Hi again fellow railroaders…Here’s another question: I’m scratchbuilding my own prairie station, and I’d like to finish the structure with a ‘stucco’ look, as this was a common practice in the stations our family lived in as I grew up. (My Dad was the Operator in one station). I’m building it in HO-scale, and I have various thicknesses of Evergreen styrene sheets. How can I duplicate that ‘muddied’ stucco look? Please help. Thanks all.
use stucco? use a fine paint brush to apply it?
spray can texture stuff??
There are at least two kinds of stucco finishes that I know of. There is textured and plain.
The plain, which was used mostly in the East was probably just a sprayed or painted on finish coat over the scratch coat. It looks like a coat of course sand. This is easily replicated with a medium grit sandpaper.
In the West textured stucco is more common. A finished coat was troweled on after the scratch coat to povide a smooth base. The texture was either troweled, or wet applied. That means that the final coat was a sloppy mortar (or special stucco mix) that was applied by quickly rubbing the trowel on the surface coat and allowing what ever “stuck” to be the texture achieved. It aint easy.
I am not a mason but I have done a fair amount of concrete block masony with a stucco finish around my Scottsdale home to match the exisiting construction. Once you get the gang of it, it goes pretty quickly. Most masons who do stucco textuing have their own “hand” that produces their own version that is hard to duplicate by others.
I have no idea as to how that type of finish could be modeled so I use the sandpaper method.
How about some drywall joint compound and working it with a course sponge to lift it? Press and lift?
It’s just a thought, and I’d certainly practise on a scrap piece first!
I saw an article where someone used plaster or dry wall mud and a brush to get that coarse stucco look. They mixed in the paint color they wanted. You would need to rough up the styrene or prime it to make sure the plaster sticks.(haven’t tried it myself)
I recently did a stucco building , I cast the wall myself in resin from molds I mad from a Santa Fe freight house by Walthers. But to get that finish I stippled with a small stiff brush with clear epoxy. Stipple careful and keep the raised areas small. Painted it with Model Master Desert Sand paint. Just to add , yes I primered it before painting.
Hit the local craft store. Some “poster boards” have textured surfaces that could replicate stucco. Just my[2c]