old stone fence

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I have a spot on my layout, were I would like to build an old rundown stone fence.

but I have no ideal, how to build one. anyone with any ideals, how I could do it ? it Ho scale.

Thanks

Ron

2

If you could find a picture of a real fence you would like to imitate, post it here for us to see, and then tell us your scale, I’m sure you could get lots of good suggestions.

In the alternative, why not go outside and find some stones to scale (pebbles, crushed rock, whatever) and build a fence with them and use glue and tile grout to hold them together?

3

I’ve been using “cut and filed” linoleum floor tiles to make foundations, retaining walls and bridge abutments. They work fine but are very labour intensive. I suspect they would work.

4

Are you refering to to boundry marker/ property line as found throughout New England? When land was cleared, mainly for farming all those “potatoes/ rocks” were piled along the owners property line. I have seen these even miles from nowhere in the woods, marking county divisions.

5

I have several “rock wall” molds. They are about 3 inches high, and range from 4 to 8 inches across. For a low rock wall, I make a Hydrocal casting and then cut strips two or three “rocks” high from the casting. The front of this stone arch bridge, then under construction, is a tunnel portal casting, but on the other side of the road there’s a short section cut from a rock wall casting.

I used a Rustoleum light brown “speckled texture” spray paint to get the color on these. Then I went over it with an India Ink wash to highlight the cracks and lines.

6

Beautiful line, Bob…brings back memories of Robert Frost and Cat Stevens all at once!

7

Google images is your friend - type in Old Stone Fence or Stone Fence as search terms and a wealth of images will be made available.

There is of course a big difference between cut stone with flat tops and sides, but rough fronts – such as you would see in a stone arch bridge – and random stones. here is Wisconsin we see old stone fences made from flat pieces of limestone but we also see fences made from rounded stones, almost boulders. You’ll see all of these and more in Google Images.

And on warm summer days it is not uncommon to see a nice snake sunning him (or her) self on a stone fence.

Dave Nelson

8

  1. Stack small stones with glue to make a “real” rock fence.

  2. Carve the fence out of Styrofoam and paint.

I have tried both and they work and though tedius, they are a nice break from laying track.

9

IN the Northeast, stone walls (not fences) were built from stone the farmers dug out of their fields, and kept appearing as the frost pushed more stone up from the depths (in Maine, the frost goes down 4 feet or more). Typically the stones were left by the ice age glacier over 10,000 years ago. As the glacier advanced, it tumbled and ground the stones into rounded or oblong shapes. The stones with sharp edges are ones that fractured under the pressure. Typically, they are hard stones like granite, softer stone, like sandstone or limestone, would have been ground away to powder in a short time.

Geologically, these stones are called glacial erratics, and some have been moved hundereds of miles from their source by the glacier. Glacial erratics come in all sizes, from fist size up to bigger than a 2 story house. There is one next to my house that is about the size of a golf cart. Old stone walls were built from stone that a farmer could move with one or 2 people, hand tools, and maybe drag behind a horse. Anything larger than maybe a 1/4 ton would have to be left in place back in the day. Most stone walls were built from stone that would be 12" to 15" long, and weighing up to a few hundred pounds.

For modeling in HO scale, small gravel screened to about 1/16" to 1/8" diameter would be about right in size. This scales out to about 5-1/2 inches to just under 11 inches in size. Lay a trail of white glue, and add a layer of “stones” 3 or 4 stones wide. Let it dry, and add 2 or 3 more layers. Probably the stone wall should not exceed 3 to 4 scale feet high. Remember the farmer and his son would be lifting the stones by hand, and waist high would be about as high as practial.

10

I bought some many years ago from a civil war gamer manufacture , they are soft metal castings but I don’t recall the manufacturer

11

Chooch Enterprises makes a flexible stone wall in several different styles and scales that could possibly be weathered to give the appearance you are looking for.

http://www.choochenterprises.com/

Scenic Express, Walthers, and other hobby dealers sell them.

http://www.scenicexpress.com

12

Itis amazing some of the work those folks did with stones from the field. There are many beautiful, straight sided, flat topped walls builf from ranom rocks from the field. Though there were folks that specialized in wall building, but most were done by the folks that took the stone out of the field. I’ve taken stone out ot the field, but my only wall building was errosion control along a stream, using stream bed stones, sitll there over 20 years later. There is one beautiful, square section of wall left on one side of my farm. Could almoat take a straight edge to the sides of it. It is made from rather small, flat stones prevelent in that part of the farm. On the other side of the farm is the remains of a less fancy wall built with much more random stone, but still very effective at keeping cattle in as long as it is high enough. Even a wall that is not too fancy will keep the cows in if it is fairly high and wide, they don’t like to walk on the piled up stone. Ones built for sheep had to be quite straight sided.

I have thught about using a square cut piece of foam insulation and scribing it to look like stone. (Have seen some very nice bridge piers done that way.) My other thought was to pour a square of plaster and scribe that. Haven’t looked at the SE walls. If they are flexible it might be the way to go, as walls go up and down hills and follow curves in the terrain.

Have fun,

Richard

13

Musket Miniatures makes stone walls in HO. I don’t have any, but have been satisfied with other things I’ve bought from them.

http://www.musketminiatures.com/

inch

14

The stone fence was from Musket minatures , these are flexable and very nice .