The object of my affection right now is the area in the photos below. It’s where my roundhouse, turntable, carshop etc. reside, but I need to gain a little more land behind the roundhouse. This area sits up 2 inches from the track below (see photos) and I’m thinking that a good way would be to build a curved stone wall, the kind of wall that is embossed onto plastic that I could CA onto another sheet of styrene and curve it to follow the track and the embankment, then fill in behind it level.
In the first photo I’ve use computer software to ‘color’ the bank so you can see it better.
Other areas of the embankment will be finished differently such as on the other side of the roundhouse I’m kinda filling it in to be a gully.
The last picture is a close up with a red line showing the location of the base of the 2 inch high ‘stone’ wall.
Has anyone used this type of embossed wall material and if so how do you like it? Any other ideas on how to gain ground in this area?
I haven’t used any material like that. I usually used carved foam segments set a slight angle so the retaining wall leans into the hill. I’ve found that makes it more believable.
I have used the kind of wall material that you are talking about. The brand that I used was Holgate & Renolds. It worked very well.
There is no reason why such a wall can not be curved, because when the builder would build it, each brick, stone, or block was laid individually, and thus could follow an embankment line. By the way, I found Walthers Goo to be easier to install it with than CA.
Holgate and Reynolds and Plastruct both have embossed sheet material in several sizes of “rocks”. Also look at embossed shingles or roofing to represent square cut stone.
I’ve done this with Hydrocal castings. I have a number of molds, about 6x3 inches, that I got from Dave Frary’s http://www.mrscenery.com/. Unfortunately, I don’t see the molds on his web site anymore, but he may have a few available if you contact him. They’re very high-quality molds, with lots of detail.
The extreme case is this casting for my turntable pit, using the “weathered wall” mold:
That one fits inside a 10-inch diameter circle. The final product came out like this:
This is a different mold. It’s called “cut stone wall.” The picture isn’t as obvious, but it curves away in the lower right corner. I put several sections together for this scene, where the stone wall provides a retaining wall on either side of the ramp going down into the subway tunnel.
For the curved sections, I first made up a matching template out of scrap foam. Then I tacked a piece of cardboard over the foam curve, holding it with bent paper clips. (Since the mold is 3 inches across, and the foam is only 2 inches thick, the cardboard is there to make it wider so the edges of the mold don’t droop.) I mixed up the Hydrocal and poured it into the mold, and then waited about 10-12 minutes, until the Hydrocal sets up but isn’t hard yet. At that point I placed the mold on the cardboard/template. After the Hydrocal sets, you’ll have a curved wall section that matches the curvature of the template.
For your situation, make the template concave, because you’ll want the surface to come out convex. If you were making an interior curve, like the turntable, then the template should be convex so the face of the mold w
A stone wall should definitely be angled into a hill or the earth it retains…that’s the way a solid stone wall is built, large stone at bottom to smaller stone at top, and I’ve built hundreds of them. A stone wall that doesn’t taper to the base is a stone wall designed to fall apart. And I’ve seen stone walls from Roman times that are still standing and retaining. So Jeff you’re right it doesn’t just look more believable, it’s prototypically correct.
I really like the natural look of your embankment, Jarrell, and would love to have a more direct view of it if it is showable from your standpoint. It looks so realistic…a superior touch. Do you intend to backfill, so to speak, the lower portion, next to the right of way? Maybe some tallus or something, some weeds growing out of it? I’m just very curious to see how this turns out…but the upper embankment is dead-on. Congratulations.
Jerrell; I made rubber molds from plastic walls, rocks, etc. I mix plaster or hydracal and pour into the mold. When it begins to setup lay the mold into place, working out any air bubbles. Remove the mold when dry. I’ve done this directly on foam wtihout problem. Also the molds can be used over and over. If you do endup with an air bubble(s) plant some Woodland Secnics in it.
I’m undecided which way to go with it, hydrocal, plastic, carved ‘stone’ face in foam… hmmm…
This is when I really wish I had a well stocked hobby shop less that 125 miles away. It’s difficult to tell if things will look ok from a picture on a website or in a catalog. Don’t you like to pick the item up and turn it over in your hand?
Well, this area doesnt HAVE to be completed right now. I’ll research some of the suggestion you’ve given me and go from there.
Aha! the dreaded 2 or 4 inch retaining wall, the bain to all MR’s, it’s called the wedding cake effect, as it looks like a bunch of stuff piled up like a bad wedding cake, we all try to avoid these MR downfalls. Try any other approach to handle this space problem, you will be glad you did. How often in real life have you seen these walls in existance??
Yes, I know what you mean. Perhaps someone else has photos of a prototype like this, I sure don’t. The area to be ‘extended’ is about 2 feet long and the only other option I can think of is to cut away the foam behind the building as vertical as I can. Cut other pieces to fit in the space I have freed up and cover the faces of those sections with rock. It would be pretty vertical though, but it would work… I think.
Hi Jarrell: I kinda agree with tatans on this. My thought would be to limit long stone wall sections. I’m sure there are curved stone walls in real life, but I wonder if there would be long stretches of it. I’ve tried to limit stone walls to short straight sections with either earth banks(if there is room) or simulated layered rock sections with foliage partly covering them. You may want to consider something like this: . Just my opinion.
For a prototypical effect, I have seen long curved sections with the trackabove, where large rock was used to reinforce the bank, but not built as a wall per se. Most places where the cut is made, it has appeared as just that, a cut, with the exposed rock or hillside left alone, sometimes terraced if very high, or if extremely steep shale, covered with chain link to keep the rockslides from falling.
But frankly, I do like the look of rock walls, and I’ve seen layouts where they look entirely plausible.
Jarrell, honestly, with what you are showing in your first image, I’d spray it a grayish brown, something light-earthy, and then plunk some coarse foam and shrubs, a few trees, and be done with it. Perhaps pare it back a bit at the crown so trees don’t have to stand up above it. Make it a bit more sloped, but not much. If you want some rocks showing, crinkle up some metal foil into a shallow shape, pour some plaster or hydrocal into it, and then caulk or plaster them into place, paint ‘em up, and add greenery around them. But I would forego the wall. Well…maybe a short section with piled timbers, stained with my favourite morning beverage…good ol’ creosote. [:D]
Thank you all for the suggestions on what to do. I may not have made the issue all that clear earlier, par for the course for me, but the main objective is to gain some needed level ground behind the roundhouse…
so that the back of the structure isn’t right on the edge. In the photo above the roundhouse is sitting 2 inches above the track below, so to gain the extra inch and a half of level ground it looks like a wall is my only option. I could extend the ground out, behind the house, and do a shear rock face for that distance also.
A friend of mine said to build it out and cover it with kudzoo. That covers all evils…
Okay, now I understand. I suppose if your need were acute, you could do one of two things; as you are thinking, or have a snow-shed like covering with supporting columns so that it is open and the tracks pass underneath. Sort of like an outdoor level parking lot that you might see at a relatively low mall…no high buildings, so the outdoors lot can be two stories and many cars can park above, gaining access to the second floor department stores at the mall. Do you follow?
I’m not sure how this would work for that much height, but have you thought about a timber retaining wall?
This is made with balsa wood strips. I used a Dremel to notch the stock at 8 scale foot intervals (about 7/8 inch in HO) and then stained it with India Ink.
I your case, you could use the retaining wall to build out the upper part of the bank, and then just scenic the lower part with turf. You wouldn’t have to do the entire embankment - just the parts near the corners of the buildings where you want a bit more space.
. Just my opinion.
