Building the Terrain

To create the terrain that surrounds Oasis Palms, the same pink foam used for the deck was stacked and carved with hot wire tools and razor knives to approximate the plateau terrain. For space savings, the outer loop was compressed closer to town and it uses an exaggerated 4-degree incline to get the train from the town level to the scenic railroad level which was 30′ feet in the air. The left side of the deck has the caverns that housed the Barco Mining operation.

Volunteers built out Buttes and Mesas that were added to visually anchor the corners of the model. Lightweight spackle that has the consistency of whipped cream was used to fill gaps and add texture to the rock formations. This was then all painted with a base layer of dirt brown and multiple layers of accent paint to approximate the chocolate brown hue of the Ship Mountains of the Mojave Desert.

To achieve the effect of the Mojave hill terrain the paint steps included

1. Base coat of Dirt Brown,
2. Black wash using 10% flat Black paint+90% water,
3. Soft brush application of Dirt Brown on mid & high areas,
4. Dry brush application of Raw Sienna in the erosion crevises (desert varnish effect),
5. Dry brush application of 75% Dirt Brown + 25% Titanium White on high areas,
6. Dry brush application of Titanium White on the edges of rocks.