With the structures for the station company village complete for Cruzatte, it was time to fill in the terrain. The structure sites needed to be prepared as the terrain base was formed. Filling in this portion of terrain closes the gap between Noisy Creek and Shady Creek along the upper mountain wall of my layout space. Though my simple backdrop painting helped convey the desired image in this area, nothing beats rendering it into three dimensions.
An important resource for forming the terrain and locating the structures was Joel Ashcroft's website: http://spcascades.railfan.net/structuresCruzatte.html The Cruzatte structures section of the provided link were particularly helpful.
I used my proven terrain forming techniques employed last year. The base was formed using styrofoam insulating foam, building up contours. Gaps were filled with spray insulating foam. This base was further shaped using knives and a Stanley Surform ™ scraper. Finally, Sculptamold was lathered over the surface. I mixed paint into the Sculptamold. This immediately provides an appropriate surface color and ensures future dings and holes will not produce white splotches.
Terrain forming begun at Cruzatte. Building platforms are slabs of insulating foam with the RR-East end (downhill) slightly raised for level structure foundations. The plywood subroadbed and station site is built on the railroad's 1.8 percent grade.
Base terrain contours formed with slabs of styrofoam insulation.
Gaps have been filled with spray foam insulation. The pictures on the track below are copies from Joel Ashcroft's website.
The site for the RR-East water tower has been prepared. A thin strip of styrene was glued to the down-hill end of the water tower base to level it.
Scultamold has been applied to the scene.
The Cruzatte scene is coming to life with structures and terrain base.
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