Trains.com

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Looking for help with HO scale harbor breakwater

7383 views
21 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    September 2014
  • 7 posts
Looking for help with HO scale harbor breakwater
Posted by fredn on Saturday, September 6, 2014 9:17 AM

I've tried a number of different things but just can't seem to come up with anything that looks realistic. Any ideas would be welcome.

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: west coast
  • 7,670 posts
Posted by rrebell on Tuesday, September 9, 2014 10:54 AM

Got a pic of what you are looking for????????? Breakwaters are not all the same.

  • Member since
    August 2006
  • From: Saskatchewan
  • 2,201 posts
Posted by last mountain & eastern hogger on Tuesday, September 9, 2014 11:45 AM

fredn

I've tried a number of different things but just can't seem to come up with anything that looks realistic. Any ideas would be welcome.

 

Whistling
I don't know whether you followed Sir Madog (Ulrich)on the initial stages of his Keg Harbour layout.  Here is a small part of it which may give you a good idea as to approach yours.
Johnboy out.................sure hope Ulrich doesn't take me to court.  Lol.

Scenery on my layout means essentially the rock face along the coastline. On a small and narrow shelf layout, there isn´t much room  for anything really dramatic, so this scenic feature is the highlight of the entire layout.

I started out by filling the gaps between the two levels of the benchwork with chunks of Styrofoam, roughly shaped to the slope of the coast line. I managed to cut those ribs with a sharp knife without cutting myself!

P1070451_zps70d171b8.jpg

Next, I covered this with a thick layer of quick drying plaster, to which I added cheap black latex paint to pre-color it. Immediately after covering the foam with plaster, I gently (and I mean really gently) pressed crinkeld tin foil into it to give it a rock texture.

P1070452_zps7d66581b.jpg

Shortly before the plaster´s "official " curing time had passed, I carefully lifted off the foil, avoiding it to stick to the plaster. The result was quite pleasing.

Next was adding the tide lines, but that job isn´t yet finished.

P1070462_zpsa8e29f1e.jpg

from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North.. 

We have met the enemy,  and he is us............ (Pogo)

  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Bedford, MA, USA
  • 21,484 posts
Posted by MisterBeasley on Tuesday, September 9, 2014 12:00 PM

I'm not sure exactly what you're looking for.  I built this waterfront bulkhead with a piece of flat styrene and some styrene strips for the ribs.

It turns a corner to the carfloat terminal on the right side.

The bulkhead in the second picture is part of the carfloat apron kit by Walthers.  When the carfloat is not in port, it looks like this:

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

  • Member since
    September 2014
  • 7 posts
Posted by fredn on Tuesday, September 9, 2014 1:08 PM

Thanks for the response. I am having difficulty posting a few photos. When selecting "Insert Image", an edit screen comes up and askes for source. I have tried entering the path to the photos as well as cutting and pasting to no avail.

I'll keep trying to figure it out.

  • Member since
    September 2014
  • 7 posts
Posted by fredn on Tuesday, September 9, 2014 1:12 PM

The aluminum foil is a really unique idea. I will try playing with that.

Thanks.

  • Member since
    September 2014
  • 7 posts
Posted by fredn on Tuesday, September 9, 2014 1:16 PM

The styrene sea wall looks great. You've given me another idea!

Thanks.

  • Member since
    January 2007
  • From: Eastern Shore Virginia
  • 3,290 posts
Posted by gandydancer19 on Tuesday, September 9, 2014 1:40 PM

Welcome to the forums.  Welcome

I always thought that a breakwater was something that was at the opening of a harbor that broke up the waves coming in.  They are usually made of dumping large rocks in the water to make a low wall of sorts.

The photos I have seen in this post so far is of bulkheads.

So what does the OP (original poster) really want?

Elmer.

The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.

(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.

  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Knoxville, TN
  • 2,055 posts
Posted by farrellaa on Tuesday, September 9, 2014 2:22 PM

gandydancer19
I always thought that a breakwater was something that was at the opening of a harbor that broke up the waves coming in. They are usually made of dumping large rocks in the water to make a low wall of sorts.

Growing up in New York along the Hudson River, the local oil supply facility had an old wooden sailing ship hull (a large 3 masted ship) sunk in the shallow water about 100 feet from shore. The hull was filled with rock and it acted as a breakwater for their facility. The ship was named the 'Buccaneer' and we used to row out to it and climb around on it, some kids used the bow sprit as a diving board. It was a very unusual site and in late evening the three masts were sihlouetted against the sunset. Just a memory that I thought I would pass on.

   -Bob

Just found this article about the Buccaneer. The building in foreground is a boat club and the oil supply facility was/is to the left and out of the photo.

http://www.hastingshistorical.org/newslettercovers/90W.gif

Life is what happens while you are making other plans!

  • Member since
    August 2007
  • 2,123 posts
Posted by CNCharlie on Tuesday, September 9, 2014 3:40 PM

Kibri makes a Dockside Accessories kit that includes a stone breakwater and some dock casing plus misc. items. I used it to build a small harbour and with some painting it turned out well.

Walthers had it but I see they are out now but perhaps you can locate it in a shop. The item number is 405-38528.

CN Charlie

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: 4610 Metre's North of the Fortyninth on the left coast of Canada
  • 9,352 posts
Posted by BATMAN on Tuesday, September 9, 2014 3:54 PM

There was a very well done breakwater at a train show I attended that was made out of "Birds Eye" gravel. Glued and dullcoated and weathered with painted tide lines, it looked great.

You can probably get a 2 Kilo bag at Home Depot. Also if you go to a landscape supply and ask for their various sample packs ( they are usually free) they go a long way in our hobby.

 

Brent

"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."

  • Member since
    February 2005
  • From: Los Angeles
  • 1,619 posts
Posted by West Coast S on Tuesday, September 9, 2014 4:13 PM

The outer break water at Los Angeles harbor is simply rip-rap and was constructed in the 20's for the express purpose of providing the Navy a calm water anchorage for the Battle fleet. An aside, where would one locate accurate models of a half dozen or so tri-pod masted battle ships and cruisers to compete such a scene?

 

Dave

SP the way it was in S scale
  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: Central Vermont
  • 4,565 posts
Posted by cowman on Tuesday, September 9, 2014 4:39 PM

Welcome to the forums.

I'll go along with Elmer on this one.  The ones in the harbor where I went to HS had bunch of large bolders dumped in a long line.  To make one I have thought of two ways that might work.  First is to get some crushed rock the right size and attach them into a thick plaster or caulk layer on the base.  The other is to carve a piece of foam to an approxomate shape and cover with broken up chunks of plaster, stained to the appropriate color.

The Rutland RR crossed Lake Champlain on a causeway made by dumping large chunks of marble in the lake, then putting roadbed on top of that.  Similar idea to a breakwater.

Good luck,

Richard

  • Member since
    September 2014
  • 7 posts
Posted by fredn on Tuesday, September 9, 2014 5:18 PM

Having lived in Gloucester, Mass for a number of years, my wife and I would take an evening walk out on the Dog Bar jetty and watch sunsets during the summer. It was made of large cut blocks of granite brought in from New Hampshire.

I have tried molding blocks in ice cube trays and wooden molds to no avail.

I like your idea about embedding different size stone into plaster and will try it.

Thanks,

Fred

  • Member since
    May 2006
  • From: Brisbane, Australia
  • 784 posts
Posted by mikelhh on Tuesday, September 9, 2014 6:57 PM

If you want a rocky breakwater, for my causeway I broke rocks into smaller pieces and piled them over a pine base that was covered with air-drying clay. I pressed rocks into the clay and I spread more rocks over the top of them to hide the pudding-like look of it and to make it wider at the base. I used a roll of masking tape as a steamroller to compact the rocks.

Then I used loads of diluted PVA to secure them.

Then I painted them dark below the high tide line and lighter above.

I made the tide line as straight as I could, given that I was painting over a very uneven surface.

Mike

Modelling the UK in 00, and New England - MEC, B&M, D&H and Guilford - in H0

  • Member since
    September 2014
  • 7 posts
Posted by fredn on Tuesday, September 9, 2014 7:02 PM

Another suggestion I had received was to imbed stone into plaster. The clay seems like the way to go. I won't have to worry about plaster moving while setting up.

Also, great photos.

 

Thanks,

Fred

  • Member since
    May 2007
  • From: East Haddam, CT
  • 3,272 posts
Posted by CTValleyRR on Tuesday, September 9, 2014 7:05 PM

West Coast S

The outer break water at Los Angeles harbor is simply rip-rap and was constructed in the 20's for the express purpose of providing the Navy a calm water anchorage for the Battle fleet. An aside, where would one locate accurate models of a half dozen or so tri-pod masted battle ships and cruisers to compete such a scene?

 

Dave

 

I'm sure you're kidding, but museum quality ship models are for sale, starting around $225 and going up fast from there.  Unfortunately, most of them are 1/200 scale, slightly large for anything byt your z scale layout.  The USS Arizona would be 30" long in Z scale, and a whopping 7 feet in HO -- a real layout buster!

More to the point, I have built "authentic" New England stone walls using Woodland Scenics very fine and fine talus, locked together with matte medium.  The same effect could be achieved using the coarse and very coarse talus, or even broken rock castings.  You could even use coarse stone dust from your local landscape store.

Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford

"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford

  • Member since
    September 2013
  • 918 posts
Posted by Kyle on Tuesday, September 9, 2014 8:05 PM

Depends on location, when it was built, where they got the rocks, etc.

In Hawaii, black lava rock is used, on top would be crushed rock so you could walk, possibly drive to the end so the channel marker could be serviced (unless a buoy is used instead).  

I would advise using a foam core and covering it in gravel that is the appropriate color for the prototype.  I would then add something like powder or dust on the top to create a smooth path.  At the end I would use styrene to construct a channel marker and install a light on it.

  • Member since
    July 2002
  • From: Jersey City
  • 1,925 posts
Posted by steemtrayn on Saturday, October 11, 2014 12:07 PM

A breakwater made of concrete ships:

http://www.concreteships.org/ships/kiptopeke/

  • Member since
    February 2010
  • 384 posts
Posted by Redore on Sunday, October 19, 2014 9:26 PM

I've seen three types in passing on the Great Lakes.

 

The first is a concrete structure on cribbing, possibly with steel piling facing if built in the last 50 years.

 

http://www.uscoles.com/bikepix/dlthrogerbloughincanall.jpg

 

The second uses large placed rock to form a relatively smooth surface.  The rocks are 5 to 10 foot in each dimension.

 

http://www.uslhs.org/images/tour_photos/2008_lake_superior/035.jpg

 

http://boondogsworld.phanfare.com/4989848_5592500

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/23711298@N07/4465874576/

 

The third is random piled large rock of similar size.

 

http://daydreamslakesuperior.blogspot.com/2013/07/silver-bay-minnesota-atvs-fog-bonfire.html

 

Links only, these are not my pictures.

  • Member since
    December 2003
  • From: Quebec
  • 983 posts
Posted by Marc_Magnus on Thursday, October 30, 2014 4:07 PM

I made for my Nscale Maclau River this breakwater years ago.

Port Allen is the first part I build for the layout; at this time I didnt had many space for the layout so it was necessary to work whith congested space.

The water along the rock wall is only 3cm or a few more than an inch.

The rock wall is rock mold plaster by Woodland Scenic; at this time I had only one mold, so the whole wall is made whith this mold.

The molds cover a foam base; I was inspired at this time by an article in MR published by Jhon Olson.

They are painted whith acrilycs wash, the water is a plywood base, painted gloss enamel deep blue, whith a few gree along the wall to simulate low water, the wave are heavy body acrilyc gel brushed on the base color, when dry the whole thing is brushed whith a clear epoxy, two coats in my case.

The breakwater rockwall,

More close view of the rock wall,

Close view of the rock

 

 

  • Member since
    September 2014
  • 7 posts
Posted by fredn on Thursday, October 30, 2014 5:29 PM

Thanks for the input. I really like what you've shown.

Great looking layout!

Fred

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Users Online

There are no community member online

Search the Community

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Model Railroader Newsletter See all
Sign up for our FREE e-newsletter and get model railroad news in your inbox!