Rockface cement blocks


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BMK

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Rockface cement blocks
We are building a 1900 style building and need some veracity “rockface” cement blocks.
The blocks were produced by mixing Portland cement, water, sand, and gravel aggregate; placing the mixture in the machine and tamping it down to eliminate voids; and pulling a lever to release the block from the machine. Newly made blocks were stacked until the concrete cured, typically for one month. Blocks were made with a variety of face textures and even color, with “rockface” block being one of the most popular styles.

Attached are pictures of the material. Efforts to find it so far have been unsuccessful.
We are looking for sheet material that has a block that is 8 x 16 inches in HO scale for a model railroad.

Thank you
Brian Krupicka - USA
 
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What scale are you using?
What is exactly your problem? Are you unable to find a material to work with or is it the surface look the problem?
 
we want sheet material that has a block that is 8 x 16 inches in HO scale for a model railroad.
 
Cosidering what I have seen from your attached document and taking into account the dimesions of the pieces, I would suggest DEPRON or SELITAC as a possible solution to fix your problem.
It is sold as sheets from 0,6 mm up to 6 mm thick. Basically it is an insulation material and can be scared even with a toothpick.
A friend of mine used it to model cobblestones with the brush tin piece that you get when the bristles are removed.
Of course this material could do fine, maybe the next thing to solve is how to get accurate squared edges to simulate individual mold-made blocks instead of the rounded ones he got.
see:
http://trainscape.blogspot.com.es/2010/11/empedrado-con-selitac.html
http://www.depron.co.uk/
http://www.selit.com/en/industry/products/selitac.html
I hope it will help
 
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Human ingenuity is truly endless!

There was an article in Model Railroader 7 or 8 years ago(??) by Mike Tylick, where he modeled a gas station in Chester, Massachusetts, which was built with these molded blocks. The reason I remember the location is that I occasionally visit Chester and I instantly recognized his model. But that must have overshadowed the rest of the article in my mind, because I can't remember how he got the effect of the blocks. So I'm not being very much help, sorry.

Cement blocks made to look like stone were popular as a building material in the 20s and 30s--back then, concrete wasn't entirely accepted as a building material and so it was disguised as stone. Sometimes the block faces were all aligned, and the effect would be like wallpaper because they're all identical. Sometimes they'd be alternated, and sometimes they'd just be put up randomly. But would they actually be all identical or would there be a certain number of patterns? I don't know that.
 
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