I just finished building the Walther’s “Midstate Marble Products” kit. To finish detailing the kit, I’d like to have some blocks/slabs of rock laying around the area. I’m looking for ideas on how to create the blocks and slabs of rock as well as some ideas about what the dimensions should be. Some of them would represent stone coming in from the quarry via rail, while others would be finished or semi-finished pieces.
You ideas and help is appreciated.
I don’t know about size, but I would make up a quick-and-cheap mold out of styrene or cardboard and cast a bunch of them with Hydrocal or Plaster of Paris. Think of building a small ice-cube tray and filling it to the thickness of the slabs you want with casting plaster. Alternately, you could just make one large sheet, and then use a score-and-snap technique to break it up into blocks. This will have the advantage of producing rough edges for your unfinished pieces. For the finished pieces, I recommend sanding screen to smooth the edges. It won’t clog with plaster dust like sandpaper will.
When you remove the completed slabs, clean them up a bit and then chip them with a cheap screwdriver or dental pick to get the rough, unfinished pieces. I would leave the unfinished pieces rough, but use a clear satin overspray on the finished blocks to give a more polished gleam to the way they reflect light.
Wouldn’t Plaster of Paris look too washed out white? I know Durham Water putty (which I have used for roads in the past) is tan-beige.
What if he mixed in some light greyish pigments (water soluble) into the casting mix, maybe a bit of darker brown? Then Dry brush the edges, maybe w/ a little rust/red? Try it and see if that helps get the color you see or want.
BTW, when you do an image search on Rock Slabs (yep, just that), you’ll see that for modern era shipping much of the slabs are cut to fit on standard wooden pallets, so you can’t go too wrong with that.
Perhaps this may help inspire: “HOW IT"S MADE: GRANITE”
That’s true about the color - either Hydrocal or PofP will be very white. A drop of India Ink in the mix would turn it a bit gray, or a drop of brown ink would give it a more creamy or tan color.
I guess I was thinking that the blocks would be painted after they set, but putting the color into the mix would be easier and would give a better look.
Forget the plaster and hydrocal. Just use some old suspended ceiling tiles and break them into rock slab size pieces. The side that is usually not seen in the ceiling would be the cut side of slab. The edges can be left rough as uncut or cut with a razor blade knife for a more finished look. I use ceiling tiles on my layout for anywhere I want sedimentary rock layers. Just stack them us as high as you need them and stick together with glue or caulking. Paint as you would any other rock formations on your layout.
Lots of marble and granite moving around this state.
Some marble can be very white, straight plaster would not be out of color. Other locations it can have green or pink tints. There is even black marble, but it doesn’t come from around here, that I know of. Most of the stone that is moved to the sheds for processing is quite free of discoloration, but there are occasional stains. If you Google (not my favorite place) Rutland Railroad, you should find some photos of marble blocks being moved by rail, they did a lot of it in their day.
Granite around here tends to be varying shades of light gray. An interesting little rr moved the granite from the hills to the sheds in Barre and Montpelier.
Blocks roll up the road near me full width of a tractor trailer truck (boo) and up to the same in height. Often when they are blasted free they do not come out exactly square, some are as much as two to three feet thicker at one end. In the yard of the sheds where they cut the stone into shapes. there are often stacks of slabs cut to the thickness of most headstones, as well as other thicknesses. These are quite smooth on the sawed sides and just the rough edges that were the original blocks. Then there are smaller and smaller pieces as they are processed closer and closer to the finished product. There are photos of special projects of a single piece of granite riding on several rail cars, because it was so long. A lot of special care to move those.
To model the blocks I plan to use pink/blue foam cut to size. Then I think I will paint them with a textured paint. (May have to undercoat with a latex, test to see if your paint eats foam or not.) A hot knife should easily cut the foam into pieces. Could also use a knife to cut the pieces and or rough up the edges a bit. The only other feature you might want to add is on some pieces, drill holes. I figure the kn
Another way to make rock slabs is to break cieling tiles into the size you want. The broken tiles will give you a rock like surface. Asemble and paint them the color of your choice.
Bob
I think eagle scout beat you to that tip a few posts back.
That said, I never found the ceiling tile rock to be all that great, at least in terms of scenery - I tried it several decades ago (I guess I saw it in Model Railroader, as it was before the Internet took off), and it just looked too “fiberous” and not “sedimentary rock” enough - in other words, it didn’t look so hot (perhaps it was the type of ceiling tile I was using, patterned left overs. I ended up just plastering the “rock face” to give it a more reasonable “rock” texture.
And having said that, the ceiling tile as layout rock scenery concept is described on ehow of all places (yes, ehow.com still exists in a fashion). A bit surprising, at least to me…