Hello all!
I'm in the process of building mountains for my 12 x 14 HO layout. The layout is set in British Columbia Canada and has an upper and main level. I've tried various techniques for making my mountains, however I'm just not satisfied.
I've used mainly rock molds to construct the steep locations and briefly tried to stack foam for the hills. I'm having trouble making the rock molds flow together without it looking like I've just stuck a few molds in a row.
I'm looking for some step by step tips on different techniques and photos from you all to provide me with some guidance.
Thanks in advanced!
Tyler.
find a area in mold that are close to the same cut on line ( clean cuts) then mount and fill any lines with plaster and bit of creative carving , did a 3 ft wall with one mold no one would belive it was one mold.
What molds are you using, are you casting with plaster, and are you casting directly onto the mountainside or gluing finished castings on?
There are a lot of ways to do rock faces and I am not an expert though I've tried several methods. I'll describe the way I like best.
Here is a rock face that I just recently finished and dressed out, and I took a bunch of pics while I was working on it. Its not very big but it took two plaster castings and had to be fitted with the tunnel portals. I used the same mold from Bragdon for both castings as you can see in the second pic, and then blended it together into one rock face and added the portals as seen in the next pic.
I prefer to cast the rock directly on the shaped foam. And I don't necessarily fill the whole mold with plaster. That way the casting can be formed to match the desired contour and overall shape that I want. I remove the mold before the plaster is fully cured and use a knife to carve a bit and help match up the rocks at seams. Then blend with a bit of Gypsolite after everything is cured. It always looks a lot better after coloring and adding grasses and foliage, etc. I know where the seams are but with a little work they don't jump out.
And here are some rock faces that I am working on now. These are a lot bigger but I cast them directly on the foam using the same method. The only difference is that I cast them with the foam installed on the layout. Both the upper and lower rock faces each took two castings and I carved the foam to shape to fit the molds that I planned to use. I should be ready to add all the foliage in this area within the next few days and we will see then how it all turns out.
Huntington Junction - Freelance based on the B&O and C&O in coal country before the merger... doing it my way. Now working on phase 3. - Walt
For photos and more: http://www.wkhobbies.com/model-railroad/
CPBadenI'm having trouble making the rock molds flow together without it looking like I've just stuck a few molds in a row.
We've seen comment before about people who buy commercial molds and find they don't quite go together. The problem is the geology isn't similar. I used to make my own molds out of latex and by turning them so the orientation wasn't exactly the same and smoothing the mold lines with hydrocal I thought they turned out pretty well. They were local rocks so they all "fit" the scene
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Hi, Tyler
I recently completed a scene very similar to what HObbyguy did, even the three tunnel portals.
For the main expanse of stone face I worked with a thin plywood sheet, like flooring underlayment, that was cut to the outline I needed. Here it is clamped in place with the first four rock castings glued in place.
I continued fitting rock castings—I think I used five different Woodland scenics molds—and fit them in place like mosaic tiles, cutting and shaping each one with a hack saw blade and a Stanley Surform file.
I wanted this "wall-of-stone" to act as a view-block for the helix behind. I had already begun staining the rock here while adding a few more around them.
For me it made sense to work on the removable plywood base, then I could fit the whole thing in place and glue it in with hot-melt and Liquid Nails glue. The plaster castings are glued to the plywood with Liquid Nails.
Similar to the Ironworkers tradition, I placed a single pine tree on top when the assembly was done. The stone color was done with water-based acrylic artist paint then washed with several layers of diluted India ink.
I still have a little more greenery to add to it but for now the "mountain" is pretty much complete.
One trick I like to use when "caulking" the plaster castings together is to use a disposable plastic bag, a snack or sandwich bag, and put a tablespoon or two of plaster in it. Wrap the bag so the plaster is in one corner then clip the very corner of the bag off so you now have a "pastry bag" and you can squeeze the plaster between (and under if needed) the cured plaster rock castings much like frosting a cake.
Once this plaster cures to the point where it will crumble, maybe 20 min. to half-hour, use a dull knife, exacto blade or old dentist picks to chip away the plaster to match the surrounding stone. This blends the castings and once stained the joint is nearly undetectable. Any place that doesn't quite look right is a good place for a clump of brush!
Call me "old fashioned" but I really have little use for the extruded foam on my layout. I'll use small bits here and there for making minor contours but for the most part, I much prefer the hard-shell cardboard/screen/plaster cloth method.
It's what works for me. I did lots of the foam scenery when I was involved with a local club and never cared for the technique or the results.
Good Luck, Ed
Tyler you also mentioned stacking foam to form the mountains and Ed followed up on this with a few comments. The main benefit to foam that I've found for eastern mountains is planting trees and that's why I am using it for most of my landscape on this layout. Just make a hole with an awl and plant a tree, and if you are not happy with the result then it is easy to move it. The downside to foam it is that it takes a lot of carving and shaping to get a good effect and doing this is a bunch of work that makes quite a mess. I build most of my foam mountains as modules and shape them outside the layout room as much as I can to minimize all the shavings on the layout.
If you don't plan on a bunch of trees then hardshell may be a better way to go. It is generally quicker and simpler to get good results so something to think about. On the other hand here are the kind of woodlands that are easier with foam, if thats a look you want and you have the patience to shape the foam and make all the trees.
Here is the foam mountain section that I will be working on next. Shaping and sealing is finished but still lots of work to do. I will remove it and add the basic groundcover in the shop, tilting it as needed to get the surface level so that the foams will stick nicely. Then put it back on the layout, blend it in with Sculptamold and Gypsolite, and plant the trees and brush. I don't plan on any rockfaces on this section exept maybe around the mine portal, but I do plan some grass meadows on the shallower hillsides. And I will need to include some coal mining "mess" toward the bottom to blend it together with the mine tipple and track.
Oh, like Ed I also use craft acrylics for coloring rock with black washes afterward to blend the colors. Coloring rocks is another whole topic of discussion. Also my preferred method for rock faces requires soft large latex molds like the ones that Bragdon sells. I do have a couple of WS molds but only use them for very small and simple rock faces, and glue them on using very similar methods to those that Ed covered.
I've taken to using fewer rockmolds as my layout progressed. At first, I tended to rely more the rock castings, but I use Scupltamold for my scenery base over foam. Gradually, I found ways to make the Sculptamold look like low-grade rock, reserving plaster castings for emphasis. Since Scupltamold is imported to Canada, I don't know if it's cost effective or not for you. If you've got a big project, the 50 lb bag is pretty economical (about $100/delivered, I use Dick Blick as a source here), but maybe you can find a bag just across the border?
With Sculptamold, you have to be aware that staining it comes out differently than plaster right next to it since they absorb differently. Once you have that figured out by squeezing the castings together, not hard to deal with. Sculptamold as a base makes attaching castings easy, as a slap of it on the back of a casting will do the trick, then position as needed and backfill with Sculptamold as needed.
There's not a lot of castings in these pics (but a pretty good pic of some in the first posting, although I have a big waterfall that still needs installed to feed the waterway below), but there is a BUNCH of stacking and shaping foam in my Cascade Branch thread:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/219241.aspx?page=1
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
I used foam as my base, as I am modeling the Northeast, with plenty of trees. I drill and stick a piece of wire in the base of the Woodland Scenics tree armatures, push them right into the foam through a dab of glue, a little ground foam around the base, done. If I have done land formiing with Sculptamold, I use an awll to poke a hole, dab of glue, done. For natural plant material trees I use an awl to poke a hole, dab of glue, done.
For the background I may use hardshell and puffball trees, though I have a massive supply of foam scraps from several job sites that I asked if I could clean up. Can hardly beat the price, some even bagged it for me, only thing is they didn't deliver. Oh well.
For rocks I have used both plaster castings and Sculptamold. Have made my own latex molds, have some commercial ones. Made a large curved cut with Sculptamold and crumpled tin foil. Usually keep some tin foil handy in case I have some left over plaster when pouring other molds. Yes they take staining a little differently, but rocks vary in color and with a little scenic work around them the difference isn't noticeable.
Picked up some broken ceiling tile when I saw a fellow doing some work down at the bank. Haven't tried it yet, but have seen some good results.
Have fun,
Richard
Ewe may find it amazing, but the LION goes out into the field and finds rocks to put on the layout of him. Easy.
Foam Layers. Post people install the foam and then cut it down, LION wants to try the opposite, install the foam layers and then use SPRAY FOAM to build the landscape up.
Two remarks on the foam. It is very powerful and when used to insulate say your bedroom window, it may well push the window out of the building. So use it where it can expanad.
And second, the spray can is intended for single use. Once used it will clog up beyond belief. Buy several small cans instead of one big one.
I will try it out to see how this works for me, but while I have bought the spray foam, I have not yet tried it.
So if you do it, on your own head be it. Keep it away from the tracks.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
We haven't seen a response from the OP but here is a followup to the photo I posted earlier on the area I am working on. This is the same hill and rock, now with some trees/foliage and the bridge back in place. Dressing it out makes a big difference.
Glad to hear from you Tyler. Yup, I think painting a rock face after it is all blended together works best. I am sure doing that will help a lot.
Have fun and build those mountains!
Tyler,
I agree, I think you've spotted a significant issue. Blending the scene together with color instead is a big step toward making things like this work.
I've made a lot of plaster castings for rocks, but if you really want to step your modeling up a notch I would recommend Bragdon foam casting and also their molds. I recently cast these. They come out white, and I haven't painted them yet.
These are finished. Painting is done with thin washes and a lot of color variation.
The final castings are thin and light. You can use a hair dryer to soften the castings to fit them to curved surfaces. They are easy to cut, so you can take a large casting and break it into smaller ones, then fit them together so there is no repetition of the pattern. I use ground foam to disguise breaks between sections.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
One old school way to make mountains with cardboard strips and hot glue, then plaster cloth.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
For layered shale like rock, use sculpta-mold. There's a video of it being used on the "Worlds Greatest Hobby" video on you tube.For rock castings, break them up with a hammer and place them randomly, or use gauze and a rubber cement on a real rock from your back yard. That will form your own mold and you can then use that to cast rocks!
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
have you looked at John Allen's Gorre & Daphetied.
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading