Model Railway Mountain Pass

By Harvey Willard
Oakdale, CT

For this layout, 90% of the cut outs was done with the Hot Wire Foam Factory Freehand Router. It was great on the caves because you can set the wire to different widths as the cave got deeper. I also used the Router for some of the rock platforms, (over the train trestle and mountain top lookout). I could have used the 6″ Pro Knife for that, but I like the way I could vary the width of the cuts by angling the wire slightly so both sides would cut. I also used some of the cutouts as protruding rocks by gluing the flat uncut side to the mountain.

Hot Wire Foam Factory tools are the best. I can work for long periods of time and not shut them down to cool. This is my first project and I’m learning as I go. My goal is to make and sell platforms for Lemax and Dept. 56 pieces.