Dioramas

ModelRailroadForums.com is a free Model Railroad Discussion Forum and photo gallery. We cover all scales and sizes of model railroads. Online since 2002, it's one of the oldest and largest model railroad forums on the web. Whether you're a master model railroader or just getting started, you'll find something of interest here.


Frustrated

I've had no luck finding more of these rocks that are grey. I went to various places that sell gravel, but nothing like these rocks. I got some gravel that looked greyish, but after washing them they came out with too many colours just now looking terrible like oversized gravel.

Here's a shot of the gravel before washed and after. I think I'm going to start all over again.

Perhaps those modelling riprap just paint the rocks?
 
Those rock you collected do not look bad. The color could vary on the prototype depending on where they obtained the rock for the rip rap.
You could use some washes of paint to alter the color and you will need to darken the rocks that are submersed during high tide.
 


Has anyone tried using the gravel/rocks that are used in fish tanks? Figure if you can they have those massive bags that should go a long way.
 
Has anyone tried using the gravel/rocks that are used in fish tanks? Figure if you can they have those massive bags that should go a long way.

I got a bag and they cost about 3 to 4 dollars. Here's a sample.

I wonder is the method we model railroaders use for gluing ballast works on larger rocks or does one have to glue each of them individually together.
 
Those rock you collected do not look bad. The color could vary on the prototype depending on where they obtained the rock for the rip rap.
You could use some washes of paint to alter the color and you will need to darken the rocks that are submersed during high tide.

It seems washes of paint is the way to go. Still wish I could find more rocks like I had earlier like these. I like them because of the neutral colour. I don't think they are granite.
 
Well I found some more rocks and after going outdoors and checking out riprap, I decided to start gluing some rocks in place and ran out of rocks. Will have to go out again to beat the pavement. I noticed that the smaller the boulders, the tighter and snugger the look is. I want to have the bigger boulder look, which has bigger gaps, so I went with this look instead of the look on the previous post.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
i couldn't wait to get more rocks so I took some of the big ones and smashed them up into smaller ones with a hammer.

Riprap is done. Now I have to figure a way to make the shore.
 
It's a good thing I started with a hollow board for the diorama; it's getting a little heavy with all those rocks.

Also notice the dip in the track in the middle. I'm wondering if I can get away with this being prototypical. If not, it shouldn't be a problem to fix. I could put wedges under it before I scenic it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The rocks are looking good.

The dip in the track could be prototypical on branch lines or lines that do not need to have high speed traffic. The dip doesn't look severe enough to cause derailment issues so I would leave it alone.
 


The rocks are looking good.

The dip in the track could be prototypical on branch lines or lines that do not need to have high speed traffic. The dip doesn't look severe enough to cause derailment issues so I would leave it alone.

I was watching an old video of 1950's footage of the area I'm modelling and the narrator stated that the branch lines were not maintained well and derailments were not uncommon so I'll leave it as it is.

I'm glad you find the rocks looking good. It was kind of meditative gluing them in individually.

Thanks.
 
I laid some gravel. Like the look, but when seeing up close after it being washed, I don't like the colour. I think I can wash them with a dirt-like colour and some dirt on top. I don't have any dirt from the region that I model so I'm going to have to mix the colour myself.
 
Now I remember why those two scenes look familiar .I downloaded that movie and watched it a couple of weeks ago.

Are you going to have a speeder with Buster Keaton sitting on it? That would be priceless.
 
Now I remember why those two scenes look familiar .I downloaded that movie and watched it a couple of weeks ago.

Are you going to have a speeder with Buster Keaton sitting on it? That would be priceless.

That's a great idea. Got to find a speeder and a Preiser figure that resembles Buster.
 
Looking better and better. I like the coloring of the dust and dirt you added to the side of the track.

Thanks. Got a little too much dust stuck on top of some of the protruding rocks, but managed to get rid of most of it by lightly brushing it off with a small stiff bristled brush. Now I'm going to mix up a wash of acrylic to seal it.
I'm thinking of mixing up a diluted colour of the colour of the dirt of the area I'm modelling. It is clayish as you can see in the last two photos - the first is wet dirt and the second dry. I just have to mix up some of my acrylics to get that colour and then dilute/thin it with water.
 
Last edited by a moderator:


As for the grey riprap on my diorama. I'm going to try to get it to look the colour of this riprap in this photo. I'm wondering if I can achieve this with chalk dust. I'll experiment on some left over rocks and show the results later.
 




Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a commision from some of the links and ads shown on this website (Learn More Here)

Back
Top