FOAMBASE

I got started on the foam base of the layout on 02/21/09. I when to Lowe's and purchased three blue 4x8 2" thick foam boards along with some Olympic Arabian Sands paint, painting utensils, wood glue and lights for the room. I don't know about Home Depot's 2 thick boards but Lowe's has score lines already in the boards. It was easy handling the boards by snapping them into 2x8s. I used a serrated steak knife to cut the boards to the shape and sizes I needed. For final contouring I used a Surform tool, a very messy way by doing it like this. There was small blue particles stuck to everything after I was done!

I used wood glue to secure the lower level foam boards to the OSB. I didn't secure the foam for the upper level because I still needed to shape the foam so that it won't interfere with the lower level track.

LANDFORM

After carving and shaping the foam on the lower level and getting those blue particles everywhere, I decided to go with a less-messy way of carving the foam for the upper level. So I went to the Hobby Shop and purchased the hot wire tool from Woodland Scenics. This was a complete waste of $40.00. I had a very hard time cutting and shaping the 2" foam with this thing. It was slow and the wire kept breaking. I went back to the messy way of cutting and shaping the foam. After gluing the upper level down I used plaster cloth to cover the gaps between the foam boards.

After the plaster cloth had dried, I painted the layout with the Olympic  Arabian Sands with a roller. Where the foam meets the backdrop, I used a Shur-Line Paint Edger to keep from getting the tan paint on the backdrop.

 I put the track back together so I could know where to place the Woodland Scenics 2% Incline Sets to get the track between the two levels. I used wood glue and foam nails to properly place the inclines.

The only thing I don't like about the Incline Sets is that they have an unnatural square like look. I fixed this problem by gluing scrap foam in the front and in the back of them.

After the glue had set, I covered the Incline Sets and scrap foam with plaster cloth and gave it a coat of paint. Now it has a more natural look.