realistic rock walls

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

has any one ever used or heard of Stonewall (Plastocard) for making realistic looking rock walls[:)]
Or if not what is the preffered method for making realistic looking rock walls .
I’m working off of plywood I also have some rock molds from woodland scenic[:)]

2

Are you talking about rock out croppings or walls for a stucture?

3

I would imagine rock outcroppings seeing as I’m doing structures
I have to make some rock walls for a gorge in this wood dropdown

heres a kinda top view

heres alook from the other end

this is where the river wll exit out of

4

I use have found ceiling tiles to be very versatile for making rockfaces:

I cover this rockface on the second page of my “more rocks” web article

http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/more_rocks/page2.html

Thank you if you visit
Harold

5

Thanks Harold
LOL yep I’ve been up down and in and out of your great site and I’m thinking real seriuosly about using your tile technique
boy we sure get around LOL
Lynn

6

I find all the forums interesting each has a different flavor. Thanks for visiting the website.

I have also found industrial cork sheeting, gasket material, should make for an interesting rockfacing. I have not had a chance or a place to try it on the layout.

I have a web article at:

http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/thin_rocks/

The cork is from McMaster-Carr and comes in a variety of thicknesses. That is 3/32 and 1/16.

Thank you if you visit
Harold

7

I’m actually looking into trying to dig up some suspended ceiling tile would you believe i replaced abunch last yr and threw out all the old tiles will ordinary ceiling tiles work as well. Have you ever used a mixture of both the ceiling tiles and woodland scenic molds on a rock face ?[:)]

8

I’ve used ceiling tile with sucess, and WS molds with sucess. It should be a easy to used them together, providing the castings are completely set before mixing them with the tiles (overly wet tiles turn to mush).

You could also try carving styrofoam. Running a wire bush across some broken foam chunks produces a fairly good sedimentary rock.

Nick Brodar.

9

I took some heavy duty Aluminum foil and pressed it against tree bark. If formed a mold and I used it for a rock face:

10

thats a real good idea is that the rock face it produced what did you pour in foil for plaster
Lynn

11

Thanks.

I used plaster of Paris. It can be done one of two ways:

  1. You can pour the plaster into the mold, let dry, and then affix onto your layout. I did this in the picture you saw.

  2. You can spread a thick coat of plaster on the area of your layout and press the foil onto it. I’ve done this too, but it requires careful timing as you only have a few minutes to work with. It’s great for those oddly shaped areas that would be hard to fit a pre-formed mold into. Here’s a picture of this method (backdrop is digital BTW):

I also created the mold differently by simply crumpling up the foil and then carefully un-crumpling it. Both tree bark and crumple methods seem to work pretty well.

12

does look great