Big time arts and crafts now. Crushed anhydrite, gypsum of various grades and colours, clay, more layers of all of these, then clay and sandstone overburden. All compressed. I call this the "shepherd's pie" approach to building and excavating a gypsum quarry. Tomorrow I'll add a few kinds of vegetation after more compression.
That's when the fun begins - carving out the quarry (at least in part) that I photographed and documented with GPS. We'll see how this all shakes out in a few days.
Duly noted Bear. :)
OldSchoolScratchbuilderBuying up bulk quantities of brass track from all manufacturers because I like the look of brass. Been cleaning brass most of the afternoon.
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Lichen getting a little lighter as it dries. Looking good so far - I'm liken it.
First batch of processed lichen out to dry as per Mike's comments on Frary's recipe. Made it dark green.
Fresh clay from Cheverie which is in the same geological Windsor Group.
Anhydrite (gypsum without the water molecules CaSO4) cleaned and dried. Anhydrite is harder than gypsum on the Mohs harness scale: 3 vs 2. Talc is 1, the softest mineral, and 10 is diamond the hardest.
Rust-coloured gypsum from the quarry, also cleaned and dried.
Gypsum [CaSO4.2H2O] from the quarry all clean and dry.
Added some Scenic Cement and will let it dry for later.
Cold iron does a nice smoothing job - not that it needs to be smooth.
Spreading lots of dirt (clean processed red sandstone). Since it will be completely buried initially, I'll know when I am close to the foam when I dig out the quarry later and hit dirt.
Travelling to one of the biggest Sunday markets in the province this morning in New Glasgow (1.5 hours away). I often find items I can use for my modelling. So, early 4:30 AM start on my workstation. The Cape Blomidon sandstone I used for my CN spec roadbed adhered well to the EPS foam with Scenic Cement. I will coat the entire foam surface this time - a thin underlayer of dirt.
I like my wife's heavy antique iron for this part.
Wow that sounds like fun Mike! Going to have to get that book! I certainly know who the author was from his many publications. Thank you!
In one of Dave Frary's books, Realistic Model Railroad Scenery, his recipe is 3/1, water and "commercial-grade (or "yellow" ) glycerin, and "1 1/2 packets green fabric dye".
I won't quote the whole paragraph, but he says to heat the solution to almost a boil. Ideal temp. is 230 degrees Fahrenheit.
Stuff in as much lichen as the pot and solution will hold, and bring it to a simmer, for 5 minutes.
Let it cool, until you can, with rubber gloved hands, remove the lichen, and squeeze out all the liquid you can, placing the material on newspaper to dry, turning it frequently.
The fabric dye color could vary, and up to you, as to the color you want.
Mike.
My You Tube
That looks great Wayne. I'll check out glycerine - it was mentioned in at least one of the articles I read.
I've used commercially available lichen for underbrush, usually with a bit of finely-ground foam dusted over it...
...but I've read about preserving your found lichen with the use of glycerine - I don't recall the strength needed, but do recall that it's available at drugstores.
Wayne
Here's a question for the forum. Has anyone got personal experience using real mosses or lichens? I'd like to know what you used and how you treated it etc. I have lots of articles from the literature but if you have a favorite piece let me know - I might not have it but will try to get it.
Several modellers from the day used lichens and mosses to make trees, shrubs and other forms of vegetation on their layouts. I gathered some Reindeer Lichen (Cladonia portentosa) from the Walton quarry to experiment with as overburden vegetation for my HO quarry. This afternoon I washed it with water, then rubbing alcohol which brought out the green colour, picked off most of the debris, and dried it with my wife's hair dryer. We'll see if it dies overnight or hopefully keeps its colour.
I now have more than 400 photos of the Walton gypsum quarry from all safe elevations (lots of signs of sink holes). I have carefully walked around every part of the quarry with my GPS and saved the track and elevation data which I will use to get the real quarry layout right.
Buying up bulk quantities of brass track from all manufacturers because I like the look of brass. Been cleaning brass most of the afternoon. Maritime Hobbies and Crafts in Halifax has access to lots of it and will be bringing more in next week. Another reason I cannot start a layout.
The CN spec roadbed (another thread) has now been trashed and in its place I will build the Walton gypsum quarry. My workstation has been prepared and all my new materials have been washed and are drying over night.
Old Fat Robert Old School: If I may interupt here for a moment. Following your thread is, to me, most interesting and it is only correct that you pay homage to the fine modelers who pre dated us. By all means, continue to resource natural materials and your very fine modeling. I enjoy it very much. That being said, it seems you are a bit sensitive to other members of the forum commenting on your techniques and style. The key word there is "commenting". I have not seen any replies that I would deem as critical of you or your models. It is a forum after all and that means members of it are allowed to express themselves just as you are free to express yourself. Keep up the good work and keep showing us your progress. Old Fat Robert
Old School: If I may interupt here for a moment. Following your thread is, to me, most interesting and it is only correct that you pay homage to the fine modelers who pre dated us. By all means, continue to resource natural materials and your very fine modeling. I enjoy it very much. That being said, it seems you are a bit sensitive to other members of the forum commenting on your techniques and style. The key word there is "commenting". I have not seen any replies that I would deem as critical of you or your models. It is a forum after all and that means members of it are allowed to express themselves just as you are free to express yourself. Keep up the good work and keep showing us your progress.
Old Fat Robert
Persistent comments that I begin my layout are unacceptable period. Any further comments of this nature will simply be ignored.
I started this hobby the way I always start a new project, by doing a thorough literature search. I spent three months acquiring about 2000 magazines, books, and other pieces of written work on railroad modelling. That collection continues to grow by the week. I read everything I had in my possession in whole or in part before I even bought my first HO scale product. Almost everything I see modellers do today, including work presented in new magazines, has been done before in one form or another - I know because I recently read it. Only the technologies and people change with time. Today's modellers stand on the shoulders of great modellers, most of whom are no longer with us.
I chose the name OldSchoolScratchbuilder out of respect for those amazing people and their accomplishments. I am following in their footsteps, learning from their publications and reliving their day with my labours. I am not going to build steam locomotives like they did, I am not going to wire impressive control panels with vacuum tubes or transistors like they did, but I am going to pay attention to every detail like they did.
If my work does not seem to fit into the mainstream hobby today, you should be aware that it did in the past and some hobbyists, like me, thrive in the history of this wonderful pastime. Dennis
JaBear, see my PM
Rich
Alton Junction
My reply, above, was an answer to your question on the lack of replies.
richhotrainI'm not sure that either one of you read my suggestion to Dennis or at least you chose to ignore it.
Almost ready to build my first attempt at a gypsum quarry. Got the entire design in my head but I need a fresh batch of real clay. It's a beautiful Saturday morning so I'll drive to Cheverie (see my geology overlays in this thread) to my source of gray clay which I marked with a GPS waypoint.
I am not the first to use real clay from natural sources in an HO scale model railroad. In my growing collection of hardcopy modelling issues (over 1030 and counting) I found this article on using clay by an expert in pottery and ceramics: "Use clay to build models," Hal Riegger, Model Railroader, Vol.40(9), September 1973, pp.61-63. For those of you who have access to the online MR Archives this article will be easy to find.
It does not appear to have occurred to you Rich, that OldSchoolscratchbuilders approach to model railroading is so novel, dare I say eccentric, that while I have nothing worthwhile to contribute, and have, probably, no need to use his techniques, I still find his approach fascinating enough to continue to have a look. I suspect I’m not the only one. Model Railroading is FUN. Cheers, the curious Bear.
It does not appear to have occurred to you Rich, that OldSchoolscratchbuilders approach to model railroading is so novel, dare I say eccentric, that while I have nothing worthwhile to contribute, and have, probably, no need to use his techniques, I still find his approach fascinating enough to continue to have a look. I suspect I’m not the only one.
Cheers, the curious Bear.
mbinsewi I feel the exact same way as Bear. I like following along, and I have added a suggestion on the mill building he's scratch building, based on my 40 years of building, and being in the construction trades, but as far as all of the science and geology, I really have nothing to add that would be of any interest, or intelligence. And I'll keep on watching.
I feel the exact same way as Bear. I like following along, and I have added a suggestion on the mill building he's scratch building, based on my 40 years of building, and being in the construction trades, but as far as all of the science and geology, I really have nothing to add that would be of any interest, or intelligence.
And I'll keep on watching.
Like both of you, I am following his threads with interest. And I am in no way telling him to stop posting or anything of the kind. I merely made a suggestion that he begin to test his techniques by starting work on his layout since he has already proven to himself, and the rest of us, that these techniques will work on his demonstrator workstations.
But, I make the suggestion and I am told that "this thread is all yours". I encourage him to have more of a dialog with us and I am referred to a 47 year old magazine article. I wasn't asking about what the layout will look like. I was simply encouraging him to start work on the layout.
But, since no one else seems interested in a dialog, I will join the rest of you, sit back, watch and learn.