Happy Monday! I’ll soon have some hills / rocks built in one section of my HO layout. I will have a combination of plastercloth hillsides with both hydrocal mold-made rocks and Cripplebush rubber rocks installed. I am modeling the UP and lean towards a reddish-to-tan hillsides and rocks. I plan to use some real dirt / pebbles (talus) on the terrain for texture, before adding vegetation. I found some locally that will suffice for color, I think. I have two colors, one more brownish, one more reddish.
I’m planning to paint the plastercloth (after smoothing on a bit of Sculptamold) with a base coat of paint that will be close to the dirt I have. Can Home Depot’s color scanner read the dirt and come up with an average paint color that is close?
Since the Hydrocal rocks and rubber rocks start at a very different color (white and gray/brown, respectively) I plan to paint (versus just stain) the rocks. I tried this on my grandsons layout with hydrocal rocks and (brush painted) thinned slate gray acrylic base coat, followed by black acrylic wash, followed by dry brushing some siennas and umbers and adding a white highlight. Several questions about coloring the rocks.
if wanting the rocks a more reddish tone, should I still start with a gray base color?
is the black wash (for detail) better done with India ink than with a black acrylic paint wash?
should I consider coloring with other things than acrylics (e.g., pastels)?
Thanks for your previous overall suggestions on scenery. Any suggestions related to the finer points above will also be appreciated.
First of all, your prototype photo was taken about a half hour’s drive from where I am now, and I know that area well. The rock is conglomerate which has a rough texture.
Regardless of what the final color is to be, I’d recommend using a very dark gray or black to start, and building up color on top of that. Applying a wash afterwards may not yield the same appearance of depth.
I’d suggest acrylic for rock color, and taking the photo to a craft store to match up several shades of rust colors in a progression from dark shadow to highlight. Most craft paint lines have a range of colors that are similar to each other and of compatible shades for this purpose. Dry-brush those from dark to light in layers. If you want to use latex for the basic dirt color, match it to the craft acrylics.
If your natural dirt isn’t a perfect match to your paints (and it probably won’t be), dry brush the same paint onto the rocks and dirt to achieve a good color match.
All these rocks started off black and were dry-brushed for final color. My prototype rocks were tan-ish, but the same process works just as well for any color. All of the talus was dry brushed using the lighter rock colors from the plaster, so there was no need to match beforehand.
If you paint over it with a base coat, then it doesn’t matter, but be mindful that Sculptamold and plaster take up colors differently. This is most noticeable with stains and thin washes. Heavy pigment or sealing the surface will even things out if you combine the two.
That said, if this stuff is conglomerate, just having a coating of Sculptamold might work really well to represent it. That’s what I did on the background here on these.
The Cripplebush rocks take acrylics readily. I did not bother to prime mine, but just did my thing straight on. All the cliffs in between the front and upper back levels here are Cripplebush Rocks done that way. They’re great for liftouts, which these happen to do. This one is about 6’ long.
Ink vs acrylic black wash? I’ve found acrylics easier to deal with, except on wood. I generally spray/mist it on, so take that into consideration if you use a brush.
The Cripplebush “rubber rock” is quick base painted a very dark gray, some brownish highlights. I found rattle can spraying of the molds w/ various Krylon acylics to work best to start to get close to “my” rock/ shale (reddish/ brown) In your case you will be needing tans, reds, rust and variations of light brown. I sprayed the molds prior to placing, darker shading sprayed from “low” below and lighter coloring from above. This was only to get a close base color as the final drybrushing of highlights and shading was done after satisfied w/ the installation and blending into surrounding terrain.
I noticed that the final highlighting colors needed to be tweeked to show under the various lighting that we use (full spectrum fluorecent and hallogen) this may not affect the extreme red/ rust and tans of your scenery.
Thanks for your comments, and the photos certainly help to see what can be done.
I plan to patch between adjacent hydrocal rock casting pieces with hydrocal, to help with consistency of appearance when painted. What do you suggest to “caulk” (fill) between adjacent Cripplebush rubber rock adjacent pieces? Hydrocal, Sculptamold, other?
I used Sculptamold. Places where I wanted it to stick to the Cripplebush rocks, I just slapped it on and it sticks well. Places where I wanted it as fill, but not stuck to the CBush rocks, I placed plastic wrap between them and the Sculptamold. Here some pics that show it a little better. I use styrofoam underneath as the base/armature to apply the Sculptamold and rubber rocks to.
