Since my last post (about covering the helix), our Thursday night round robin group - the Gandy Dancers - were here, and when I told them of my plans to cover the exposed pink foam shown below with fascia board, two of them ... Carl Schoeneberg and Rick Pfarr ... encouraged me to carve a rock face. Both said, "Give it try ... just carve away with picks and blades and sharp tools, there's no magic." Carl sealed the deal when he added, "If you don't like it when you're done, you can always cover it with fascia then." Made sense. Friend and great modeler Dave Abeles said in his outstanding blog (https://onondagacutoff.blogspot.com), "There is no way around it - with layout construction, sometimes you just need to make a decision, and move on." Also made sense.
Here is the foam covering the helix as it was when the Gandy Dancers were here. At the far left, one can see where the "front" of the helix was covered over a year ago by John Ellenbracht of St. Louis, and nothing had been done since then. About a month ago, David James of Brecksville, Ohio, stopped by and finished covering the scene as seen here. Finally, I picked up a bread knife, a paint can opener, a screw driver and even a two-pronged tool for digging out dandelions and set about "whacking" and cutting. A good thing to assist the completion is the fact that I have three deadlines to at least show some progress. David is passing through August 7, on his way to the NMRA Convention in Kansas City; the Gandy Dancers return two nights later for a regular meeting; and I committed to doing a "mini clinic" on covering a helix in late September for the Gateway Division (St. Louis) of the NMRA.
This is the first pass at creating the rock face. Admittedly, there is a long way to go. I need to do some serious "gouging" next, and maybe even glue on some rocks that I have on hand. One of the issues will be to not carve too deeply on the foam just left of center in this photo because the railroad helix curves out very close to the outer margin. Following the additional "whacking and gouging", I will paint washes, add ground cover (dirt, bushes, grasses, etc.). I think I am glad that Carl and Rick urged me to try this.
It's a couple of weeks later, and I've done some more carving - note the indentation in the center of the photo. It takes me a while to move forward on tasks with which I have little confidence, and this certainly qualifies. I've also placed several cast rocks in locations to break up ground cover, trees, etc. I've put it off as long as I can so now, ready or not, it's time to bite the bullet and start painting.
Here's the first pass at painting. I mixed two colors - Garden Gate (an olive green) and flat black - roughly 3/1, painted the foam and immediately gave it a coating of sifted real dirt, topped by a light dusting of Woodland Scenics course turf (dark green). Tomorrow, I will give it a light misting of a white glue and water mix (50/50) and work to knock down any shiny spots. Obviously, this is only a first step, to be followed by heavier ground cover, bushes, and trees. I still have to paint the rock face on the vertical side, but that has to wait until the upper regions are complete.
Rock faces, created with Woodland Scenics rock molds and hydrocal are in place. Neighbor Joe Voetter is the molder for these. They're glued with hot glue. Next comes the painting and ground cover to blend them in. That will be followed finally by trees ... lots and lots of trees. It's starting to come together, and every day gets a little closer.
