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How to Make a Mountain With Blue Foam

Building mountains can be a difficult task for modelers. It's difficult to gain a realistic loft for small-scale lofty peaks without having to build elaborate, heavy structures to support the terrain that will eventually adorn them. Here is where blue insulation foam shines for modelers. You can easily make massive mountains with this light and easy-to-use material.

Things You'll Need

Blue insulation foam at least ½ inch in width
Hot knife
White craft glue
Paper towels
Plaster of Paris

Instructions

- 1
  Draw the rough outline of the base of your mountain on a sheet of blue foam. Close the outline to make it a continuous form.
- 2
  Draw another line about 2 inches inside and parallel to the outline you drew in Step 1.
- 3
  Use your hot knife to cut along both lines, removing them from the foam sheet. The end result will be a ring that is roughly 2 inches wide.
- 4
  Repeat the first three steps to create another ring, this one about an inch smaller in outside diameter than the first one.
- 5
  Continue making rings with diminishing outside diameters until the last ring is the desired size of the mountain peak.
- 6
  Use white glue to assemble the rings, one on top of the other, in descending order of diameter, with the largest ring at the bottom and the smallest on top.
- 7
  Prepare a batch of plaster of Paris per the package instructions. Make it the consistency of pancake batter.
- 8
  Coat the finished foam structure with paper towels dipped in the wet plaster of Paris mixture.
- 9
  Paint and detail your new mountain using your favorite paint and landscaping items.

Model Railroads