It surprises me how much rock this little layout's needed. Back in the summer I collected up a big bag of rocks and thought they'd be plenty, but it turns out after sorting through for the right colours, and breaking up a lot of them for smaller shards, I'm not left with much. I had enough for detailing the layout with smaller pieces in strategic locations, but I don't have much left over. Note to self: for future layouts with this sort of terrain, more rock than seems reasonable is needed, and focus on collecting up pea-sized and smaller rocky debris.
As well as rocks, I've sprinkled on a sifted sand and brown flocking mix for some dirt ground cover. It's held in place with a thin smear of white glue applied to the terrain. Once dry, a number of places were overlayed with a sprinkling of fine rock and dirt that accumulated in the bottom of my rock box. That layer was stuck down with a 50/50 mix of matte medium and water. I think it's those random dregs from the rock box that make the scenes pop.
I've had enough of rocks for awhile, and I think the layout's ready for vegetation and trees.
I just noticed the large culvert emerging from beneath the road. How did I miss that? And can we have a close-up of that area? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteNo problemo. I'll go take a picture. Stay tuned.
Deleteit all looks very grand. have thought of casting rocks?
ReplyDeleteThanks! Back in the '70s I gave rock casting a try ( https://30squaresofontario.blogspot.com/2021/11/time-travel-with-polaroids.html ) and the results seemed ok. Back then I was casting large rock formations, and on this layout the outcroppings are smaller and have found that foam carving, supplemented with applications of CelluClay seem to work ok. I might try castings again if I was builing something with large rock outcroppings.
DeleteI do remember seeing molds for boulders somewhere? I haven't tried foam carving, but this technique seems pretty promising. I also make use of my leftover bits of plaster. See: https://site-of-curiosities.blogspot.com/2015/09/create-rocks-from-leftover-bits-of.html
ReplyDeleteHappy modeling! (It keeps me out of trouble)
Thanks for the link! I'll check it out. Now that it's winter, it's not like I can get out and pick up more rocks if I need some, so being able to make some would be helpful.
DeleteDuring the winter, about the only rocks I see form time-to-time are small rocks of rock salt.
DeleteMe too :-)
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