Initial Landscaping

After the foam putty on the cliff face was dry (overnight) I painted the inside of the tunnels and the cliff faces.  I began with Stone Gray from the Woodland Scenics Earth Color Kit.  I probably have not mentioned this before, but the Stone Gray seems a bit dark when applied directly to the foam putty.  So, I shake the bottle to mix the pigment up as usual.  Then I add enough water to fill the cap about one-third to one-half full with a dropper.  The cap already has a lot of pigment in it from the shaking, so I just mix it in with the water.  If I need more, I put the cap back on, shake, and then add water again.

I painted the inside of each tunnel, then coated the rock of the cliff face with the Stone Gray. Because the gray by itself looks a little blah, I apply some diluted Burnt Umber and Yellow Ochre from the Kit here and there.  I also brushed some of the Concrete on to create some highlights.

The road coming out of the tunnel to the west and entering the tunnel at the east, as well as the cross road was penciled in a little less than two inches wide.  I painted the edges of the road with Burnt Umber from the Woodland Scenics Earth Color Kit. I left the center bare where it will be covered by the Noch Z scale Flexible Roadway.

The joint in the two pieces of foam making the base was pretty noticeable, so I filled it in with some of the Foam Putty.

I would like to get the track down, but I will have to be moving the foam when I install the electrical wires for the lighted Christmas trees. This will probably not be good for the track and its roadbed, so I'm going ahead with assembling some of the buildings. After I know how the lowlands will be populated I can see where to put the trees and do the wiring. Then I can go on with the track.

Between assembling kits I installed the Noch Flexible Roadway and the tunnel portals.  You can see these, and some of the completed kits at the right.

After completing several kits, I put them into the layout in tentative positions, then laid the track and bridges out to see how things were looking.