Modeling Stone Blocks?

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

I’m in the process of building Walther’s Mid-State Marble. I need some ideas for modeling the inbound stone blocks.

I was thinking of either using some left over pink foam or maybe cutting the blocks from some scrap pine from my woodshop.

Any other thoughts?

Thanks,
Nick

2

There was an article a few years back and I can’t find it in the MR index, but I think they used sheet rock, moistened, cut with a fork to simulate drilll holes. Wad of plaster shaped with a fork might work too.

I’ll take another look for the article when I finish chores tonight, need to refresh my memory too as will be needing some before long (I hope).

Good luck.

3

Foam would work and take lest finishing than wood. Let us see the results because I have a quarry to build and I will have similar issues. My experience is building retaining walls and the like. Foam finishes nice with artist acrylics because it retains all the texture.

4

I finished some stone slabs gondola loads today. I made them from pink foam.

Nick

5

They look nice, but monster heavy. I dont recall the mass or weight of stone. But recall a dump truck load of stone at close to 21 ton. Where Sand will only weigh… uhh 6 to 9 ton.

One Track Mind had a supplier of Stone that looks like it was cut in both painted and unpainted form in HO scale. Maybe he remembers what and who made that product.

6

nbrodar Those blocks look great!

underworld[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

7

It looks like a lot of work but The Keystone Modeler online newsletter issue from February 2006 has a great tutorial article on making your own stone block castings, here is a link:

http://www.prrths.com/Keystone%20Modeler/Keystone_Modeler.htm

The newsletters are in PDF format. Once you get to the link at the bottom of the page for the February 2006 issue, scroll down to page 10 where the article The Landscapes of the PRR Part 5-1 PRR Stonework Masonry (part 1)
by Jack Consoli begins.

The tutorial continues into the March 2006 issue and starts on page 11.

8

I would go to my local stone mason, smile nicely, explain that I’m insane and see what marble chunks I could obtain… very fine grain. Places like this usually fall over themselves to help out. If you leave a number they’ll even call you back and tell you when they’ve come up with some interesting bits. (Make sure you explain how fine you need the grain because of scale).

you might need to take the metal weight out of any Gon you load.

Don’t forget that any stuff that desn’t fit in a car needs to be wedged/packed out with timbers… and the left-overs may sit around the yard or go back in the empty car…

If the “grain” in a piece of rock goes a certain way it may need to be loaded upright on a centre depressed car, and even run as an out-of-gauge load so that vibration in transit will not cause it to fracture. This may relate to shape and size rather than weight. If someone wants a memorial or whatever they will cough up the higher cost… epsecially if the tax payer is paying not the commisiioner…

Have fun [:P]