Ready for scenery and backdrops

 I finished the last terra-forming for the layout.  The low hills behind Falmouth are stryofoam, while the large hill by Stares Tunnels is a cardboard/foam web covered with rosin paper and plaster gauze. 

I ordered frog juicers for all the turnouts at Falmouth.  I don't really need them given that I use battery powered and keep-alive equipped locomotives, except for one spot- the turnout from the arrival track to the rear siding. The front stub track to the turnout to the rear siding is too close to the frog of the turnout right before it. So I cannot cut a gap in that stub rail without weakening it. So that frog and stub rail will need a frog Juicer to avoid shorts when trains use the arrival track.  The battery locos will chug right through despite the short, but the other locos will be affected. Adding frog juicers is simple and really just best practice. 

I am waiting for some additional urethane castings from Scenic Express to finish the rocks by the tunnel. Meanwhile, I painted all the raw terrain and fascia with a coat of Virginia clay red latex paint. The paint really helps the layout look a lot more refined. 

Next comes scenery and backdrop painting, some of my favorite layout building tasks.