TIG,
I tried yours and it seems to work great for what I was doing (rather than duplicating planes and intersecting "by hand"). Also gives the lines as a separate group, instead of making them part of the mesh, which I like.
Taff,
I think your ruby will do the same thing once I fix the header. I am not sure the paint faces ruby works for the effect I was looking for, as it does not give a graduated texture, nor colors by contour. It might be useful if the model is used in analysis. I only got one color, though I picked other ones. It has an interesting look, like an iceberg. Just for your info (not complaining) where you put in a number (default 10) is is not clear what the number is and that there is a limit, seems to be about 46). The lower numbers give a very subtle effect. If you go too hight the colors repeat, starting with the dark color.
Your terrain models are very helpful (wish SU were faster in flying over).It would be neat to do the model of a place you are going to visit and hike in. And I like the effect you got with the lake surface.
Thank you both for the help.
Peter