I've been avoiding one particular part of my layout ever since the track was put down. There are several areas that I have been avoiding, but this one in particular I was dreading any work on it what so ever. The reason being, there was less than two inches from the outside rail of a big radius to the wall.
If the track planning part of my brain was filled to capacity like it should be, I would have allowed for more space, at least four inches. But, somewhere between my Parietal and Occipital lobes, there's an apparent void...anyway, so there's less than two inches to deal with. At least an inch would be given up for right of way clearance, a shoulder of ballast..., so then there's an inch left. It's an area that hugs a river, the one shown in the previous post. I'd found a photo of the Upper Iowa River as I was looking for justifying the rock features I wanted to includein an Iowa scene - there aren't many. But in the North Eastern corner of the state, there is. The river is edged with an undulating rock face, almost a wave on its side. I used this photo as a reference and attempted to copy the overall shape.
So I started cutting a profile in one inch foam and placed it against the back drop. To gain some more space, I gouged out some of the foam at the narrowest point. This gouge would serve as one of the undulating waves; from that starting point I applied a wall of plaster, continuing the wave down the length of the curve and carved in a layered strata of rock. While it provided some depth, it wasn't enough; so I painted a sliver of landscape above the ledge, finishing it with vegetation. There's still a few more feet to go. Once it's complete, I'll post a wider shot of the whole scene.
