Well I am getting close to having all my plaster' hydrocal ' hill moutains done. I am going with a more eastern theme so no southwest colors. I have always done the main color first' A light gray then add other colors over it at certain places then a black wash. But I read many do the Leapard style. Putting all colors at certain points then the main color. I have quite a bit of area. I have allways use a brush' since I am a pro painter by trade I move pretty quick' But was thinking about spraying with spray bottles sine so much area. I will post pic later but what are some of your favorite ways. Thanks for help.
You might want to experiment with India ink. Multiple applications of a thin wash or a thicker wash here and there will get you a big gray spectrum
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
I have some rock on my modest layout, both Hydrocal castings pasted together as well as a section of rubber rock (I forget which vendor). After reading a bit and watching a Davd Popp video on one of the MR project layouts I decided on my approach.
I don't recall all the details, but I started by brushing on a cheap, thinned gray acrylic base. Then I did a number (as many of 8-10 including highlights) of dry brushed darker (first) and lighter colors until I got the effect I liked. It came out ok for me given the first try.
The next to last (or so) step might have been a light india ink wash as suggested above to create some nice contrasts in the cracks. The last color was just a tad of white (or near white) highlights and the prior was likely an ochre yellowish highlight I wanted to try.
This is the video I recalled, but you need to be subscribed to video Plus to watch it:
http://mrv.trains.com/how-to/project-railroads/2013/05/thin-branch-series-painting-rocks
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
I have painted TONS of rocks using this sequence. Were not talking just model railroads here, but wargaming tables, diaramas, school projects, etc...
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I paint ALL my scenery black as a start. That way anything that is not painted fully just disappears into the shadows. So I thin black craft paint about 2/3 with water. Then I add a few milliliters of Kodak PhotoFlo 200. This gets brushed into everything. The PhotoFlo makes it a little glossy, but no worse than white glue. make sure everything is black before continuing. Check with a bright white light. Nothing looks worse than little white specks peeking through when you are done. Look at it from lots of different angles to be sure.
Now paint everything that is not a rock Apple Barrel English Ivy Green. I actually took a color sample of this paint to Home Depot and had them make me a gallon. This color is very close to Woodland Scenics green blend. It hides bare spots. I have never been a fan of painting beige under ground cover.
It is time to attack the rocks. You need five more colors. The exact colors are not important. Dark Gray, Medium Gray, Light Gray, Reddish Brown, and Dark Brown. Paint the dark gray on over the rocks in DOWNWARD strokes. Try to cover about 80% of the rock. Now do the same woth the medium gray but only get about 40% coverage. Drybrush with the reddish brown in light patches. Finally drybrush very softly with the light gray. Just highlight the tips of the ridges. This will add some "Pop" to the rocks.
The reddish brown is made into a wash. If you have a hobby shop that sells Citadel Colour paints, their Brown Shade works excellent right out of the bottle. Otherwise thin the craft paint about 8:1 with water and add some PhotoFlo 200. Put a light coat over the rocks. This blends everything.
That is all I have to offer.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I start with a black wash, using diluted acrylic craft paint.
Once this is completely dry, I finish by dry-brushing progressively lighter colors in layers.
Here's the finished scene with ground cover and so on.
This scene is based on part of the western US, but I've used the same techniques to help friends who are modeling other locales. The colors change while the basic technique stays the same.
Rob Spangler
When I was in the Army, we painted all the rocks white.
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
On my previous layout, I had a lot of rockwork -too much in hindsight. But my big mistake was painting/staining them too dark. I believe the colors darkened when hitting the plaster. In any case, I urge you to go light initially. To paraphrase a great chef, you can always add (color) but you can't take away.............
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
Here are some escarpments that I painted.
I was more interested in the transfer caboose when I took the image, but you can see what the rocks look like.
Washes yes. 8 to 1 black to start. After that. 16 to 1 medium colors. Then dry brushing light colors like white or off white to finish. A little experimentation and it will look like a million bucks.
Have fun and don't sweat the small stuff
There are two common approaches to painting castings – both produce great results in the right hands:
One method – Use any type of acrylic, house paint, etc. to seal the surface of the casting and not allow paint to soak into the surface. The colors must be mixed on the surface of the rocks in layers (hopefully transparent). There isn’t any softening from the absorption of the color into the plaster.
Other method: The other is the watercolor/woodland scenic color pigment approach which is to use paint that will dry and remain soluble in water. The paint will be absorbed by the plaster and soak into the surface. This method creates color blending when the fresh paint mixes with the already applied paint to blend the colors. Water sprayed on the surface will also dissolve colors and blend them. The plaster softens these colors by absorbing the paint and creates a different texture due to the surface being unsealed…
I response to the leopard spot approach, I have used the second method with half a dozen spray bottles with different colors in them, spraying in random patterns, unevenly across the rocks and finishing up with a gray or India ink wash dribbled down the rock crevices to make the rocks pop. Woodland scenics has a small book on scenery that goes into great detail on this method as do their how to videos....
While I do agree with other posters about not getting rocks too dark, you do run into an interesting photographic challenge shooting dark locos against a light rock face. An exposure that captures the detail in the dark loco will burn out the back ground and the correct exposure on the light back ground will make the foreground loco too dark. This can be fixed with bounced lighting but it is something to consider.
Personally I use the second method. I also use a couple of spare castings to check hue and how dark a color solution will appear on rocks before applying color to the layout.
Have fun,
Guy
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
These are Bragdon foam rocks.
It's a lightweight casting foam. You can find the suggested painting instructions at www.bragdonent.com.
Basically, it starts with brushing on dry tempera paint powder and sponging it off to fill the low spots with black, thus creating shadows. The paint is applied in washes, with each wash adding to the "depth" of the color. By taking the wash application slowly, you never "over paint" anything, just keep adding until it looks right.
I suppose this would work with plaster, too.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
DSchmitt When I was in the Army, we painted all the rocks white.
I always wondered who those guys were. Nice work!
Ed
I never noticed this before until I started creating rock formations for my model railroad but rock colors can vary greatly, even within a relatively small area. Around me you see various shades of grays and tans as the primary color but streaks of black and reddish-brown in places. I've never found a commercial paint that looked just right so I began mixing my own. One thing I began doing which has worked out well was find a small rock that had the gray-tan color I thought was about right and used that as a master. I start with a white latex as a base and it usually just takes a few drops to tint it. I'll start by adding a few drops of tan and a reddish brown craft paint from Walmart which they call Nutmeg. Usually I need to add a little more tan. That gets me close to the rock I am matching but I usually need to darken it a bit so a few drops of black. It's easy to put too much black into the mix which turns it too gray so I add the black very sparingly. Eventually I end up with a shade very close to the master rock and close is good enough. I'll then add a few streaks her and there and blend them in then finish with a light wash of India ink and alcohol.
I just happens that I just made a video on this very subject. Here is a link.
https://youtu.be/DA5OwC-rrb8
Owner and superintendant of the N scale Texas Colorado & Western Railway, a protolanced representaion of the BNSF from Fort Worth, TX through Wichita Falls TX and into Colorado.
Check out the TC&WRy on at https://www.facebook.com/TCWRy
Check out my MRR How-To YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/RonsTrainsNThings
Where i m. The rocks that have been
exposed have a black to black green color Lot of mica shist in the area best color description i can come up with is silvery tan.
best i can say is get as much pics from different sources and if possible samples. Universities like pennstate ( they have the number one geology drpartment). And mit. Should able to help point you to where more info can be found. Dont forget strata and structure of rock vary reagon to reagon as well
shane
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space