This is my first and second attempt at modeling a rock face. you can see quite a difference in the two. The first set was modeled on Wednesday. The second today. I didn’t like the seam on the first set and the color variation either. That is why I made the second set.
First try
Second try
Don
Hello Don,
Looks like a pro did it!!! Very well done indeed,I think it blends quite well with each other. Did you cast them out of plaster and then free carve the rock faces ?
Patrick
Looks very good. I hope mine comes out even close to how yours does.
The second attempt looks great, what did you use, roof tiles?
Thanks for the compliments. I used ceiling tiles. The second time I sealed it with a very thin coat of hydrocal applied with a paint brush. By sealing it, the paint didn’t absorb into the tiles. I still have to dry bru***o soften the color and bring out a little more detail. I’m also going to be adding a little vegetation to the face for a little more detail.
I was suprised how easy it was.
Great job, only one question, it seems every layout in North America has these rock faces incorporated into every layout, it almost denotes ( oh no, not another model railroad layout with those rock faces again) as they all seem to have one or more rock face scenes even if the layout depicts a scene in the middle of the bald-headed prairies, or ocean scene, mountain scene, even a forest scene. in some cases I have seen 3 or 4 layers of these rock faces.
what purpose does the rock face serve? and specifically what can be used in place of a rock face??? there must be some other geologic or man-made structure to replace this, what is it for??? myself I have never seen a railway along a sedimentary rock face common to model layouts, even in the Rockies and especially on the prairies. this is no criticism of your fine work.
Looks great! and i have seen rock faces like that near railroads all over in Kentucky, Southern Serves The South. There are rock faces like that near many major highways like 75 in Blue Ridge mountain area. In KY.
tatans: Why a rock face? Well to begin with, if you cut through a hill you will have a rock face on the sides of the track. If you cut through the edge of a hill or mountain pass…you will have a rock face. What will vary is the type of rock in different geological locations and how it looks. There are huge differences from say the Appalachians to the Rockies. What I have witnessed is that many modelers will model rock in the way they know how and not necessarily what is common to his scenic region. As long as it looks good and they are happy…who cares!
Oh, sorry Don I meant to tell you that it is looking real good. I haven’t tried the ceiling tile method, but have seen some beautiful work from it.
REX
Nice work Don. Here in New England we seem to have a large number of cuts through rock so modeling a rock face doesn’t seem too unusual. Given that we for the most part are space constrained we do seem to end up with a lot more rock faces than normal, but for many of us there is just no way to fit what we want in the space we have without these liberties. In addition, growing up along the New Havens’ shoreline I guess I’ve come to think of raised track on cut stone as the normal way to construct a railroad.
[:D]J.R.
yes the second attempt looks great.i only wished mine had come out like yours.yes its easy to work with but to make it a beleivable scene i haven’t found the technique yet.terry…
Don,
great rocks seond attempt is the best as it always is. A story about my first attempts is I use to cast a big sheet of Hydrocal in an aluminum pan. Let is set then when it was set I would flip the pan over and cut the rocks with an #11 Xacto blade then carve it out. I think I have pictures somewhere of that. Took me 10 days to lay the small blocks of hydrocal with hydrocaling them together and to the risers. Of course that was the hard version. After I was done witht hat I got wise and modeled a sheet of Hydrocal about 1/4 or so and smashed it into large pieces and carved the rocks righ onto it… On my third attempt (aka recent layout. I basically use extruded foam either uncovered of covered with plaster cloth or Scultamold. mainly I use the Scultamold and plaster cloth to smooth the seams between layers of foam. I am lucky tho I can get the extruded foam in gey most of the time so its not hard to cover… Ok that wa slonger then I wanted to be but I wanted to share my experiences.
Looks very good. I have a section that requires strata and that looks like a good method to try.
To me rock faces add depth and personality to a MR and highlights the region your depicting. The strata depicts Coal Country and Cape Breton (The Sydney section) has a lot of that.
Fergie
When breaking off the tile it is best to have pieces about 1-1/2 inches long and jaggedy and piece them together. In N-scale I would split the pieces into several thinner layers.
the tile board should look like this as you break them off otherwise the face will be too smooth
Horizontal strata is quite common but a an angle is more dramatic…
I have a what I do with ceiling tile at:
http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/more_rocks/
Thank you if you visit
Harold
Harold I wish I had saw your tutorial before I started. My rock face looked good but I did lost a little detail when I did the hydrocal wash. I tried spray sealers but they would get immediately absorbed. I got bashed on another forum because it was too straight and not enough striations showing. Looks like attempt number three is in order. I’m doing ths layout to learn, so a third attempt is no problem to me.
Tatan - I know what you are saying but the northeast (which is where I live and also modeling) is filled with these striated rock formations. I wanted the look of the rocks that I see when I’m driving along the I 287/84 corridor in NYS and yes there are rail along parts of this too.
Thank you
Don
If it doesn’t look right rip it out and try something different. Most people that bash other peoples work on forums usually have no pictures of their own work. One thing you don’t want to do is wire bru***he tiles, it removes everything. Enough experimentation produces different results.
My third rockface using ceiling tiles
Click image to enlarge
Just a thought
Harold