rocky?
paint the hill in glue, and sprinkle cat-litter upon it. color with water soluble paint, then seal with a matte varnish.
Cliff Jennings said:
Great ideas John! I’d love to try that, for sure.
For this one, since it really needs to be waterproof, I’ve already bought 10lbs of Magic Sculp. So that will be the main surface.
Beyond that, I’ll be experimenting with stuff to make it look more rocky and streaked and colored like the VC dumps might have been in the day.
Go to Home Depot and you can get paint samples mixed for the color you want. It is exterior latex (don’t go to Lowe’s - their samples are interior only) and will also provide UV protection, which is needed for the Magic Sculpt. Since the samples are cheap (under $4 for 8 ounces) you can get the colors that will match the effects you want.
Cliff, prestaining may or may not work, depending on how much the stain seals the wood. Titebond needs to penetrate the wood some in order to grip it and hold it. If the stain also has a sealing component to it, then it may effect how well the Titebond holds. If its just a dye, then there should be no problem. This is one of them try it and see situations.
Again, I sit and marvel at the idea that you are going to place that award winning model outside to get ravaged by the elements and critters.
Cliff Jennings said:
Great ideas John! I’d love to try that, for sure.
For this one, since it really needs to be waterproof, I’ve already bought 10lbs of Magic Sculp. So that will be the main surface.
Beyond that, I’ll be experimenting with stuff to make it look more rocky and streaked and colored like the VC dumps might have been in the day.
The Tite Bond III is waterproof I believe, it’s endured several monsoon storms. My real damage comes from birds pecking for gizzard rock.
You did bring home bags of tailings, no?
Some spray stain with a hand bug sprayer … some even dip it!
Those are all GREAT ideas guys, thanks very much!
Korm, we’re thinking along the same lines, but I’m going first with high density foam, chopped up in a blender. These would be pressed into the Magic Sculp while wet, or glued on like you say. The chunks are tough, and don’t soak water. The blender might explode, but we’ll see. Your varnish thought is spot on, I’ll need something like that, maybe polyurethane, to keep the chunks embedded. Warning: the prior is all just theory, and may not stand up to reality. 
Side note: Speaking of cat litter, my cat’s box is 6 feet away, and just got used. The cat is so stupid that I’m the one who has to bury the kitty turds. Otherwise the dog comes around and they become scooby snacks.
Bruce that’s awesome, I didn’t know they did that. Perfectomundo! That answers a lot of questions!
David, good to know, thanks. But it’s too late, I put it together. Well, I’ll get another shot when the stringers fall off. And thanks, yeah, don’t know how things will go. Especially after my wife gave me the “over my dead body” speech this last Sunday when I said I was going to tarp the whole thing… But thanks for saying “museum quality,” that’s very generous of you.
John: It hadn’t occurred to me, but heck yeah, I’ll bring home some waste rock (gravelly powder) in October! (Remind me then!!). And yes, TBIII is supposed to be waterproof.
Sean, I tried dipping the bents; but un-thinned, it took forever to wipe the excess stain off. Could have thinned, but I felt like getting the full-strength benefit of the product. So I went back to brushing. A sprayer would have been perfect. I actually used that technique for my concrete mountains, using water-based deck stain that I thinned it to be sprayable. Maybe I could do the same next time, or with the Behr stain (but with thinner); and apply two or three coats if needed. I wonder if that’s efficacious?
Thanks again my friends for all your valuable input!!
===>Cliffy
My favorite local mine had a smelter. Above that was the house where the breaking and crushing prepped the ore for the stamp mills. I collected buckets of surface soil where the breakers were. My mine areas get a layer of this magic dust to visually set them apart from ordinary dirts. As different minerals were mined, different tailings could decorate the mounds with layers of color. The top layer on your trestle tracks…
Can also be used to stain clothes and show where miners have been. The antimacassars on chairs and sofas can share that stain…
I’ll see your big word and raise you one… nudge nudge
Haha! Antimaca-wth?
Thanks for the back story, and yeah, I love that layered coloration. Here’s a modern shot, from the Con Virginia (I think) dump in VC. BTW, it’s the colors I’d like to pursue, not the erosion. So picture this without the gullies and rivulets, sans trees, and with sharper texture.
===>Cliffy
Back to the model, I’m trying to get to the terraining bit. So this afternoon I touched up with some stain (on the cut ends of the pre-stained stringers). Then came the big moment of commitment: planting the bents.
For better or worse, the bents are one with the hill. I’ll let it expand and cure overnight, and maybe carve tomorrow.
In the mean time, I got out my $6 Goodwill blender, and a brick of HD foam (liberated out of a trash can from a fiberglass fabricator I know). I cut a few bits into ~1/2" chunks, and this is the result.
I’m very happy with the varying size of particles; and they look like randomly cut rock. My thought is to filter out the powder, and press this stuff into the uncured Magic Sculp. Again, this is all theory… I’ve never used MS before. But at least in my happy ignorant condition, it sounds to me like it should work, haha!
Dennis Rayon, if you’re reading this, please opine…
(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
===>Cliffy
I haven’t tried it, yet, but Amazon sells Rustoleum Roll-A-Tex. I’m fairly certain that the product has nothing to do with Texans, but I think it might help achieve the look you want.
Bruce Chandler said:
I haven’t tried it, yet, but Amazon sells Rustoleum Roll-A-Tex. I’m fairly certain that the product has nothing to do with Texans, but I think it might help achieve the look you want.
HahaHA! Good one, Bruce! Worth looking into for sure, thanks!
Since the foam blending went ok, I cut up my stock into ~1/2" cubes to feed the blender. It’s actually a “smoothie” machine, but seems to work.
I did the main sawing on a mini table saw (with the shop vac hooked up for dust collection, for sure – this is messy). But when the pieces were ~.5 x .5 x 1.0, and since I wanted to keep all my fingertips, I found that a pair of (David M: Harbor Freight!) scissors snipped them in half just fine.
That’s about all the progress I can make today, thanks for viewing.
===>Cliffy
Hey, I am not against Harbour Freight, its just that their miniature chop saw isn’t very good. I have several tools that I purchased at HF.
Cliff Jennings said:
I’m very happy with the varying size of particles; and they look like randomly cut rock.
Ya’ see I was right !!!
PUT THE CRACK PIPE DOWN CLIFF!
Man, I walked right into that one, HAHAHA
Here’s the bent foam all trimmed up,
David Maynard said:
Hey, I am not against Harbour Freight, its just that their miniature chop saw isn’t very good. I have several tools that I purchased at HF.
I’m agreeing with you, David! Many great deals there.
Yet another opinion: I have the Harbor Freight Miniature chop saw. I like it. I typically use it to cut brass strips or brass tubes. I have nothing to complain about. YMMV, and probably does! (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif)
I also have the HF mini chop saw, used it to cut 480 pieces of cedar for my train barn, with a home made jig, it did fine
Jerry
My HF compound miter saw has served me well for 4 years. Great deal!
Back to the dump, I just completed the blendering and sorting of the high density foam.
All were sieved with a piece of hardware cloth. Going left to right,
1/8" mesh: mainly just powder, probably not really useful.
1/4" mesh: the main stuff I’ll use for texturing.
3/8" mesh (hard to come by; clamped together 2 offset pieces of 1/2"): ditto, but downhill more (larger rocks roll down further).
1/2" mesh: the biggest rocks I’d expect in an ore cart; maybe some would be on the hill, but probably even more downhill.
My wife gave me permission to use the family sieve, so I was just able to extract some maybe usable ~1/16" material from the powder.
Bring on the tweezers!(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)
Are you going to dip and apply or smear glue and dump on?(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
I’d be in the latter, brushing off the unglued…
Oh boy if I were Rooster’s Train of thought…(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-innocent.gif)
