I’m thinking about using real rocks for rock out-crops on my layout. Has anyone had any experience using this scenery technique that might be able to pass on some suggestions. They arn’t going to be very big, no more than 8" long, 4" wide & 4" tall.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Gordon
I’ve seen some articals in MR where the modeler used real rock and dirt.
I can not remember what issues the articals are. Some one on the forum may know.
The only thing I would watch out for is weight, I don’t know how the real stuff compares to our normal plaster and such.
Jerry
Yes, it’s possible to use real rock, but they need to be very carefully selected and placed in order to not look too out of place and obvious. Your benchwork will need to be fairly substantial to support the extra weight, too. An 8 x 4 x 4 rock, or group of rocks, could be quite heavy, depending on the type of rock you’re using. I’ve used copper smelter slag, which is very heavy, but was in pieces that were less than one inch thick, and glued them to the backdrop along a wall. In another area that was to look like an abandoned, flooded marble quarry, I used a combination lf real marble pieces and cast rock. You can view the results at http://users.ssvecnet.com/cacole
I haven’t installed any yet, but I will be using some stone as well. My concern is nto with weight but with getting the most out of what I have: I am going to try to split my chunks into thinner “slabs” with hammer and chisel. This way, I’ll get several usable faces out of each specimen. I suspect that one could use a concrete drill bit to sink some holes along the “fault line” you wi***o create, the way real quarries do. Then, when you smash it the fracture occurs between these holes. I’m not speaking from experience yet, though.
When I have used real rock in the past, I have used much smaller pieces, which I set in amongst my plaster hand-carved rockwork. I model in N-scale, so a 2" stone is a significant rockface for me. I am of an opinion, too, that it looks better when you set multiple small pieces in amongst plaster slopes, which you cover with ground foam normally; this represents the way soil collects on the flatter surfaces and then allows vegetation to grow. Only very new (man-made) rock cuts are clean, bare stone; even out west, the desert plants will find places to grow on a cliffside.
Problems I had with real rocks were weight and matching colors and making sedimentry rock looking right when stacked. I tried painting the rocks. Painting rock? Why am I painting rocks? I started using broken ceiling tiles and painting it instead for sedimenty rock. It looks lots better, is lots faster, and lots lighter. I also now use plaster casings for the same reasons for granite. FRED
I’m thinking about using real rocks for rock out-crops on my layout. Has anyone had any experience using this scenery technique that might be able to pass on some suggestions. They arn’t going to be very big, no more than 8" long, 4" wide & 4" tall.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Gordon
I’ve seen some articals in MR where the modeler used real rock and dirt.
I can not remember what issues the articals are. Some one on the forum may know.
The only thing I would watch out for is weight, I don’t know how the real stuff compares to our normal plaster and such.
Jerry
Yes, it’s possible to use real rock, but they need to be very carefully selected and placed in order to not look too out of place and obvious. Your benchwork will need to be fairly substantial to support the extra weight, too. An 8 x 4 x 4 rock, or group of rocks, could be quite heavy, depending on the type of rock you’re using. I’ve used copper smelter slag, which is very heavy, but was in pieces that were less than one inch thick, and glued them to the backdrop along a wall. In another area that was to look like an abandoned, flooded marble quarry, I used a combination lf real marble pieces and cast rock. You can view the results at http://users.ssvecnet.com/cacole
I haven’t installed any yet, but I will be using some stone as well. My concern is nto with weight but with getting the most out of what I have: I am going to try to split my chunks into thinner “slabs” with hammer and chisel. This way, I’ll get several usable faces out of each specimen. I suspect that one could use a concrete drill bit to sink some holes along the “fault line” you wi***o create, the way real quarries do. Then, when you smash it the fracture occurs between these holes. I’m not speaking from experience yet, though.
When I have used real rock in the past, I have used much smaller pieces, which I set in amongst my plaster hand-carved rockwork. I model in N-scale, so a 2" stone is a significant rockface for me. I am of an opinion, too, that it looks better when you set multiple small pieces in amongst plaster slopes, which you cover with ground foam normally; this represents the way soil collects on the flatter surfaces and then allows vegetation to grow. Only very new (man-made) rock cuts are clean, bare stone; even out west, the desert plants will find places to grow on a cliffside.
Problems I had with real rocks were weight and matching colors and making sedimentry rock looking right when stacked. I tried painting the rocks. Painting rock? Why am I painting rocks? I started using broken ceiling tiles and painting it instead for sedimenty rock. It looks lots better, is lots faster, and lots lighter. I also now use plaster casings for the same reasons for granite. FRED