A New Scenery Project: Rocks

[jonathan]

I'm forcing myself away from locomotives and rolling stock for while, you know, for Lent.  

I've never been happy with my homemade rocks and cliffsides.  So, I broke down and got a giant bucket of Hydrocal and a rubber rock mold, at the last train show.  So I'm learning how to play nice with rock molds.

I've studied how others have done the project.  I'm trying to break up the pieces and secure them to the side with leftover caulk, from all the house projects.  The rubber cement just wasn't working too well.  And I need to stay away from my wife's hot glue gun:









I'm using the boxcars to make sure I don't get too close to the tracks.  Can always file down a rock or two if I have to.

Project is coming along slowly.  My plan is to fill in the cracks with Spackle (got lots of that, too).  Then use some acrylic paints for color.  The paints will be made into washes, using brown, grey, tan, and whatever else seems appropriate.  

Just wondering what others have used to color their rocks.  I've never been happy with my rock colors.  They all end up a medium grey.  Seems like model railroad rock, Northeast/Midatlantic US, should end up with more of a brownish or tan tint to them.  I dunno.

Regards,

Jonathan

[Jerrys HO]

jonathan

You have touched on a subject I too am having difficulty with. Keep posting your progress.
I have discovered that as you pour in the hydrocal in the mold, fill it half way to get thinner rocks. It also makes it easier to cut and shape to your liking. Also tilting the mold to one side you can mold that one side.
I have found cutting a hole in your plaster and using spackle to fill in gaps.
I have not tried this on my mountain only on testing pieces I have made.
For the colors I use burnt umber, raw umber, yellow ochner, and slate gray. Like you I have not found the color I desire.
As for your mountain I think you have done a great job with out the rocks, as I scroll thru your photo's I am amazed at your modeling handy work. It gave me lot's of idea's.

Jerry

P.S. I noticed your pics of the Disney train, I just got back myself. I rode all three trains as the fourth one was being overhauled. I found out the last day that there was a train tour you can take.

[jonathan]

Jerry,

Taking the family back to Disney this August.  My wife told be about the backstage tour of the trains.  Will ponder that one.  Pricey.  We vacation there every three or four years.

I, too, have discovered making thinner rocks helps breaking things up to fit.  Have seen some old videos of rock-making where modelers have used yellows and blues (washes) to enhance rock colors.  Who knew rocks had so many color possibilities?

Thanks for the kind words.

Regards,

Jonathan

[ebtnut]

Rocks come in a rainbow of colors.  This was especially evident in the big rock cut west of Hancock, MD on I-68 when it was fresh.  Most mid-eastern rocks are sedimentary, and tend towards the umbers and yellow ochers.  Slates are more grey.  Granites are light grey, with maybe just a hint of blue in them.  Get a selection of artist's acrylics and play with different mixes of colors.  You will want lots of white paint to tone down the colors.  Play on some heavy white water color paper (comes is tablets) before attacking your white plaster. 

[jward]

the mention of the rock cut on I68, known as sideling hill, brings up a good point about rocks. not only are they different colours in different layers, but in certain areas those layers are tilted or bent into odd shapes. the sideling hill layers are bent in the shape of a "U" in what geologists call a syncline.  keeping well defined rock layers, and tilting them a little bit, adds to the realism for me.

[Rangerover1944]

Just a little tip, you should cover your tracks with card stock as an example. That's what I use cut 1" wide, a foot long or whatever the 11" card stock is and I use two pieces of the foam double face tape cut 2" long, a piece at both ends and in the middle of the 1" piece of cardstock so as to fix it to the rr ties. You'll have a lot of hand cleaning to do otherwise no matter how careful we think we are, to remove the glue, caulk, dust, paint, and other ground materials from the rails. Might be alright to weather your cars with the grime, but why. Take the cars off the tracks or move them to a safer place and they won't get in your way and get all messed up. You don't have to fill in all the cracks around the rocks you've installed it looks natural with the cracks. When I was a kid I used to love to crawl in those cracks and explore. It's natural!

Looks really good if this is your first attempt. Rocks are all different colors and shapes and cuts. I use broken ceiling tile, glued and stacked for ledge, I see a lot of that here in WV.

[Keusink]

Jonathon

I make some of my own rocks too, but your existing photos show a cut rock wall. I have five of these made by Cripplebush which are rubber molded, about 3 feet long, 7" high. They would be ideal for the situation your photos show. Check out their site, look at "shale 18"  They are perfect for that location, though a bit spendy. More detail than your existing wall, and already colored. MRR had an article about them a year or so ago,

Chris

[Jerrys HO]

Chris

Thanks for the tip on Cripplebush. I am taking it that since they are rubber molded that they will bend around turns easily?
I am sure everybody reading this post would love to see some pics if you could post them.

Jerry

Answered my own question by reading the description. There is the Blocky Rock 1 that is also nice looking.

[Doneldon]

jonathan-

Your work is excellent, as always.

Rock tends to exist in strata in the real world. (What? You mean my railroad isn't the real world?) So you might want to carve some parallel lines into your rock face. The strata don't have to be horizontal. In fact, most strata are tilted to a greater or lesser degree. Highlight the upper surfaces of your rockwork with light colors, even white, and use dark gray or black on the undersides to add shadow detail and greater texture to the rock surfaces. The light highlights are best done with a dry brush but you can apply the shadow paint a bit heavier.
                                                                                                               -- D

[jonathan]

Some great tips provided.  Thanks a million, guys.

I had a similar idea on modelling strata.  As I look around my local area in Virginia, the strata is not so evident.  Perhaps the age and type of rock is the reason for this.  This is why I chose this particular rock mold.  It looks more chunky than stratified.  Perhaps this is a granite type look?

At the last train show I saw those long, rubber rock molds and considered the purchase. $$$ Pricey.

Yep, I considered masking off the tracks somehow.  For now, I just lay an old t-shirt across the tracks while I'm working.  I'll have a little cleaning and vacuuming to do, before running the trains again.  Will also need some more turf and/or foliage to define the edges as well.

Right now, I've finished the molded rock portion of the long cliff face.  I am blending in the molds with spackle, using a small, flat bladed screwdriver and my pinkie.  Don't want to fill in too much.  The deep cracks will add some nice depth I think.  Will post some picks before I get to the color portion.

Speaking of coloring, the previous lessons I've learned were to go from black and work my way up to the light colors.  It seems, in my mind, that I would want to go the opposite direction for rocks; starting light and then going dark, sparingly of course.  Pondering that for now.

Regards,

Jonathan

[Keusink]

Jonathon

You are right about the order of color application. Light tan base, then thinned earth tones to match your ideal, followed by black wash to bring out cracks and crevices, then light or white drybrush along tops and edges of rock protrusions for the finish. I have found that talus of two or three sizes piled along the base  improves realism 100 percent. You can "drool" some realistic water down your rock face crevices for seepage, too. Have fun!

Chris

[jonathan]

Thanks, Chris.

OK, the spackle is drying, so I can't paint, yet.  

This gave me the opportunity to clean up the tracks a bit, run some trains, and take a few pics.

The lower cliff face is done.  I still have a lot of rock to apply to the rest of the mountain.  However, I do want to try coloring this area first:








The bright white against the rest of the scenery was giving me fits.  I had a tough time adjusting the photo, so you could catch the cliff detail, without blacking out the rest of the photograph.  

Regards,

Jonathan

[Keusink]

Jonathon, that is a really beautiful job! I have been using sculptamold for the interstices, don't know how the spackle takes paint. I just finished my waterfall and creek, with a cliff line of carved foam forming one side of the creek for about 4 feet. Used the same painting technique as suggested, but our coastal (Oregon Coast) rocks are more grays and blacks, less earth tones, so nine is darker than your existing color scheme.

Some talus accumulated at the base of the crevices will look great, but you want to color it separately, then glue it down after the rocks are painted.

Chris

[Keusink]

Sorry. "Nine" and "Mine" are interchangeable, per spell check.

Chris

[jonathan]

Thanks, Chris.

Spackle, it turns out, does not take paint as well as hydrocal.  I had to go back over the spackled areas with a bit heavier wash to compensate.  Live and learn.

Still getting use to the new camera, but here are a few shots:

Yellow wash:





Followed by a Tan wash:







More colors to follow.

Regards,

Jonathan