Thanks Brent and thanks Wolf for the compliments. Had to redo my tunnel portals. It seems after a few days of dry time the Kilz oil-based mixed with the water based drywall compound and cracked all over the place.
Zoom in and you will see, especially the top one!
So I redid the drywall compound in just pure white, no tint this morning. It looks a little to light, I think I'm going to have to find another trick to pull out of my hat to add more color.
TF
Track fiddler I did a little 15-minute experiment this morning. A well-rounded pencil tip with a ruler and base coated. Smeared in drywall compound and then dry blotted with my index finger a darker and a lighter color. A quick hair dryer, then circular motions with my index finger and the chalking of the drywall compound blends it together. Easier and faster than what I have been doing. TF
I did a little 15-minute experiment this morning.
A well-rounded pencil tip with a ruler and base coated.
Smeared in drywall compound and then dry blotted with my index finger a darker and a lighter color.
A quick hair dryer, then circular motions with my index finger and the chalking of the drywall compound blends it together. Easier and faster than what I have been doing.
garyaClick on the pic--it should open in another window.
That works today! It didn't work the other day.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
TF, That looks awesome!
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
BigDaddy Track fiddler All I see is a crystal clear picture Mike I see what Mike sees in all the pics he has posted lately. Maybe in the eyes of PB, we are both persona non grata
Track fiddler All I see is a crystal clear picture Mike
I see what Mike sees in all the pics he has posted lately. Maybe in the eyes of PB, we are both persona non grata
Click on the pic--it should open in another window.
Gary
Track fiddlerAll I see is a crystal clear picture Mike
wolf10851 also is that clay that you are putting the lines into and then gluing the clay to the foam?
I used tile grout and/or thinset in the motor lines. I slopped on some gray paint and rubbed it in and after everything dried I brushed off the loose stuff. I do a much better job weathering with powders on foam than using washes or paint so I stick to just powders now.
Working with foam is something you can do while sitting in front of the idiot box, kinda like the way Grandma use to sit and knit. You can get a lot done just in the commercials of a hockey game, of course with the present situation there is no hockey so I am just sitting here like Forest Gump waiting for the game to start.
Thanks for the comp TF.
All I see is a crystal clear picture Mike, maybe only you as the poster see the Photobucket lable?
Computers
Thanks TF. That Photobucket mark across the picture really adds to it, don't you think? Trying to up-grade in PB is getting to be a challange.
Mike.
My You Tube
Good morning wolf
Surprised to see this buried thread on the screen again. The I-beam pictured that Brent was using is Evergreen styrene. I understand your frustration as hobby stores are closed but the internet is full of them. The last time I ordered something from eBay it took three weeks to get here instead of three days though.
I have been experimenting with foam again since I decided I don't like using a pen anymore. A pencil along a steel ruler works. A pen rolls better though and I wonder if one could take the ink cartridge out.
P.S. Further experimentation this morning I found a pencil after sharpening, honed on super fine sandpaper to create a more rounded tip works very well on foam.
A pizza roller cutter works too but mine is dull, maybe a new sharper one would work nice.
Mike, that masonry retaining wall and bridge looks great. I always did wonder how you made that. And Brent I never did compliment you on your I-beam trick. Cool, the abutment looks great.
Thanks
wolf10851 BATMAN riogrande5761 What about poured concrete portals or retaining walls? Can you do those with a pen? I don't see why not, though I do use a pen where the ink has run dry to avoid the blue. I used an I-Beam and pen to carve the pier on the right. ooh I like the I beam idea!
BATMAN riogrande5761 What about poured concrete portals or retaining walls? Can you do those with a pen? I don't see why not, though I do use a pen where the ink has run dry to avoid the blue. I used an I-Beam and pen to carve the pier on the right.
riogrande5761 What about poured concrete portals or retaining walls? Can you do those with a pen?
What about poured concrete portals or retaining walls? Can you do those with a pen?
I don't see why not, though I do use a pen where the ink has run dry to avoid the blue.
I used an I-Beam and pen to carve the pier on the right.
ooh I like the I beam idea!
wolf10851ooh I like the I beam idea!
Ditto!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Well, Photobucket is down AGAIN, so I can't show any pics of the concrete bridge, retaining wall, and other concrete structure using foam and covering with drywall mud.
No pen involved. But I get what TF is doing, like what Brent shows.
And Robert, OK, your right, soldier brick stand on end, thin side facing out, sailor course, standing on end, wide side out, and shiners, bricks layed backwards, with the "face" inward, and you generally can pick them out, on a building wall. I have some on my house.
TF is simulating cut stone, so a shiner would probably be with the smoother chisled or sawn face out. It could happen.
On a big commercial building we were building, the masons were sub contractors. There was a lone window on the upper floor, and one of the masons thought he was being creative, and layed a diamond pattern around the window.
Next day, the architect saw it, and made him remove it, like NOW. It's a good thing the guilty mason caught the laborers before they had all of the scaffolding down.
My house was built in the very early 40's, exterior walls are 4" block on the inside, 4" brick on the outside, with about an 1 1/2" space between. The interior walls and exterior walls were layed up at the same time. Like commercial masonry bearing walls are buildt.
Anyway, I digress, back to topic.
PS. Your poor folks, Photobucket is back!
Retaining wall, ramp, parapet walls, all from foam, and pieces of drywall covered in layers of drywall mud. No pen involved.
Highway bridge, carved from foam covered with thin layers of drywall mud. Joints, etc., were "tooled" in. The deck is removalable for acces to the hidden track area. The piers are pieces of 1/2" drywall, cut to shape, covered in mud.
Concrete with out an ink pen.
ROBERT PETRICKbuild an ice rink on a desert island
Not a desert Island, but I call this ice rink in the back yard....
Glass On The Greenery
riogrande5761What about poured concrete portals or retaining walls? Can you do those with a pen?
Yes.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Hey TF -
That's a nice little portal, and I admire guys who can take the McGuyver approach and build an ice rink on a desert island with nothing more than a rock, a sharp stick, and a washed-up Port-A-Potty.
I hate to be the bringer of bad news, if for no other reason than I don't want to be labeled an insufferable know-it-all or I don't want to simply be rude. But you mentioned it three times, and I feel I have to say that there are no brick sailors in your construct. Sorry. I see headers and stretchers and rowlocks; but no sailors, soldiers, or shiners.
Apologies.
Robert
LINK to SNSR Blog
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
I've watched those videos too Mike, they're amazing.
Thank you Wolf. You can do this with your mindset taking your time. That's It. There is no hurry, You got this.
Viaduct Mike you just made me realize right now reading your post.
A bandsaw is the best piece of equipment for cutting foam. 90° Square to the table for cutting viaducts or anything else.
For sure, ... Yeah, That's the way to go.
I don't have one anymore, but I do have a buddy with a bandsaw
Wow that looks amazing! I am too hypercritical of my own work to try to attempt something like that. I would never get it right then get frusterated then scrap it. Yours looks great though :)
It is amazing what you can do with foam. I got wayyyyy carried away one day looking up foam carvings. Wow is all I can say, about what some create with foam, from tiny to massive!
Not at all ... a pleasure The method does work great for viaducts Mike
Guilty of a double poster, Post Hog perhaps
It seems pretty quiet around here Time to hang up the modeling shoes and go get Judy a King Cake
She wants to share it with our Friends at Cowboys this afternoon for her day off
Catch up with you Guys later when there's more modeling time She does go back to work tomorrow No Carnival for that poor southern girl tomorro ya know
Looks great TF! I've been wondering how I was going to build a stone viaduct I need for my layout, and now I think I have an answer. Thanks!
Mike
Thanks Kevin, Thanks Mike.
And Thanks Dave, Perhaps the hearsay on a hot wire knife was a bunch of malarkey. Been meaning to try one sometime if it doesn't fumigate the house
Here's the raised sailor course portal.
Time to duplicate it and start the paint washes with the side and top slabs.
Track fiddlerI don't care what anyone else says about you,
You know something that I don't? Rumors, just vicious rumors !
Thanks TF.!
Track fiddlerIt's fun, It's cheap, and it doesn't take much time.
.
And... it looks good when it is completed. Very nice looking portal.