Perhaps I’m getting a bit ahead of myself here, but this is about where things stand. We’ve got mountains (sort of), and tunnel portals (mostly), and foliage (but just around this one tunnel portal). Things are looking good! The portal is a Greenmax, model no. 14-2, lightly weathered with India ink. The foliage is Woodland Scenics clump foliage affixed directly to the hill with Hob-E-Tac.
This is where we left off. Last time, there was an awful lot of newspaper piling up. The layout was beginning to more closely resemble the Great Trash Heap rather than rural Japan. But then, we found the unused “pregnancy belly cast kit” that a friend gave us and that we thought was too silly to use for its intended purpose, and looted several rolls of plaster cloth from within. The results speak for themselves.
To keep that pristine white from peeking through the foliage we will plant, we gave the mountains an undercoat of cheap acrylic paint. Plaster really soaks paint up! I must have gone through nearly three bottles total, but at less than $1 each I don’t mind, I guess. The colors are rough, but they only need to be rough because, ideally, this is the last time you’ll ever see them. You can also see the hiking path up to the temple, now: It’s the path in light green switching-back up the hill.
Finally, one last dramatic shot, showing off the Greenmax tunnel portals and the Tomix catenary poles that finally arrived. They add a nice touch, I think. The next step is to get the other half of the layout up to the same point, while beginning to lay down a layer of foliage on the painted sections. Getting close to done!