Before you get started, carefully LOOK at real mountains, whether they be photos or up close and personal. Look at different kinds of mountains. They are different colors, made of different kinds of rock, and very few aren't just covered with plant life. Decide on what you want YOUR mountain to be. I chose more of a granite rock because it would have less vegetation and more ledges and cracks because I wanted to have mountain climbers on it.

The first thing I did was decide on how the track was going to navigate the mountain, whether over under or around, and since I was going to have about 12 inches of elevation, laid out that track part on a piece of 3/8 inch plywood. Try to imagine your completed mountain and how a road building engineer would tackle the problem. If the road is near the top of the mountain, they'll just cut it away but if the road is lower down, a tunnel would be called for. You don't have to do exactly to scale, but if you're going to tunnel, remember to make the mountain at least 6 inches higher than the top of the tunnel entrance. This will give the appearance that the tunnel was necessary. Also, when planning to put shelves under the mountain, working from a flat plywood base will make it much easier.

I then traced out the track and, using a saber saw, cut the plywood freehand leaving from 1/4 inch to an inch all the way around the track. Cutting freehand gives the track base a more natural look and less fabricated. If you plan on having an overpass, don't cut it out now, it can be done later after it is mounted to the base, but if you are going to use bridge tracks, leave that part out.

Next, I put the pieces on the layout where I wanted them and used scrap pieces of wood to elevate the road bed. I attached the scrap wood to the base by using screws from the underside of the layout, through the plywood I used as my base and into the supports. If you are using bridge tracks, you might want to put the track together and just lay it on the road bed in order to get the spacing right between the pieces of plywood road bed. I then nailed the road bed to the tops of the supports. The plastic track will be able to bend about as much as the plywood will but try to keep it as level as possible. If you are using bridge tracks, you might want to put the track together and just lay it on the road bed in order to get the spacing right between the pieces of plywood road bed. Now it's time to start building the mountain.

If you are planning a tunnel, and are going to use pre-molded tunnel entrances (there are some nice ones in your HO Train shop used for two tracks), put them in place now gluing them to the place on the road bed where they are going to go. Next take several pieces of scrap lumber and put them upright near where the peaks of the mountain are going to be, move them around until you can imagine the space between them and attach them to the plywood base the same way you attached the road bed supports. I only had to use 4 supports for the entire mountain. Keep in mind that if you are going to have a tunnel, the tunnel entrances will have a near vertical area above the entrance and that you want as much open space underneath the mountain for storage. Now take your utility knife and cut the corrugated cardboard into strips about 3/4 to an inch wide. Make a lot of them and make sure they are long enough to reach from the top of the mountain to the base of where the mountain will be, and have strips long enough to reach from each of the scraps of lumber to the next one.

Start with the top of the construction and glue one strip to the highest support to the next. If you are planning a "ridge", make the strip rather tight, but if you are planning a "valley" between the peaks, just bend the strip down and then back up to the next support. Do this until all of your supports are connected to the next one. It doesn't have to be anywhere near perfect as this is just the rough work and none will be seen. Now take a strip and glue it to the highest point and then down to where the base of the mountain will be. Depending on the space that you have, and how steep the mountain will be, will determine how far from the mountain peak you will want to make your base and glue it there. From there, glue additional strips from the strips that connect the peaks together down to the base, keeping them about 4 inches apart (about half a paper towel with some overlap), forming them into roughly the shape you want and cut off the excess (I used strong scissors for this). You also will want at least one strip glued to the back of any tunnel entrances you may have added. Then when you have all of the vertical strips in, connect them all with horizontal strips, these about 3 inches apart. Once you have the grid work done, you can bend them a little to form a rough outline of the mountain that you want. Take a step back and look at it and make any changes you like. Changes will be easy if done now, later on, it will be much more difficult.

At this point, you'll have the mountain framed with the road bed run through or around it. You can now take pieces of the cut plywood and add shelves underneath to be used as storage. As this will probably be a dusty part of your construction, plan on keeping things in storage boxes on the shelves and make the shelves high and wide enough to store boxes (I keep things in Plano boxes under there. Just take the spare plywood, cut it to size and put scrap 2 x 4's on the sides to hold it up. It doesn't have to be that good looking as it will be hidden).

Next, mix the plaster, making it a little on the thin side but not so thin as to allow the texture of the paper towels so show through the plaster. Now, take a paper towel, fold it twice (quarter it) and dip it into the plaster mix, then starting from the bottom place the plaster soaked paper towel on the lattice work and using your finger smooth the overlap areas. Just do small batches at a time, allowing the plaster to set a little before mixing the next batch. This will give the mountain the strength to hold all of the plaster without collapsing. I did this phase over 3 days to allow each section to harden before applying the next. Remember that when you get to the top, you want to go over the top of the mountain and down the back for about 2 or 3 inches to keep the edge from showing from various sight lines.

Once the plaster has set you can then add detail. Depending on the type of mountain you are making, collect what you need to detail it. If you mountain is going to represent a sedimentary type of rock, get a piece of the rock, the edge shale or slate will work well for this, for a granite, I used the flat side of shale. Mix plaster this time a bit on the dry site and apply it to your mountain with your hand and then press the piece of rock against it. You can use the same piece over and over again and can take out the repetitive look by turning the rock around and using all the sides. For sedimentary rock, remember that rock is rarely parallel to the ground due to earth movement so try to make the rock look bent or tilted. You can also use things like aluminum foil crushed up and opened back up to give the mountain a "cracked" look.

Now you're ready to paint. Plaster will suck in a lot of paint, which is actually good to keep little cracks and chips from showing up white, so I used a flat auto primer for the first few coats. Allow each coat to soak in and dry before applying the next coat. You want to put on enough paint to get it to soak in well. Once you have applied the spray paint, some hand painting will bring out the detail of the impressions that you made with the rock. Whatever color you are using, get some paint a few shades darker to use in cracks, and on ledges. This will highlight your detail. Use a little dark green in the cracks and on some ledges to give the appearance of moss and the other things that will take a foothold in places like that. I found that during the application of the last coat, sprinkle a little of the material you use for grass and earth on the wet paint. By sprinkling from above, most will fall away leaving some on the ledges and in the cracks.

This method will give you a nice background to your layout as well as giving you a little more storage space.

Good Luck and have fun!

Saber Saw
Utility Knife
Strong Scissors (strong enough to cut the cardboard)
Glue gun
Empty gallon milk container (cut the bottom off to mix the plaster, perfect size)

Supplies:

One sheet of 3/8 Plywood
Scrap wood, 1x3's, or 2x4's (or whatever you have handy of various lengths from 2 inches to the height of the peak of your mountain) Corrugated Cardboard boxes Rolls of very cheap paper towels
Plaster (I used the cheapest stuff I could find in my local hardware store) Spray paint

Did you ever wonder how some guys can make realistic looking scenery and others, well, can't? I believe that there are 3 real keys to it, and that anyone can do it.

The first key is that you have to please yourself. What you want to do it work to make your layout look good to you. There will always be a few critics, as well as a few who understand the work that you put into it, but most people will be amazed at what you've been able to do (mostly because they either can't or didn't do the same thing)

The second key is Patience. I really can't help you with that one, but if you take your time, things will turn out looking as good as you want (see the first key).

The third thing is Observation. This one, I feel is critical. You can't make a tree if you haven't really looked at one. Not just saw it, but looked at it, noticing all of the aspects of it. Branches, bark, leaves, everything. Here's a few tips that I've discovered helped me a great deal in adding scenery to my layout.

The first tip is the hardest for us guys to do. Let the wife drive. You can't really see the things you pass if you're driving. If you're riding (especially on longer trips) you can look at the world and not worry about the highway.

You can see that in most places, the horizon is all trees. You can't see the trunks or branches, but the foliage is what you see. This can be helpful in planning the back of your layout. Just about any textured, green substance can be used and you don't have to make hundreds of trees, just give the appearance of them.

Because everything in the distance is smaller, you can trick the eye into believing that your layout is larger than it is by building smaller in the back. Try adding an N scale building or two to the far side of your layout. You can't have it right next to something larger, but a half of an N scale house tucked in among the trees in the back will make your eye think it's farther away. This surprised me the first time I tried it, even knowing the size, they eye gets fooled.

Nature finds what works and duplicates it in all sizes. A small rock looks just like a big rock in a different scale. Small cracks, ledges, all are duplicated again and again in different sizes. Twigs branch out just like trees do, small streams flow the same as big rivers. All you have to do is look at things around you and you'll find all kinds of useful things. If you find a chunk of granite that would look great on your layout but is too heavy, go out and buy some liquid latex at your local craft store and, following the directions on the jar, make a mold of it and cast it in plaster, or resin, or anything you're comfortable with. This isn't "Rocket Science" (where did I hear that before).

Cities and towns are also quite interesting to observe. The best way to do this is on foot. Walk around town, look at everything. If you are going to have some structures near the front of your layout, look in the windows. Notice that there are buildings of all different ages and degree of upkeep. Though everyone trims their building in gloss paint, it all looks like flat paint at a distance so stock up on flat colors. There are open areas, whether they are parks or just vacant lots. Cities and towns are always changing so keep that in mind when you're building your town. I try not to attach the structures to the layout, but I do attach the infrastructure (sidewalks, streets etc.). This allows me to change my town when I find a new and interesting structure. Other things to look at is just how the town lives. A town is there for people. Places to park, places to eat, room to walk, things to see and lots of little things that can bring the town you build to life.

Take the time to get out and observe the REAL WORLD at every opportunity and when you start your layout, you'll have plenty of ideas as to what you want to do.

Remember, this is a hobby, it's SUPPOSED to be fun.