carving sedimentary rocks

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

can anyone tell me how to carve sedimentary rocks from hardend from spacel compound[?]

2

I would hesitate to even try it with that material, but you could try scribing it with an old file or any thing old and reasonably sharp to get the strata. But, have you looked at stacks of ceiling tile. I don’t have much luck with the search function above, but several people have done that.

3

Bass,

here are a couple of threads that involve ceiling tile rock faces, scan through the threads as there is some good info and links buried in there. Specifically check out Harolds (hminky) site, I seem to remember he has step by step instructions in there, but there are also some other good tips within the threads. Its very easy to do and the results can vary immensly depending on the methods and time you invest in the project.

http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?page=1&TOPIC_ID=41557

http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?page=1&TOPIC_ID=42875

Other uses

http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?page=1&TOPIC_ID=44605

Have fun & be safe,
Karl.

4

The web article Karl mentioned about ceiling tile rock is at:

http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/more_rocks/

Thank you if you visit
Harold

5

can any one tell me where i can buy some of that ceiling tile

6

Any hardware or building supply house. Get the cheapest. It will take some practice, but Harold’s site is a great tutorial. I tried just a little and it was good. I then got side tracked. With a soft plaster an xacto knife and lots of scraping does OK.

7

A hint to carving, scribing plaster is to wet with a spray bottle. For the heavily ragged, chipped look just scrape/ gouge when dry, harder to do but with experimenting you will find the right tool and technique that suits you. Joint compound and spackle is not the best choice of material for this. Plaster of paris, veneering plaster or hydrocal produces the best results.
Bob K.