a) I noted the use of Flexrock foam rock casting used along the side of raised cookie cutter track curves on the currrently featured NR Virginian layout. I see the Mountains in Minutes / ISLE Labs products in the Walthers Reference book. I will have about 16’ of similar raised ramps / sections on my layout and wonder how others like this product. I see the “flexrock” comes in 12"x12" castings, so I which would be handy in 2" to 4" strips I would need. I’ve used a Woodland Scenic mold with Hydrocal on my grandson’s layout to cast individual rocks to glue in place but would not want to use only that method for the extent I have to deal with. I’d likely use both if practical.
b) I plan to build 2 bridge abutments and an intermediate bridge pier for a combo of a CV truss bridge and connected girder bridge. I lean toward cutting these with wood, or perhaps trying to build from styrene as one reader showed in another thread. The questions will be how to finish these, which might influence what base material I use. If I wanted a stone finish, would the Chooch stick on products work well, or is it too hard to get the corners to work out right? If going for a simpler concrete look, how would I “finish” the cut wood blocks to get this look? Other options?
I haven’t used the flexible rock castings, but I do urge caution in planning for how to scenic ramp-type areas on a layout. Edging these with rock is overdone and often looks fake (as in why exactly is there a convenient area of bedrock where that track needed to go). If the “ramp” is logically going to be man-made in its entirety, finishing it as an earthen fill is a sensible option if you have the space, or use a retaining wall otherwise. Restrict use of the rock to locations where there would logically be rock under the track. MR’s Virginian layout suffers from a bit of this, but is at least trying to represent a cut on teh lower track to somewhat justify the rock beneath the higher one.
Not trying to be discouraging, just offering a bit of food for thought.
I like styrene for concrete abutments and piers, but have used wood also. Coating wood with spackle or water putty and sanding smooth works.&nbs
For your second question, I have seen some very nice piers made from estruded foam insulation (pink or blue). If you cut it with a hot knife and paint with a testured paint it would look like concrete. For a stone look, use a black ball point pen to scribe the lines into the foam, paint the stones the color for your area.
I have some staging tracks located under a branch line with the main line on a lower level in front of both. There was very little clearance, yet I needed some kind of liftout to provide access to the staging tracks. I considered Sculptamold over a styrofoam armature, but this would have been rather heavy or I would have had to break it up into a number of smaller pieces.
Then I read a review of Rubber Rocks in MR. Sounded good, so I sent off for a couple of items. Once they arrived, I realized they were just the thing. Thin, flexible, paintable, etc. So the entire 8 foot long area is covered by just two liftouts.
In this pic the liftout is the dark grey area separating the higher are on the left from the lower area on the right. The joint between the two pieces is at the lower left, but hard to see. In the far distance at the top right is another liftout I made from Rubber Rocks. Near the station on the top level you can see the slight gap between the liftout and the subroadbed. I’ll eventually use some scenic material to hide it, but it actually blends in rather well unl;ess you make a point of looking for it.
This lower angle shot shows the mine, with liftouts made of Rubber Rocks on both sides.
Yep, slightly hokey and incredible scenery, but it works and lets me squeeze in some things that otherwise wouldn’t fit. Best of all, all the liftouts are lights. I did use a small amount of Sculptamold around the edges of the Rubber Rocks, as this reinforces this lip and helps blend
