A Small Stone Wall

The Problem

I have previously published an article on building this Concrete Box - the purpose of which was to help hide the joint between two of my On30 modules. I have since decided that the days of them being modules has ended and now they form my layout. While I still like my little concrete box I was looking at it and realized that I hadn't got around to coloring and scenicing the joint. That pile of rock resting against the box served its purpose, again, to help hide the joint between the modules. Now though, taking a good look at the pile I’m noticing the slope is too steep. What to do? 

My solution was to put in a retaining wall.

The following isn't so much a  “How to Do It” as much as a "Follow me while I try not to mess up too badly".

Excavation

I used my pocket knife to knock off the top of the rubble and flatten the area behind. Once the retaining wall is in place I will blend the base into the rubble.

The Material

I grabbed a piece of blue styrofoam. This is the stuff that you can find at a Home Depot or Lowes and is used to insulate homes. Model railroaders use blue styrofoam build their layouts. I just sliced a piece until it was the perfect size for my retaining wall.

Blocking

I used a X-Acto knife and scribed in the blocks by eye. I then took some Golden Gel Medium with fine Pumice in it and patted the surface of the wall with my finger to add texture. You can't see it because it dries clear.

Black Rit Dye

Yep. Rit. Like you find in the Supermarket. Mixed with water makes for a great stain. You don't want to use this say on wood ties since the salts in the product will rust metal in time. For this type of project it works great. You can just see the texture.

Stain & Scribe

I dried that first coat in the microwave. I went back over the joints with a scribe and then stained the rock carvings a second time with the Black Rit Dye.

Tan Rit Die

Next I added two coats of Tan Rit Dye and once again dried in the microwave. One thing to note, putting the wall in the microwave dried the stain quickly. The steaming from the crevices wrinkled the edges of the blocks just a bit. Not a lot and in fact I like the way it looks. It is something to be aware of so experiment.

Highlights

Remember, we are replicating outdoor lighting which is much brighter then what we have in our rooms. To do this we cheat by using dark stains for shadows and then light colors for where the Sun highlights the objects. Here, I used a craft store acrylic Sandstone and dry-brushed those highlights onto the stone.

.. and Blend it together

A little rubble and much better .. (yeah .. I know. The white glue hasn't completly dried yet. I was in a hurry to take the pic, ok! :)

Conclusion

So this is yet another way to replicate stone in miniature. Have fun and experiment. Give it a try and let us know what you come up with. It's cheap,  quick and easy.

If I were to do this again, what would I do differently?

First, I would try sealing the foam after scribing in the bricks with some Kilz water based primer. I could get a lighter gray. Not that there is anything wrong with the darker gray rock but I would like to try something different.

Finally, I would not use a microwave. Using the microwave to quick-dry the stains worked to a point. I mentioned that the water setteled in the crevices, boiled off and warped the edges of the blocks slightly. I also said that this looked ok. It does as it gives the impression that the edges of the blocks are nice and squared off (the effect is that the faces are slightly dished). In fact, I'm thinking of using a emery board and very slightly rounding the edges of the blocks.