Scratchbuilding a stone structure

Helitac Dec 30, 2008

  1. Helitac

    Helitac TrainBoard Member

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    What am I getting myself into? I want it to look like it was built by a crew of folks that knew the craft, no huge rocks that would require a crane/apparatus. A pile of semi dressed stone, a guy making mortar, and folks that knew the trade getting it done. Has anyone here ever built a structure stone by stone? How? or is there a shortcut way to get the "look" without a rock by rock methodology? Also, since it's going to be a roundhouse, how big should the door openings be? (I'll scale the rest so it looks right.)The thing is I don't have my locos available to measure, so I'll just wing it trusting that everyone else knows what I've not been able to commit to memory.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 30, 2008
  2. Kenneth L. Anthony

    Kenneth L. Anthony TrainBoard Member

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    I would suggest looking at a few prototype scale drawings for roundhouses. Not that you have to build an exact replica of a specific prototype, but it would give you some good dimensions.
     
  3. Mike Sheridan

    Mike Sheridan TrainBoard Member

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    Never done it myself, but I've seen several articles on it - stone buildings and walls are quite common in the UK.
    You'll have to search for more details, but the essence of what you probably want is to cast the wall 'smooth' in a fairly soft plaster (plaster of Paris perhaps). Then carve the joints deeply with a scriber and perhaps finish by brushing the surface with a stiff/soft brush to get the final effect. Paint/wash as required.
    As ever, practice on a spare bit first :)
     
  4. Helitac

    Helitac TrainBoard Member

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    I've been wanting to recreate/pay homage to the V & T square roundhouse in Carson City NV, just can't get my brain wrapped around the how. Maybe tinted painter's caulk for mortar, and alot of patient sorting of stones. I'm still trying to work out a way of sizing the stones.
     
  5. Wolfgang Dudler

    Wolfgang Dudler Passed away August 25, 2012 TrainBoard Supporter In Memoriam

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    I know a few guys who build this with plaster / gypsum and scratch the structure.

    Wolfgang
     
  6. Big IV

    Big IV TrainBoard Member

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    quick, easy, cheap

    Try the sculpty for an easy mold and fire. Paints fairly well.
     
  7. pjb

    pjb E-Mail Bounces

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    Buildings with Stone/Brick or Molded Plaster Standins

    Regardless of the route chosen any use of vitreous
    materials takes you into another kind of experience
    if plastics/resins/wood/paper have defined your
    model making until now.

    Before embarking upon scratch building using any
    stone I would build a simple kit that uses some form
    of dental plaster, or brick/stone pieces. CC Crow, has
    several, so does Tom Yorke. Look them up or contact
    someone like Valley Model Trains, that advertizes in all
    the magazines as sellers of "Big buck Kits". Talk to them
    about which simple plaster kit. Actually these are mostly
    made of compounds of plaster and other materials.


    There are many sellers of miniature bricks and building
    stones, but few dealing with smaller scales. Most are
    1 inch scale or similar aimed at the doll house or
    war and automobile modelers. See:
    < Miniatures.com - Discount Dollhouses and More >
    They have bricks and stones in that scale, and also
    sell a large economically priced laser cut series of
    1:144 kit buildings that can be adapted to background
    (e.g. forced perspective use) as well as in smaller
    scales for related purposes. Some can be used in 'TT'
    and 'N' as is, but that's a subjective matter.
    There is also MiniBrick at:
    < Home Page >

    In 'HO' there are several UK and at least one US maker
    of such bits and pieces. Unfortunately, both because I
    can't find my notes on them, and also because the one
    I can find, was being sold off by MODEL EXPO at steeply
    discounted prices a year or so ago.
    So that bonanza of mini bricks and tiles is missed.

    However, DOMUS, which was the
    case in point, has expanded its 'HO' scale line. They
    seemed to have dropped the bridge kits which I
    had experience with.
    I built a modified stone bridge,and plundered the
    rest of several kits to build an automobile diorama
    around a Peerless limo for a son-in-law.
    In any case, here's DOMUS :
    < Domus Kits >

    You could also try a DOMUS kit, if you have doubts
    about working with small pieces of material.
    Regardless, if you are any form of model builder
    you know patience is your guidon, so I am
    not telling you anything that you don't know.

    One of the things you have to consider is that in cast-
    ing dental stone (or whatever material you would choose)
    you will first have to create a mold, complete with window
    and door openings for each wall made. These will have to
    have the fenestrations shapes, and require you make these
    shapes and then mount them upon the mold floor so that
    the walls will have the appropriate openings. By the way
    other than its cheapness, which is a minor issue since you
    are not covering an acre, plaster of paris is a poor choice
    for this work. It is soft, when set- which is cool for carving;
    but it is weak, and doesn't handle well. Another thing to
    keep in mind is that you should try to get a darkish colored
    dental stone, or color whatever material you are using with
    some brown or grey so that cracks or breaks won't be
    glaringly white, if they show up some time. Some builders
    of museum quality structures, stretch reinforcing wire across
    the mold anchoring it on the mold side frames.
    However, those are large structures, and you don't
    have to worry about this, since you are not building for
    the ages.

    Another way around this, to avoid molded walls
    and miniature stones, requires you to create a subwall
    system by cutting it out of some variety of 'gatorboard'
    or an equivalent product, or substitute.
    You proceed here as you would if you were
    building the structure to receive an overlay of molded
    plastic or paper stone sheathing.
    The paper, plastic, or metallically sheathed foamcore
    materials originally made as "Gatorboard" products
    have been duplicated by others since the patents
    have run out. Artist supply firms like DICK BLICK, or
    craft places like A.C. MOORE or MICHAELS, sell some of
    these materials cheaply. The only dealer I know that
    carries the entire array of these products is also a
    reasonably priced firm. This is HARBOR SUPPLY,
    which you should not confuse with the much newer
    seller of different type products , Harbor Freight.

    In any case, after you have laid out your walls on
    your underlainment of choice, then coat them with
    a plasterlike material that sets up as a veneer which
    you can carve your individual vitreous representations
    into. CHARLES PRODUCTS makes this for the model
    making trade. See:
    < http://www.charlesproducts.co.uk/miniatures.htm >

    If any of these URL's were put in errantly, you can
    GoogleUp yourself. Ditto for searching for other ways
    to go ( e.g.Branson makes a net like overlay of
    brick forms over which a plasticized putty material
    is laid. when sufficiently dry the open net is drawn straight
    up. This ideally works like lots of wire cutters and
    leaves behind a mass of neatly formed minibricks. Sort
    of a compound cheese cutter gimmick.)
    My best advice would be try a kit in plaster before
    embarking upon scratch building. After that you can
    investigate dental algynates and all the rest of it.
    Hoping this has been helpful,
    Good-Luck, Peter Boylan
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 3, 2009
  8. Helitac

    Helitac TrainBoard Member

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    O.K., fenestrations, I knew there must be a word for that stuff! What I want is for the corners to truly interlock so it doesn't look like a "veneer" applied to a box. I have a background as a machinist so am not afraid of the tediousness of grinding the bits to shape,I do agree with the apparent necessity of laying out and filling each wall and then working towards the corners, Kinda backwards to the way it's done in the 1 to 1 world. So be it, now to find the proper adhesive, Wouldn't hurt my feelings to end up with a smooth inner wall, I could always distress and darken it, but to make what I see in my head, I don't see a way around a somewhat tedious appraoch.Still gotta' figure out the door and window opening sizes and the "wedges" that make up the rounded parts above the fenesters(SP). but thanks to all and now I have much more to work with than I had last week. " 'Preciate It", Bobby. (EDIT Starts), I shouls add that this will be a "diorama" type project with the turntable and "squarehouse" built on a piece of serious framework so that I only do it once. It maybe moved, but it will always be one scenic element.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 4, 2009

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