Five months after starting work on the Frazier Borate mini layout, I reached the magical point where a pile of foam suddenly looks like real landscape.
To recap, last weekend (Feb. 11-12) I applied a coat of Sculptamold over the stacked foam that I used to form Adobe Hill. That was followed by rocks cast in place using more Sculptamold.
After letting that dry for a week, I colored everything. The rocks in the real-world area I'm modeling are mostly sandstone and conglomerate and are tan to pinkish in color, so I used a tan latex house paint, diluted 50/50 with water, as my base color (Behr Practical Tan from Home Depot) . I made up two batches, adding some red craft paint to one batch to make it more pinkish-tan. I dipped my brush alternately in each of the two colors, splashing them on randomly. From time to time, I dipped my brush in water and used it to blend the colors and wash them down into the cracks and crevices.
After that dried overnight, I used a small brush to add a wash of very dilute black craft paint, trying to get it mostly in the cracks, crevices and hollows. I hit it with a quick spray of water now and then to wash most of the black off the rock faces and encourage it to flow along the cracks.
Next, I added dirt. My base material is Polyblend Linen color sanded grout (dry). I mixed this 50/50 with mortar sand. I sprayed areas where you'd expect dirt to accumulate lightly with water and sifted the grout on, followed with a second light mist of water. If you don't overdo the water, the grout will soak up enough moisture to set in place, looking like it's still loose. I mixed a second batch of grout and sand, adding about 1 part Polyblend Sable to 8 parts Linen, and then mixing that with an equal amount of sand. I sprinkled this where I wanted slightly darker dirt. I also used grey mortar sand and tan decomposed granite sand here and there, and some larger granules of decomposed granite at the base of cliffs and other places rock rubble might accumulate.
The tunnel portal and timber retaining walls were built of stripwood. The stone wall was carved from EPS foam. I've described them in other posts.
On the hill on this side of the mountain there's a mine adit, which still needs some framing and maybe a little shed on stilts hanging out over the cliff. The N gauge track here is standing in for an On18 mine track that will run off to the left and through a cut to an ore bin on the other side of the hill.
2/23: I built a tunnel portal/liner for the mine adit. Still needs some touch-up, but here it is after initial installation:
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