Building a Realistic Imaginary Mountain Model Railroad

how's it going everyone welcome back to boylight hobby time a little over a year ago I made my first train layout which was my biggest project to date today I'm making my second one for this train right here and I had something even bigger in mind [Music] I didn't want to use the track that came with this train so I'll pack this up and we'll save it for later instead I'll be using some nickel plated Flex track which is supposed to be easier to maintain my first step was to build a frame that I could build everything else on top of so I measured out and cut up the pieces that I needed my intention was to make this four foot by three foot exactly but somehow I ended up with an extra one and a half inches on the long side which means I measured incorrectly which is fine in this case because I wanted it longer anyways after cutting all the cross beams to the exact same length I began fixing things together I used a corner clamp to hold the pieces in place at a perfect right angle then I glued each joist in place after drilling some countersunk pilot holes followed by some screws [Music] once all the cross beams were in place I threw on a thin sheet of plywood and I fixed it down to the beams with some little packs [Music] this little floor may not pass any Building Inspections but it'll be just fine for me next it was time to plan the layout so I broke out that nickel plated Flex track that I mentioned earlier I began bending the track and laying it down on the board to get a rough idea of what I wanted I thought this orientation with a three ring Loop and a double bridge section was pretty cool I just needed to make sure that I could get the track up four inches so the train would fit underneath the bridges this needed to be pretty gradual so the train would actually make it up the hill so I bought two incline sets to do that I'm getting a little ahead of myself before fixing down the track and the incline I wanted to add a one inch layer of XPS insulation foam onto the wood I used a wire brush to give the foam some tooth which creates a beautiful noise I used some polyurethane glue to stick the foam down to the wood I missed this little plastic piece that I cut off the top of the glue bottle so now it's forever sealed and a tomb of foam and wood maybe someone will unearth it someday I weighed down the foam while the glue cured and added some screws for good measure once the glue had cured I removed the dumbbells and it was time to build the ramp the triple double Loop underpass design that I was working with was pretty cool in my opinion and you may point out that it would serve no purpose in real life but I would remind you that its purpose would be for fun I tested the Flex track against the curves to see if they would make the bend and everything was good until it wasn't I should have been testing the curves against the minimum turn radius of the engine which is 22 inches so there's no way this fun layout is going to work given my newly discovered restrictions I could only make an oval on the size of the board that I chose which is not as fun of a shape but it does allow me to do some fun stuff with the landscape I decided to have a snow-capped mountain on one side funneling down toward a valley with an Alpine Lake on the other I also stacked the ramps to be higher on the corner opposite the mountain hopefully achieving a little bit of force perspective from the right viewing angle making the mountain look further away I used a hot wire cutter to cut out this section of the ramp and don't worry I'll add a Trestle later on to connect these two points to form the back of the mountain I used another sheet of XPS foam and I traced out the outline of a mountain I didn't use any particular Mountain as a reference for this mountain but if it looks like something that you've seen in the Rocky Mountains before let me know in the comments after gluing the back of the mountain in place I started adding the bones of the mountain I cut out a few more mountainy shapes on more pieces of foam making sure to leave cutouts for the tunnel at the back of each piece I also went back and added a cutout in the back of the mountain to allow me to have access to the tunnel from the back hold some more I framed out the rest of the mountain piece by piece making it more detailed and wider the further down the mountain that I went I was happy with the shape of the landscape that I had made it was time to go back and fill the cavities between the foam and just like my dentist I used big gap filler I was expecting this foam to expand way more than it did after using up this whole can I realized this wasn't the move I did have a second can though so I wanted to use that up and then switch to a different approach after the foam had expanded fully and hardened I shaved it down to a better shape the next method that I used to fill the cavities was some crinkled up butcher paper which is another method that I borrowed from my dentist the paper is obviously not as dense or as durable as the foam so in order to create a nice sturdy finish once everything was in place I used some Woodland scenics plaster cloth I've never used this stuff before but I've seen Neil from real terrain Hobbies use it and I figured if it was good enough for the king of massive terrain builds I should give it a try I filled a little sheet pan with water and after measuring out roughly how much cloth I would need I began soaking it and draping the cloth all over the diorama like paper mache the cloth is a great base to build on but it definitely still looks like a cloth so I sprinkled on some additional plaster and sprayed it with water to fill the gaps I also mixed up some sculpted mold to sculpt the landscape and more realistic looking exposed rock surfaces it's hard to see the definition on camera but if I change the lighting becomes more apparent on the long side of the base I glued some foam board to create a nice flat clean Edge and I filled the gaps with more sculpted mold for the bottom of the diorama where the lake will be I needed a nice watertight seal so I mixed up some plaster and Mod Podge I spread that out with a brush and then I smoothed it out with my gloved hand next I added some sand and Pebbles from smallest in size to largest which is the wrong order but everything worked out in the end I glued everything down with the quintessential hobby liquids which are watered down white glue and isopropyl alcohol while the Pebbles and sand were drying I threw on some track bed which reminds me of my favorite gum the track bed helps keep the tracks above the surrounding terrain as well as dampen some of the track noise this foam kind comes with a little seam so you can split it down the middle and form it to whatever shape you'd like making it very easy to work with after the track bed had been glued down I trimmed the ends so that they were nice and even and if you're wondering why I didn't add any track bed to this section right here it's because of the large gap next I threw on my respirator and it was time to Prime I don't usually recommend spray painting inside the house in fact I never recommend spray painting inside the house but the mountain is too big to get out of this room which is a problem but a problem to be solved at a later time I used acrylic spray paint to keep the toxic fumes to a minimum but even so after I was done priming I left the room and let it vent out for a good 12 hours before continuing I wanted to create some perspective with the paint job so I made the top of the mountain lighter and tried to keep the contrast to a minimum whereas at the base I did the opposite I applied some washes like a diorama Hibachi chef and I dabbed off all the excess with a paper towel the washes did lighten up as they dried as well to push the forced perspective a little further I painted the top of the mountain with the sky blue a good way to make things appear further away is to make them lighter and Bluer after the blue I added some snow this is supposed to be in the fall so the goal was for the snow to not look freshly fallen but more like the leftovers from the previous winter which is kind of how Frosted Mini Wheats look in comparison to frosted Shredded Wheat further down the mountain I wanted to create a little bit of a gradient and some implied stratification so I painted on different shades of Rocky colors followed by a deep blue for the Alpine Lake once that was dry it was time to add the foliage I'll be using an assortment of greenery orangery and yellowy from diorama percepe and Woodland scenics I started with an earthy ground color and transitioned to a more saturated green lowered down the mountain in the fall the colors changed sooner at higher elevations so I tried to communicate that with how I applied the foliage I established the locations of the pine trees first and once those had been put in place I began filling it in with deciduous vegetation [Music] after the trees were in place I made a little glacial runoff waterfall dripping down the side of the mountain using some UV resin the goal was not a cascading waterfall but more of a trickle often seen higher up in the mountains after making sure that was cured I gave the ground around the lake and all the Rocks a subtle spray of glossy varnish to communicate some moisture then it was time to put on the track I clipped up some rail jointers to connect the tracks with and luckily this time around I didn't cut my finger with them on my last train video I was pushing on one too hard and it went right under my fingernail I put the jointers on the rails and then I crimped them and then after that I soldered them together for a permanent connection it also ensures proper conductivity after the tracks were in place I needed to get power to them I used the connector from the original set and I clipped and stripped the wires and soldered them directly to the track in the back in the tunnel next it was time to build the Trestle I made 11 of the same A-frame support I trimmed them down to whatever height they needed to be at each point and then I ran some additional beams tying everything together for the proper amount of support The Trestle turned out nice and sturdy so I guess all those bridge design games that I used to play really paid off next I applied some ballast around the visible track sections I brushed it off of the rails and the ties and I glued it down with more IPA and watered down white glue I wanted the bridge to be a slightly darker color so I masked off the rails with some masking tape and I darkened the wood with an airbrush [Music] before adding the resin for the lake I needed to build a little Dam to hold back the resin while it cured I cut up some strips of acrylic and I glued them in place with silicone adhesive which creates a nice strong but temporary Bond and is also watertight I also went back and applied some UV resin along the edges just for good measure and then it was time to pour the resin it's not a great idea to mix your resin right on your almost finished project but all my workspaces were currently full so I had to do it on this nice flat spot I mixed up the resin and hardener at a one to one ratio and then I added my pigments I wanted a nice minerally light blue Alpine Lake look so I mixed my pigments accordingly and I poured it into the lake this shallow pour resin has a higher viscosity than the Deep pore stuff so I had to work it around with a stick to make sure it got everywhere it needed to be [Music] I then popped all the Bubbles as they formed with a butane torch and I left it to cure [Music] after the resin had cured it was time to peel off the acrylic and clean up the sides of the diorama [Music] um the last thing to do was to put the Train on the tracks and after that I called it good [Music] [Music] [Music] my friend Garrett helped me come up with four new merch designs with my mechs from the wild imaginary West and some beautiful Scenic Landscapes I'm pretty happy about these designs I'll put a link to those in the description [Music] that is it for this video thank you all so much for watching hope you enjoyed huge shout out as always to my patrons you guys are the best have an awesome week everyone I'll see you next time [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music]

Channel: Boylei Hobby Time

Views: 1,247,375

Keywords: Diorama, Realistic Terrain, Terrain tip, Wild West, Wild Imaginary West, Colorado, Hobby Time, Model Railroad, Model Train, Train, Mr Beast Train, Railroad, train model, model trains, trains for kids, train videos, diorama, scratch building models, scratch building, trains, santa fe, train mountain, model train, toy train, toy trains, cartoon train, choo choo train, chu chu train, train views, viral, beamng train crash, runaway train, unstoppable train, beamngdrive

Id: hrOcG9Vh7cM

Length: 13min 44sec (824 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 16 2023