

I really like the look. Do you have a plant listing? Not sure how many species will transfer to the SF Bay area but would like to research. Really like the use of color


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## riderdan (Jan 2, 2014)

Mike Paterson said:


> I really like the look. Do you have a plant listing? Not sure how many species will transfer to the SF Bay area but would like to research. Really like the use of color


Hi Mike,

Unfortunately, I don't have a complete list. Most of my plantings (so far) have been experimental--I'm just trying out stuff to see if it works. And one of my "helpers" (probably the 7-year-old) tossed the stakes because they were "trash." But if I had to guess, most everything on my layout would grow in the Bay Area. I used to live in Mountainview/Santa Clara and I'm 100% sure of that it would all grown if you water it. 

The trees are dwarf Alberta spruce, as I said. There is also some juniper--mostly in the foreground and near the station and locomotive servicing area. I have several patches of Scottish moss and Irish moss, but it needs a lot of water or it browns and dies off.

I have three or four varieties of thyme: creeping, elfin, and woolly (common names). There's a mix of sedums (acre, album, and spurium (bronze carpet)) and a couple others groundcovers. The yellow plants by the pond are creeping jenny (common name, again). 

The white and purple flowering stuff is alyssm. It's like tiny Queen Anne's Lace. It grows like gangbusters here. It's an annual, but is self seeding here in Kansas. If you look in the area over by the sawmill (on the left amidst the "forest") that big white patch of it grew from a single seedling I planting this spring. In fact, all those patches of alyssm, aside from the one in the very lower left, are from 12 little 1x1 seedlings that came in a quarter flat.


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## Mike Paterson (Dec 27, 2007)

This may be a duplicate post
Thank you. Yes these plants will grow in the Sunnyvale area. I guessed most of the plants but not the Seduum. With the drought still looming I have given up on moss especially since most of my railroad is in direct sunlight.


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## riderdan (Jan 2, 2014)

Near done. I've been so busy working on it I haven't taken many pictures...
Here are some taken Wednesday afternoon--I've made some small amount of progress since then. I'd say I'm about 90% done with the actual mountain at this point. 

Distance view:









Chalet that may end up next to the Rigi Duo station. The problem is scale. I'm thinking about trying to reproduce this at about 75% size so it fits in better.









Tunnel portal on the south side. It's just sitting there at the moment--I need to bring the grade level up to the ties and make some minor adjustments for fit and finish. When I took this the side of the mountain here was still pretty rough. It's a bit better. I have another two bags of type S concrete and about 1/2 a packet of charcoal concrete color, so the concrete work should be finished this weekend.









Here’s the access hole, about 6′ long and 12″ high. I’ll close this with a sheet of insulating foam cut to size/shape.









Since I took these I've closed up the back pretty completely. Aside from the top of the access hole, I don't think there's any chicken wire showing. I have a little more concrete work to do before I take up the dropcloth and can run a train through.

At the moment I'm pretty happy about how it's coming along. It looks pretty alpine to my eye (and I've spent time in the Italian, German, and Swiss Alps) just a few finishing touches and it will be done.


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## riderdan (Jan 2, 2014)

Now I'm having second thoughts about the Rigi system. The building on the mountain is going to look huge, no matter if it's the alpine building from the pictures above, or just a plain building for the end of the Rigi system.

So last night while I was laying awake I had another thought--what about some HO scale buildings for a sort of "forced perspective" where there's a small "town" (maybe three or four HO scale buildings) on the level area where I was going to put the Rigi setup.

Anyone tried anything like that?


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## SD90WLMT (Feb 16, 2010)

Forced perspective can be used to good advantage..esp on smaller layouts..
Your cool mountains will appear further away..and taller at the same time.. Enlarging the appearance of your layout!


SD


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

That looks absolutely beautiful Dan! Snow an everything, wonderful!

But since you added the snow at the top, and gave your mountain the sharp shape of something huge, I agree with Dirk, it works well and looks distant. 

So, as you say, consider this an opportunity to get some HO or N plastic buildings! They'd look great. You could even run a section of HO or N flex track up there, wire down a car or two on it, and just let it all weather. Maybe put a little LED in each building.

CJ


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## denray (Jan 5, 2008)

Dan
That has come out really nice. I like the snow affects
Dennis


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## dieseldude (Apr 21, 2009)

Wow! That mountain range really looks great! The pointed shape of your fence behind the mountain almost looks like a great place to paint some "distant" mountains. Keep up the great work.


-Kevin.


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## riderdan (Jan 2, 2014)

dieseldude said:


> Wow! That mountain range really looks great! The pointed shape of your fence behind the mountain almost looks like a great place to paint some "distant" mountains. Keep up the great work.
> 
> 
> -Kevin.


Thanks Kevin (and Dennis and Cliffy)

I've thought about painting more mountains on the fence, but the other half doesn't think that's a good idea. Actually, when I saw Cliffy's backdrop (on his under-the-deck storage thread) I thought "That blue stuff, cut with a curvy top, painted gray, against the fence would be perfect" but it's not in the cards for the moment.


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## riderdan (Jan 2, 2014)

CliffyJ said:


> That looks absolutely beautiful Dan! Snow an everything, wonderful!
> 
> But since you added the snow at the top, and gave your mountain the sharp shape of something huge, I agree with Dirk, it works well and looks distant.
> 
> ...


I'll definitely light the buildings. 

Your idea about some N gauge track gave me a funny idea: I should make a loop of track that goes in and out of two tunnels up there. Then I should set up some automation where the G scale train goes in the lower tunnel, about 60 seconds passes, then the N scale train comes out of one tunnel and goes in the other, then 60 seconds later the G scale train comes out the other side--so it looks like the train went into the mountains, up to the top, and then back down.

That's not going to happen (N's not reliable outside, I'd need to cut concrete for tunnel portals on the mountain, I'd need N scale versions of all my G scale trains) but it's a fun idea.

What would be really amusing is a multi-level layout, where the G scale train went in the tunnel at the bottom, then an O train appeared on level one and went into a tunnel, an HO train came out of a tunnel on level two then back in, an N scale train did the same on level three and a Z scale train at the top. You could only do it inside, but I think it would be a riot.


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

I like your thinking!


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## riderdan (Jan 2, 2014)

Put out some HO houses on the mountains. These were cheap on eBay--I have no idea how they'd stand up to the weather and they're just sitting there, likely to blow off in the first Kansas wind...

Click for "giant" versions  so you can see what it really looks like. I tried cropping the pictures, but I think it lost the "overview" effect. You'll likely have to click them again when the new window opens.

Here's a distance view from the far end of the raised area that holds the layout


Another similar view, but from a lower perspective


Somewhat closer


They might be too small... I could go for some O scale houses, but I thought that these would be better. I'm undecided if they're too small for the correct look, or if there's something else I could do to improve the contrast. I've thought about moving the windmill further from the mountains...

Any opinions?
-----------------------------------------
For anyone curious, the dirt piles near the foot of the mountains are "foothills" and the areas that look like there's fresh dirt are either low spots I recently filled in or where trees were recently added. Unfortunately, I think it's too late in the season for the cuttings I planted on the leftmost hill to really take, but we'll see. I've had good luck creating small hills out of a couple bags of topsoil thoroughly planted with groundcover.


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Dan;

Placing small scale houses on a mountain to force perspective has a proud tradition. A similar thing was done with the tunnels sold for Lionel standard gauge trains in the 1920s and 1930s. The houses placed on those tunnels were minute. I think the HO houses on your own mountain look just fine.

Best,
David Meashey


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## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

Looking pretty darn good.. nice work..


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## riderdan (Jan 2, 2014)

Here's the rear access door, finished up









And a video of my recently repaired Stainz coming out of the tunnel.





I'm going to send my mallet through tomorrow along with my Harz passenger cars and I'll try to get a better video that shows the tunnel portal.


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

That looks great Dan, really nice job on the access door! Elegantly simple, looks wonderful.


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## PrairieRails (Apr 21, 2017)

Hi,
It looks like you've done a fantastic job!
as winter turns to spring and the garden railway appears from under the snow, thoughts turn to landscaping and mountain building on our layout. Would you be willing to share some more of your construction techniques as what you have created is something that we've been trying to visualize for awhile. 
Thanks,
Michael


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