Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) : Scenery

I want to make my first landscape. But I have absolutely no experience in this. Is there a good reference textbook I can get?.
If you try www.greenhobbymodel.com they have various catalogues made by the manufacturers of scenic landscaping materials. These also serve a excellent textbooks on the subject. Some are better than others. I particularly  recommend the Auhagen and the Noch scenics books. Other good ones are by Woodland Scenics and Heki. The "building a landscape" photo sequences in them are excellent whether you decide to use their products or just use foam, fibreglass and wood instead.
Makers of Warhammer dioramas or battle dioramas will also appreciate these publications.

I want to do my first bridge and valley. Have you suggestions on how to go about making  a river .
Take a look at Pete's web site for pictures and text on making a really convincing river.
http://www.petesproject.co.uk/layout/river/index.html
And also this 2guyz-n-sum-trains link which shows "from raw foam to landscaped finish":
http://www.2guyz.info/Content/pid=44/page=1.html
This one may also be useful as it examines different methods.
http://www.aglasshalffull.org/article-model-water.html

I want to model a ruined building.  I know there are plastic kits available, but can it be scratch built to my own design?
Sure. Try an Auhagen or Noch landscape building starter kit. They include a range of buildings of various types. Then take your scalpel and razor saw, cut and hack and re-assemble to your own design purely for practise. That is the easy way! Next go to your local hobby shop and get a couple of sheets of depron 3mm thick, and if they stock it, brown paper. The depron with brown paper PVDd onto it makes a wonderful wall material, from which just about anything can be made, This is the sort of approach architectural modellers use when making a model of a proposed building project. It takes very little practise and some acrylic paint, to dirty it up, and weather it to achieve an "olde worlde style reality" to the appearance. Finally PVA on a little moss onto the stonework, done!

 I am making a lake.  I will use varnish to create the water. What is the best  varnish  to use ?
Acrylic varnish can be used for a river (I buy a water based one from a specialist supplier it has less odour). In an art or hobby shop it is called Gloss (or Glaze) Acrylic Medium. The one I am using at the moment is made by Daler Rowney. You build up the water layers gradually with multiple coats of varnish.  It should be built up in five or more coats in stages, with each coat adding about  3mm thickness. A brush helps avoid unsightly air bubbles getting "frozen" in your water. A pin can be used to prick and allow the air get out of stubborn bubbles and escape up to the surface..
You can also use "scenic flock" groundcover grass and materials to build up "underwater" weeds  as you add layers. Pick a darker green colour for this because the weeds on dry land should have a brighter shade of green in comparison to the underwater plants.
First lay the banks down to the river, paint the river bed if necessary and then put on some static grass, then varnish the river bed, then add the long grass on the waters edge. Finally add bushes , trees, logs etc.
First make a small test scene on a piece of stiff card or scrap plywood. When you are happy with the result you can use the (now) tried and tested method on your baseboard.  Your small test scene can go into the layout as a "sub-scene" detail in another location. For instance: a small test lake can make an ornamental pond in a garden or farmyard duck-pond.

 I am making a rocky mountain.  I have been told that plaster of paris can be fragile and crack later -  I don't want to get into embedding chicken wire in plaster. Is there a better way ?
If you use plaster of paris, be aware it is brittle and cracks easily when hard. You must add fibre - mix in  reinforcing muslin cloth to strengthen the final result. Chicken wire is also used for strengthening plaster of paris. But plaster is very heavy. So it needs a strong (and also heavy) layout board to support it. Everything gets "over-engineered". Later on your layout cannot be moved without the help of several strong people. You can avoid this "trap" because there are better ways to make mountains.

My personal favourite is to use fibreglass cloth. I paint it with resin, when it is thoroughly dampened with glue I drape it over crumpled newspaper and cardboard (in the desired shape) wait until it hardens, then it is light and also incredibly strong. Throw away the supporting paper and card.  Then I paint, fill unwanted dips, and stick pre-made scenic rock texture paper on-top get the final result very quickly indeed. I will take photos of my next layout prepared using this technique and post them here. I get my fibreglass and resin from www.greenhobbymodel.com. The result is strong enough to allow a foam sheet (with a little fibreglass to protect against dents) to make the baseboard, at a fraction of the weight of other techniques. The resulting layout may be large if that is wanted, but it's light enough to be portable.

In the meantime, there is another popular method. Foam on it's own. Many modellers like to carve and whittle down foam insulation sheets. I have done this but II hate the mess it makes with white foam grains drifting round the house for weeks. But it is a popular method. If you do it - use the hoover while you work.
Here is a link showing the making of a quarry railway with blasted rock faces http://www.2guyz.info/Content/pid=65/page=1.html the construction is different from my favourite fibreglass method, but both are more or less finished off in the same way.