stain or paint for rocks and landscape

[dgwinup]

Paints are opaque.  They cover everything in color.  Stains are transparent or semi-transparent.  They accent the base color.  You can make a stain by heavily diluting most paints.

As already suggested, you'll have to experiment to get the results you want.  Make two sample castings of the same mold.  Paint one in your base color.  Stain the second sample.  Use a wash (a stain made from thinned paint) on the first sample.  This wash should be a different color than your base color, often black.  You'll be able to tell the difference as soon as you apply the wash.

Most plaster castings take paints and stains well.  If possible, try to add a little base coat paint to your plaster mix when you are making your castings.  This pre-colors the plaster so a chip or nick on the plaster won't show up as bright white.  Once again, you may have to experiment.  Some water based paints don't mix well with plaster, often making the plaster weak and crumbly.  Pre-coloring is similar to staining as the color isn't as opaque as the paint.  You can use washes on pre-colored casting.

The experimenting can be almost as fun as the casting, painting and staining!  I mean, do we really NEED a reason to make another mess?  LOL

[twhite]

I use acrylic paint from an artists supply shop, choosing stains that best represent the particular terrain of the area that I model here in the Northern California Sierra Nevada, and vary the color between the particular elevations.   The area that I model is generally vari-colored clay--usually pretty intense hues-- with a thin layer of earth on top, and rock outcroppings are everything from decomposed granite (reddish) to hard mountain granite (gray) and basalt (gray-black).  

Generally speaking, I give my terrain a wash of oranges, yellows, reds and browns mixed together in a stain, and then go back and highlight granite or basalt rock outcroppings with a very thin wash of lamp-black, highlighting the rocks with dabs of gray and white.  

I can only reccommend this for the type of terrain I'm modeling.  The colors probably might be a little too "Technicolor" for other parts of the country.   However, the area that I'm modeling is pretty spotted with old hydraulic mining scars, so it works for me.   But I use thin washes and build them up as I need to.

Mining scars and exposed clay around Deer Creek Yard on my railroad:

 

 Granite and basalt cliffs on Yuba Pass:

Hope this helps a little.

Tom

 

[cowman]

wingman

But, what comes first?  Do I paint my mountains and hillsides first, and then add the stained (washed) outcroppings, or vice versa

The scenery video I have does the rock faces first.  If using latex paint and the earth tones get on rocks later he just washed them off with a very wet brush.  Dirt spills over rocks, so a little is not a disaster. 

It is a good idea if you haven't done it before make a casting or two to pratice on.  Make sure you stand it up like it will be on the layout, as the flow into the cracks will be different than if it were laying flat.  Also remember that it is better to use too light a wash than too dark.  You can darken much easier than lighten.  It will also be darker when wet, so let it dry between washes.

Good luck,

[Bob grech]

 I use acrylic water colors found in most art supply stores. These are thinned down with water to a 20:80 ratio, and applied by brush. My colors of choice are yellow, raw umber, burnt umber, raw sienna, burnt sienna, and lamp black. The black is used as a final wash to accentuate details in the rock work. To apply color to plaster castings, you want to stain Not paint them, or the colors will come out too harsh and unrealistic. My advice is to practice on a small area until you're satisfied with your results. Just remember to work in small areas, applying the colors in the order I've listed, while not letting the colors dry. This makes the blending much easier and more natural looking. 

The rock work in this pic was colored using this method.

 

 

[wingman]

I'm hoping I'm keeping with the spirit of this thread, but here goes.  I have made rock outcroppings from molds to add to my mountains/hillsides.  I will be using WS earth color stains to do the outcroppings as per their scenery manual.  But, what comes first?  Do I paint my mountains and hillsides first, and then add the stained (washed) outcroppings, or vice versa?  I would hate to get paint on the outcroppings, even with being careful, but maybe that isn't so bad.  But, I wondered what is the consensus on this scenery step.  I also understand that some folks don't stain the outcroppings until they are already attached to the mountains.  Just looking for expereinece to be a teacher here.

 Mark

   

[Seamonster]

  Seamonster and others I agree with you.

 I too like to use very thin acrylics washes that stain.  One thing I like to do is pre-wet the rock before washing on the colours. It helps the paint flow naturally over the contours, and it's  a good way to get some darks into the crevices. Black goes well for that. If it's properly diluted it's actually nowhere near black. I'd only use opaque coats of paint as a last resort.  Just my two cents worth

 

 Mike

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that step in the process.  I spray the rockwork with an old spray bottle (I think it used to hold some kind of hair conditioner that my wife uses) because it creates a fine mist without soaking the rockwork.

 

[mikelhh]

  Seamonster and others I agree with you.

 I too like to use very thin acrylics washes that stain.  One thing I like to do is pre-wet the rock before washing on the colours. It helps the paint flow naturally over the contours, and it's  a good way to get some darks into the crevices. Black goes well for that. If it's properly diluted it's actually nowhere near black. I'd only use opaque coats of paint as a last resort.  Just my two cents worth

 

 Mike

[dehusman]

Dunno about that. 

In the dark ages of the 1970's before latex and acrylic paint was real common we used oil and solvent based paint all the time on hydrocal and plaster because that's ALL we had.

Dave H.

[HHPATH56]

Hydrocal will accept acrylic,or Laytex paints but will not accept oil based stains.  With an ubdercoat of Latex or acrylic paint, you can then use oil based stains.  Bob Hahn

[Seamonster]

I coloured my rockwork with highly diluted acrylic craft paint from the $$ store.  It takes a few applications to get the effect I want.  I stand to be corrected but from my experience painting and staining walls and furniture, stain is considerably thinner than paint and soaks into the wood while paint coats over the surface.  So, I would conclude that highly diluted paint can be called a stain.

 

[dehusman]

I use both.

I paint my terrain with interior latex paint and then use "stains" or washes of craft paints on the rock areas. 

I can buy mismatched interior flat latex for $5-10 a gallon in a variety of earth tone colors and can tint white for grey or brown rocks.  Craft paint is often on sale for 50-75 cents a bottle. 

Dave H.

[gandydancer19]

On my last layout, I used the cream-coat craft type paints straight out of the bottle, and had good success. (Western scenery) When I was working in the Dallas area for a spell, I was working with a model railroader there that used the same cream-coat paints, but thinned down into washes. (Western scenery) They worked well also. Some of the guys at the club I am going to now use the WS stains, and they look good as well. (Eastern rock faces) I guess what I am trying to say is, if it works for you and you are getting the results you like, stick with it. Experiment? Sure, why not? But maybe do it on a specially constructed mock-up so you don't mess up your layout.

[ARTHILL]

The problem with WS besides their cost is that they need a top coat or they bleach out. I use artist acrylics in tubes and a lot of water. Sparying the surface first helps with the blending.

[jrbernier]

  I stain my rock castings with a very watered down 'stain' of Delta Creamcote acrylic paint(I get mine at Hobby Lobby).  I use 'Sandstone' and Trail Tan' for my sandstone/limestone rock castings.  They also have a 'Charcoal' that I use in place of India Ink.  The price is about a $1 for a small container of it...

Jim

[loathar]

I've got the WS stains and they work great for plaster and scenery. They are thinner and seem to have a little stronger pigment. They do NOT work for painting plastic buildings like acrylic craft paint does. (kind of transparent colors) Watered down craft paint works well too and you can't beat the price and color selection. I use the craft paint for the base colors and the WS stains for highlight colors.
Now if WS would just come out with some accurate tree trunk colors!

[selector]

A perfectly sensible question, and you should provide yourself with the answer by experiencing the use of stains.  Why not just create a stain, or purchase as necessary/inclined, and then try it with some rock molds of hydrocal and/or plaster?  Play around with acrylic paint washes and see if what you do turns out nicely.  I found, for what it is worth, that paints are too heavy for rocks.  Stains give you more natural transitions between colours.  Even heavily stratified sedimentary rock has much more subtle divisions between layers thant most paints would permit.  That's my opinion.

[Mr.F]

i assumed i was supposed to be using paints for my rocks and landscape.  (usuall thinned somewhat)  but in the store i noticed woodland scenic earth stains and i have seen some postings here that refer to "stain" instead of "paint."  am i making a mistake using paint?  i have done one good section of mountainside/bluff using paint and have been pleased.  am i missing something not using stain???