I’ve got a small area that I’d like to make into a plaza. My preference is hexagonal cobblestones, but I’ve never seen them. I’d be happy with either a styrene sheet or a hydrocal mold. I’ve even looked at beekeeping places to see if I could find some honeycomb that I could make a mold from. I’m in HO, but I can live with hex bricks up to a half-inch or so.
Mr. B,
I don’t know of anyone who makes them, but it would be pretty easy to make them yourself. Just click and of the links on this page ( http://www.maestromosaics.com/StoneMosaics.asp ), pick your favoite and click on the links under the graphics. Copy the image and paste it onto a Word document. Keep doing that, overlapping the images to line up the stones, until you have the size you want, or a full page. Get some clear decal stock and print. Apply the decal to a sheet of styrene and place on your layout. Its a bit labor intensive, but now you have a one-of-a-kind pavement treatment.
Pcarrel Thanks for the link - I can think of a hundred uses for it. By the way, most graphic programs can be used to copy & color the patterns. Thanks again![8D]
But click on the links under the graphics and look what you find!
pcarrell -Thanks again! I booked marked the sight without exploring it - it’s great! Thanks again![8D]
I’m adding this link: http://www.bayshoreconcrete.net/images/products/pavers_hexagon.jpg so that the OP can pull the color, shading, texture etc. of a older style hexagon paver. The ones on the site that I saw seem to be the modern polished style, this one (it’s only one top down image, but could be replicated in any graphics program) could be useful for, say, pre-1990 era areas.
Hey, it couldn’t hurt…
Still, I’m looking for something that’s not flat. This is right up at the front of the layout, and I’d rather go with something with real texture.
Hmmm, maybe I’ll try a flat Hydrocal sheet, and apply the hex pattern with a home-brewed decal. That might do the trick.
MisterBeasley, maybe this is what you already have in mind but you could apply a printed cobblestone sheet over a suitable paving material, then carve out the grout lines with a hobby knife and then fill in with powder chalks or paints. That would give you the pattern you want without the flat look. It would be labor intensive to do all that fine carving but if you don’t have too large an area, it might be worth the effort.
I have been trying to decide how to do a brick or cobblestone road and I am not impressed with commercially available materials such as Walthers street system. The lines between the sections just jump out at you and aren’t very prototypical looking. Whatever method you choose, let us know how it turns out and post some pictures.
I can’t tell you how to find them, but if you are near a real good hobby shop that does wargming etc, talk to them. Some of their guys build small diorama type stuff for their games and I think I saw some texture stone sheeting for their use.
I realize that it would be great to find some readily available sheet stock that has the texture and relief your looking for, but if the areas aren’t that large you could fabricate your own stamp from brass tubing. This would be labor intensive but the results for an up close finish could be very impressive.
The brass tube could be shaped with a needle nose and fabricate some sort of handle for ease of use. Hydrcal would be the best medium to use, but something softer would make the work go faster. The end of the now hex tube can be sharpened to allow the stamp to work better.
Pressure into the plaster w/ a slight twisting/ rocking motion should allow the grout lines to show. Any surface chipping of the plaster would be desireable as to add additional texture to the finished look. If plaster is too tough for this even after wetting down, maybe joint compound or some other softer material would work.
I have carved plaster to achieve stone but never a hexagon shape. To hand carve them would be an incredible amount of work. Maybe this stamp method can help.
I’ve thought of making my own original out of modelling clay and then coating it with latex to make a mold. The stamp idea would greatly speed that process up.
We also have a gaming shop nearby. I’d never thought of looking in there for materials, but it’s right up by the Chinese grocery, and just beyond my LHS, so even if there’s nothing in the gaming shop, the trip won’t be wasted. Thanks for the suggestion.
You know, both Plastistruct and Midwest make hexagonal rod. You could set up a jig, cut a bunch of rod, glue them to a flat sheet of styrene and either use that as is, or use it as your mold. It’s a bit of work, but it’ll get the look you’re going for.
Try this page for some ideas: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/WTI0093p?&C=REA
Some metal tubing manufacturers have hex tubing, which would be a better fit for putting a bunch of them together in a honeycomb pattern and making a stamp.
Looks like the weekend will feature a trip to that other LHS, the Local Hardware Store, to see what they’ve got in stock or might be able to order.