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Hillside Construction

Image of Martin LovellMARTIN LOVELL shows us how to build up a hillside on your layout.

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A friend of my offspring required a hill to be built on his diorama, but was not quite sure how to go about it. He said that the foliage and decoration bit he could do, but would it be possible for me to build the basic structure? So another Right Lines article came to be!

I started off cutting a piece of plywood to shape, then started to build the skeleton of the hill using a strong, 2 ply box cardboard. Notice the cut out in the backboard to allow access to the track if required and the wagon on the track to check clearances.


Next, using a hot glue gun (GM655) the aluminium mesh (GM189) was fixed to the card and baseboard until the hill was covered. A strong pair of scissors will cut the mesh, but be careful as the cut edges may be sharp.

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The next stage is the plastering. Notice that I covered the track with newspaper, this is to prevent any plaster drips getting onto the rails.

The plaster bandage or 'Mod Roc' (GM100) is cut into squares, make sure working surfaces are covered, as this bit can be messy!

The squares of bandage are then dipped in water for a few seconds, drained off, then laid on the aluminium mesh, and then smoothed over with fingers to mould the bandage to the contours. A further layer can be added once the first layer is dry (fifteen minutes or so).

The next stage was adding the rock face. I used a couple of the Noch rock formers using GM119 Plaster of Paris, this is mixed with water in a suitable bowl, and then poured into the moulds and left to set, the time for this depending on the consistency of the plaster. Once set, the rocks can be prised out of the moulds, and the next stage can begin.

Rather than using the whole moulding, is was necessary, in this case, to use smaller pieces. For the bottom pieces to be flat bottomed the moulds can be sawn using a razor saw or hacksaw and broken into pieces to fit the space available. These pieces can then be glued into position using PVA glue such as Deluxe Speedbond (DLAD-11) and once again left to dry.

The final stage of my project was to fill in any gaps, this time just using plaster, painting and decorating was left up to the happy recipient. I hope this article will help anybody contemplating a bit of hill work. There are, of course, other methods and perhaps these will make the subject of another article?

Happy Modelling!

Martin

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