I have little by little making some progress on the part of the layout under construction at the moment. Got some plaster cloth put in place on the fill and the hillsides:
Added a couple coats of diluted joint compound to build up the area ( I start with the consistency of cake batter, then add a couple more coats with it diluted to about the consistency of pancake batter):
Overview shot of the area:
The stub end track in the center will service a dairy yet to be built...