You are getting warm though.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
BigDaddy You need to read the sticky on posting photos as none of your links worked. I didn't write the rules, but you can't cheat on the rules.
You need to read the sticky on posting photos as none of your links worked.
I didn't write the rules, but you can't cheat on the rules.
Now I gotta figure out how to keep them from rotating :)
Thanks,
s~
On YouTube at It's My Railroad
BATMAN Andy, foam rock doesn't need practice as random is good. After you get the basic rock colour down just fly at it with some dry brushing. One thing about painting, you can just add more if you don't like something. The more numbers/variety of colours the better it will look. Don't be fussy, it is not paint by numbers. After I had the paint done, I sprayed some different washes over them as well.
Andy, foam rock doesn't need practice as random is good. After you get the basic rock colour down just fly at it with some dry brushing. One thing about painting, you can just add more if you don't like something.
The more numbers/variety of colours the better it will look. Don't be fussy, it is not paint by numbers.
After I had the paint done, I sprayed some different washes over them as well.
I agree with Batman. I had never done this before and just decided to take a flyer at it.
Then, I used a razor knife, steak knife, and exacto knife to round edges and cut deep grooves. Then I covered it with sculptamold, used a dremel to get a few more smaller cracks/fissers, then I painted black in the shadows, light gray in the highlights and medium gray as the base. Final step was to dry brush on some brown.
Hope this helps...
I followed this method https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ_PF27nA4s
which was pretty simple and worked not not too bad for my first "real" layout. Nothing professional mind you, but I liked the simplicity of it. I tried different knives but ended up using 25mm and 18mm boxcutting blades. In retrospect I should have started the heavy cutting with a 25mm blade and finished the finer work with a much thinner 9mm blade for the curves and details. One mistake I made was that I didn't spend enough time eliminating the tool marks that weren't that obvious when carving, but became obvious after painting.
Painting took some experimentation because of course foam is not porous and does not absorb pigment which is what makes painting hydrocal cast rock so easy and foolproof. What I ended up doing is to paint the entire rock face with a slightly thinned gray acrylic flat latex paint to cover all the nooks and crannys and let it dry. Then I simply followed the standard "leopard wash" technique using ochre, then brown followed by a full overwash of black. All I used were watered down dollar store latex paints -- nothing fancy here.
The results are what I would call "good enough" for a first layout. I would definitely use this technique again, but would spend more time developing my carving skills.
I think my problem is that they look like the grand canyon with big steps and should be painted in that rusty red colour,i will post another video of my progress and let us know what you think.
Hi
I don't have any great insite on rock carving, but it can't all look alike.
I started with a medium grey and added the highlites.
Some will have a lot of vegation in the cracks.
Some will have soft material wash out from under the hard stuff.
In the Rocky mountains there are a lot of outcroppings that are tilted and in rows.
Just some more ideas.
Cheers
Lee
Thanks for that they do look great very detailed and good colouring.Im strugling with the colour but i have gone with a grey basecoat and i intend on using a black wash but im worried it will ruin the work i have done so far.
Merry Christmas.
So, below is a shot of the former "cliffs" of Provo, Ut. above the steel mill that was on the Texas Western Model Railroad Club's old layout. Almost two feet of stacked 2" pink foam, about 8' long and only about 2-1/2" thick at the top. On the right side you can see where the lighter colored scenery from the opposite side of the foam wraps around. (The opposite side represented high sandstone bluffs like found in the 4 Corners area of the southwest. It was carved in the same manner, with like tools.)
The Provo cliffs were carved mostly with small blade to wide blade screwdrivers, a dinner fork that had the tines spread out, a wood rasp, and a fine bristled small steel brush.
The idea here was to replicate the limestone formations making up the Wasatch Mountains east of Provo and SLC. These limestones tend to be blocky and massive, but do have thin partings of shales and some sandstones in them. I carved the blocky parts of the limestones mostly with the screwdriver because it will rip out chunks of foam and leave a "rock like" surface, roughed out the sandstone layers and shale layers with the dinner fork because I wanted to represent distinct thin, and finished the shale layers with the fine bristle steel brush because it gave the very finely layered look typical of shale formations.
The area off to the left, behind the building, represents a major fault and break in formations, with an "iron formation" intrusion.
The vertical "cracking" or "faulting" was again carved with screwdrivers, depending on how wide the fault was to be.
A custom mixed grey latex paint wash was used as a base coat, then the formations were defined with darker greys up to "not quite" blacks. Certain places were intended to "weep" moisture, so those got a little matte medium to give a "wet" appearance. Bushes, grass, and weeds were thrown on as appropriate from various types of ground foam.
As BATMAN said, it's easy, and proved to be fun.
CRZ
COO, TWMRC
twmrc.org
I suppose you *could* make rocks out of foam. I prefer to go out to the back yard and find my own rocks.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Just looked through your photos Mike wouldnt work before for some reason but anyway your scenery is making me jealous some of you guys on here must have spent years on your layouts i take my hat of to you.
I dont see anything wrong with those bridge portals is there somthing im missing.Is it really necessary to paint the rocks first with coats of white and if so what is the purpose for it,i would of thought you could just base coat the rocks in light grey then diluted black and then dry brush the faces and white highlite the tops. Looking at the bridge portals again the only problem i see is the black lines where the mortar would be is a bit thick and dark.
You can see what I mean here. I worked so hard on these (edit) tunnel portals. It was a shame my paint was too thick and I lost my detail. I will still use them but they could have been better with paint washes that were thin and diluted preserving detail.
My paint was too thick. I hope you can see what I'm relaying. I Hope you see what I'm getting at here.
Track Fiddler
PS Paint can take you or break you
No bites I'll tell you anyway. You start by painting your foam white. 8 parts water 1 part cheap white hobby paint from Walmart. Dry it with a hair dryer and do it again for an equivalent of two base coats of diluted white 8 to1. Take the same cheap black hobby paint from Walmart. Dilute 16 to 1 with water. Coat The Rock and dry with the hair dryer. The Pigmant will soak in and dry highlighting the cracks and fine detail. Take your dominant Rock color mix 12 to 1. Dry brush your brush and use the side of the brush to coat the high points of the rock your brush touches. After that dries with the hair dryer Take your lightest color and do the same.
Wallah! Track Fiddler
PS. The trick is watered down washes so you don't lose your detail. Take notes in what you do. This I learned the hard way. Especially color washing foam bridge portals. Do them at the same time. The next day you won't remember what you did. They won't match and it turns into a nightmare.
Hi Mike sorry for not answering sooner.Not really anywhere in specific just so long as they look like cliff faces really.Your right about google images it has given me some good ideas.At present my rock faces are about 18 inch tall and it really is taking for ever.The problem im having is where to stop the rock faces should i just taper them down to nothing or do ijust stop the face at the same height.
very good well done so far my rock face is about 7ft long standing at about 10" only another 16ft to go
I have to tell you I love making rocks out of foam. Every one you make is always different.
I'm the kind of guy that likes to sit at my work bench and do something crafty at night. I rarely watch TV. Some nights I'm tired from work and don't want to work on something intricate, tedious or anything that takes a lot of thought. It is those nights I make rocks out of foam and paint them. I have two shopping bags full of them.
My brother who is also a Model Railroader makes his rocks out of plaster in molds. I sent him pictures of my foam rocks and he didn't believe that they were not made from plaster molds. So I had to send him the same picture with one inverted so he could see they were pink foam. Here are some pictures of four of them I grabbed out of the top of the bag.
I'm now thinking of simplifying things on my layout process doing shells. Then just adding the rocks I make where I want rocks.
Happy modeling Track Fiddler
PS Through trial and error, what I have found, it's all in the diluted paint technique that brings out the detail in foam rocks. I'd be more then willing to share if anyone's interested in that technique
Thanks Mike and everyone else for your comments.I have spent another 10 hrs on the rocks seen in the video and they are looking very realistic and i am happy with the results but not finished on those yet would like to put some hairline cracks in the face to resemble slabs of loose rock.p.s love the realism and colours of your rock faces Brent & Mel
Sounds great Andy, you'll never know until you try it. Anxious to see the results.
Mike.
My You Tube
Decided to go with a light grey base coat followed by the diluted black wash.I will then highlite the faces of the rocks with another shade of grey and finally finish with the white,does that sound like a plan.
Andy110675Do you think a dark grey base will work then dry brush over the faces of the rock with light grey and finally highlight with white.
That will work, but I wouldn't go too dark on the first coat of grey. I do recommend using two or three shades of grey. If you have the three colours open all at the same time you can blend the colours when they are still wet to make the changes in rock colour more subtle. Using an India Ink wash, or a wash of heavily diluted black paint after the primary colours have dried will further add to the depth. The wash will accumulate in the crevices which is where you want the dark lines. If the base colour is too dark the wash effect will not work as well. Be careful with dry brushing the white on the high points. It shouldn't stand out.
Remember, the nice thing about paint is that if you don't like it, just paint over it and start again.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Do you think a dark grey base will work then dry brush over the faces of the rock with light grey and finally highlight with white.
Andy110675i think one colour all over is abit bland
Most rocks are pretty much the same colour throughout, but it's the shadows and highlights that really give you a sense of depth and texture. Things like an India Ink wash will darken the crevices, and dry brushing the high spots with a wee bit of white will give your rock much more depth even if you do use just one colour.
Thanks for the comments,I am unsure as to what colour to do them but they do resemble the teracotta rock faces found in the states but i think one colour all over is abit bland what do you think.
Making rocks in foam is fun. I did that on the layout and plan on doing it again. As other said, finding rock colors and formations of the region you plan on modeling is critical. Once done with research, then get the cheap paint.
Don't be afraid to repeat rock colors or formations at different parts of the layout. Heck, you can even change the angle of the rocks slightly so no one notices the differences.
I think your off to a great start! Once you start painting and highlighting, your cliffs will "pop" with realizm.
Even after you start the coloring process, if something doesn't look right, or too uniform, or too repetive, start hacking away some more.
Is there any specific area your modeling? or just looking for rock cliffs? The reason I ask, there are lots of Google images, under rock cliffs, that would fit well with the layered structure of the foam sheets.
Lookin good!
Well i have made a start on my rocks and so far so good but its taking me hours to complete a short distance but i am enjoying it.Here is a quick vid but in all honesty the camera doesnt do it much justice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K8kLH_tkH0&feature=youtu.be
I've used both the carved foam and rock molds from Woodland Scenics methods with plaster of Paris. I actually prefer the rock molds. I have different molds and even break up some of the larger ones so it doesn't look like they're all from the same mold. Turning them upside down or at angles works, too. I also use the Apple Barrel acrylics from Walmart.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."