Lamson bash

[deemery]

The rocks are painted black.  On the left, the paint has mostly dried.  You want absolutely -flat- black for this, and it's important to cover the entire surface.  Cheap craft paint works fine.  

As the paint dried, I saw a couple spots I'll need to touch up.  Then I'll start coloring the rocks.

dave

[ReadingBob]

Interesting.  I know you study geology so it's going to be very educational to follow your process on the scenery.

Great build/subject, by the way.

[deemery]

One of the things the geology prof I showed a picture to said, "you can work those slots between the rock faces as faults.  Maybe dig in if necessary, add more foilage, and continue strata lines with an offset." I'll try for that "offset strata" effect when I start painting the rock tomorrow.

I'm thinking various shades of brownish grey for the strata colors. 

dave

[deemery]

First day with the rocks.  The first layer is that Bridgeport Grey, which has a bit (too much) blue in it.  I apply that using the 1" nylon brush, moving from left to right.  The goal there is to get most of the rock covered, except for the shadows that remain black.  Then (while the paint is still wet), I go with the other colors, mixing them into the ice cream cup palette.  The 2" bristle brush cut down is my "stratagraphic brush".  Before the paint dries, I run that brush parallel to the strata direction (slightly sloped in the rocks behind the paint, leveling out in the other rocks to the right.)  This adds texture and grain to the rocks. 

And here's the result for today:

I'll do more colors tomorrow, once this has dried.  In particular, I'll paint some individual beds of a slightly contrasting color.  Right now this looks more granite-y than shale-y, but that should change as I add strata tomorrow.

dave

[PRR Modeler]

Excellent job on the "rocks" Dave.

[deemery]

Today I added strata.  Now each bed should be parallel and evenly spaced.  But frankly that's hard to do.  I'm using a 1/4" long bristle nylon brush, which works pretty well for this.  I brace the brush on top of my other wrist, to try to draw the brush uniformly along the rock face.  Then I'll go back and fill in where the bristles didn't lay down paint in the rock relief.   Note I'm trying to simulate faults by having patterns of strata that are offset in the gaps (showing the rock moved along the fault.)

Tomorrow, I'll go back, look at the strata and add more if necessary.  Then I'll start conventional weathering, mostly brushing downward to catch highlights.

In the meantime, I've ordered some scenery stuff (Scenic Express spring sale :-) ) and I'm pondering how to do the trees along the backdrop and over the deep cut.  If you look carefully at the background, you can see a deep cut that goes directly (perpendicular) into the backdrop.   And you'll see another valley that goes off to the right towards the other backdrop.  What I want is the effect of the track (HOn30 up to the quarry) following the path to the right.  I want to construct a 'tree tunnel' over the deep cut so from the viewing angle it doesn't look like a cut, but rather a solid mountain.  So I need to figure out how to hold the forest material over the cut, but in a way that I can still get access in case of a derailment. 

dave

[deemery]

The magic of dry-brushing!

The left side has off-white drybrushing, and shows a lot more relief. It also changes the entire tone of the rock, so it looks less dark.  

I'm using a bristle fan brush and "Tapioca" colored paint.  

I put some paint into an ice cream cup, dip the fan brush lightly into the paint, and then brush off most of the paint (onto the styrofoam in front of the rock...)  Then I lightly go over the rock from top to bottom (always in that uniform direction).   The challenge is keeping a uniform treatment across the entire rock face.  Practice helps...  Make sure the brush has very little paint on it, it's easier to add more drybrushing than to remove a blob of white.

dave

[ACL1504]

Dave,

Looks like Mother Nature has been at work on your rock strata. Well done, looks great.

Tom

[PRR Modeler]

The rocks are really coming together Dave.

[Michael Hohn]

I like the looks of your strata.  Appears more sedimentary now.

Mike

[deemery]

I set the structures in place for a test photo:

This might not be the final locations, but it's the general arrangement.  Now imagine the hills behind with 'shrubbery'.

dave

[Jerry]

Very nice Dave.  I like the placement.

Jerry

[GPdemayo]

Neat.....

[PRR Modeler]

 That placement looks great Dave.

[Zephyrus52246]

Lookin' good!   Impressive structure.

Jeff