Building Mountains
- Thread starter granddad gnome
- Start date
granddad gnome
Registered
Now not feeling to well today I just went round the layout with camera and note book and pencil. Book and pencil was to make notes so as future planning can commence. The camera so I can show you the canvas I have to work with. So I will show you the layout as is, and the available space that can be expanded into if I every have the strength, will and of course the money.
granddad gnome
Registered
Now some more
granddad gnome
Registered
This is the start of a helix that began over a year ago, as can be seen by all the weeds.
granddad gnome
Registered
Image 3 above shows the length of garden that can be used. and image 4/5 shows the area that can be used at the rear of the bungalow
granddad gnome
Registered
Image 3 above shows the length of garden that can be used. and image 4/5 shows the area that can be used at the rear of the bungalow
trammayo
Interested in vintage commercial vehicle, trams, t
A lot of hard work there Peter with some excellent results. I like the sculpted look of your efforts - I use a brush to work the mortar to achieve something similar. The hessian sounds a good idea. I wonder if there is a synthertic equivalent? Thankyou for posting this thread - I'm gleaning plenty of information
I have been messing about with Concrete Mountains and Hills since around 1988/89 when I first discovered the method as used by the guys in the Florida Railway Society. In particular I got to know Bob Kelly well, he of garden Texture Buildings fame. The secret that I have found over the years is to get a good thick mix onto the mountains, then it does not matter if any sheeting rots as you have a good thick layer on the mesh. Also important is to have as good a stable foundation of wood as you can, too much flexibility and the cement can crack. We had a large section of Mountain drop in to a Swiss Sea for just this reason. The rebuilt bit has cracked a bit but not fallen into the Sea yet! The other thing that we do is to mix in some external quality PVA, Wicks do big drums of the stuff for a reasonable price, this strengthens the mix but I think helps a bit with flexibility. Our mix of choice is:-
2 parts sharp sand
2 parts building sand
1 prat cement
a couple of mugs of PVA
1/4 cup of Wicks Black Cement Dye
a sprays worth of washing up liquid, don't use the wife's best fairy liquid, get a bottle of the cheep stuff for your own use
Water to taste.
Get this to a nice pliable mixture, the sort of stuff that you would use to lay bricks with. Not too sloppy and trowel on with a putty knife. You can add strata as you go, a large brush with water and a spray bottle also help. If you mix too much, you can water it down to get it to last but try to mix around a Wicks Builders Buckets worth at a time.
Finally to get a good start on your material and to repair cracks holes etc, we now use Wicks posting Cement. This can be sprinkled dry to wet sheets and will go off in an hour or so to give you a good hard base to work on. For repairs just dampen a sheet of material and sprinkle the post crete on in good doses, it does work and set very hard but is a bit expensive for the whole job of a full large mountain. You can colour this with a slop of the Wicks Black Concrete Dye.
For Brown colour use 'Sulphate of Iron' from a Garden Centre. This is used to feed Azelias etc and is good stuff giving you a nice brown effect. I put this on by spraying the mountain with water then applying dry from an old Flour Sifter. It will go green as it gets wet then a nice Brown later. Use with care and caution, the warning on the packet tells about staining paths. You have been warned.
Good luck with your montains, some of my other posts have mentioned my techiiques and have a few pictures of my efforts. Look at the Ruschbahn on here and on the net.
http://ftp.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic.php?f=115&t=94179 < Link To http://ftp.uktrainsim.com....php?f=115&t=94179
The first picture on this link shows the large mountains and the height involved, those mountains are some 14 feet above ground level at the back of he lake.
JonD
2 parts sharp sand
2 parts building sand
1 prat cement
a couple of mugs of PVA
1/4 cup of Wicks Black Cement Dye
a sprays worth of washing up liquid, don't use the wife's best fairy liquid, get a bottle of the cheep stuff for your own use
Water to taste.
Get this to a nice pliable mixture, the sort of stuff that you would use to lay bricks with. Not too sloppy and trowel on with a putty knife. You can add strata as you go, a large brush with water and a spray bottle also help. If you mix too much, you can water it down to get it to last but try to mix around a Wicks Builders Buckets worth at a time.
Finally to get a good start on your material and to repair cracks holes etc, we now use Wicks posting Cement. This can be sprinkled dry to wet sheets and will go off in an hour or so to give you a good hard base to work on. For repairs just dampen a sheet of material and sprinkle the post crete on in good doses, it does work and set very hard but is a bit expensive for the whole job of a full large mountain. You can colour this with a slop of the Wicks Black Concrete Dye.
For Brown colour use 'Sulphate of Iron' from a Garden Centre. This is used to feed Azelias etc and is good stuff giving you a nice brown effect. I put this on by spraying the mountain with water then applying dry from an old Flour Sifter. It will go green as it gets wet then a nice Brown later. Use with care and caution, the warning on the packet tells about staining paths. You have been warned.
Good luck with your montains, some of my other posts have mentioned my techiiques and have a few pictures of my efforts. Look at the Ruschbahn on here and on the net.
http://ftp.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic.php?f=115&t=94179 < Link To http://ftp.uktrainsim.com....php?f=115&t=94179
The first picture on this link shows the large mountains and the height involved, those mountains are some 14 feet above ground level at the back of he lake.
JonD
tramcar trev
all manner of mechanical apparatus...
Wow, leaves me speachless......
The Devonian
Registered
Anyone wishing to avoid much work and looking for large hills (or small mountains) might consider an inverted plastic garden pond shell. For UK outline modelers it might resemble the Malverns. Mel will know he has spent a lot of time up there on one escapade or another. 
The Devonian said:Anyone wishing to avoid much work and looking for large hills (or small mountains) might consider an inverted plastic garden pond shell. For UK outline modelers it might resemble the Malverns. Mel will know he has spent a lot of time up there on one escapade or another.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RS4AKwxy50&playnext=1&list=PL047B07D45BDE762F
tramcar trev
all manner of mechanical apparatus...
Just had a talk with a chap who makes miniature landscapes and he swears by this dry premixed render which is flexible, weatherproof and tintable with oxides. He dosen't use hessian but makes an initial coating over bird mesh (12mm) with a fairly "dry" mix that sticks to the mesh without falling through, then builds up detial with wetter mix.....
http://www.bpsaust.com/render 1 all purpose render.html < Link To http://www.bpsaust.com/re...0purpose%20render.html
I'm sure there are variants of this available world wide
http://www.bpsaust.com/render 1 all purpose render.html < Link To http://www.bpsaust.com/re...0purpose%20render.html
I'm sure there are variants of this available world wide
Granitechops
Narrow Gauge 1/12th scale on 45mm</br>Quarrying &
Just a thought, were the sheets you used natural fibre?
Maybe nylon or terylene etc might last almost indefinately
I buried some old clothing that had got damp & mouldy after a leak spoiled it all
thinking it would rot down & improve the soil!!
15 years later on digging in that area some had indeed rotted but some looked like it had just been buried the day previously!!!!!
Good to see you active.
I am getting to the stage where I am glad I did what I could in the garden when I still had the strength
Ok I can still run trains & do some model making , but I am glad I dont have any infastructure that is a wortk in progress
Keep the pictures coming
Maybe nylon or terylene etc might last almost indefinately
I buried some old clothing that had got damp & mouldy after a leak spoiled it all
thinking it would rot down & improve the soil!!
15 years later on digging in that area some had indeed rotted but some looked like it had just been buried the day previously!!!!!
Good to see you active.
I am getting to the stage where I am glad I did what I could in the garden when I still had the strength
Ok I can still run trains & do some model making , but I am glad I dont have any infastructure that is a wortk in progress
Keep the pictures coming
Granite, yes on the face of it it is a good idea. However we find that non natural material does not soak up the cement as natural ones do. Kind of like the proverbial sticking to a Witney Blanket as the saying goes. Hoping not to hijack this forum I thought that a few pics of my mini mountains may not go amiss and the work that I have just been doing to them.
Repair work to the mountains before any colour has been added.
Now I have wetted down the mountains and am applying the Sulphate of Iron using my OLD trusty flour sieve
Here is my Sieve and the Sulphate of Iron to show what I am talking about.
After a fairly short time you can see it all going Rusty, I think that i may have put a bit much on here.
Then I wetted it all down again.
Today I have just tipped some gone off milk on the work, then I painted some Dark Peat with a tiny db of PVA, some water and washing up liquid on the lot. As you can see it has toned down the rusty looking colour somewhat and once the algee or moss gets into the peat and sour milk the colours will be toned down even more. I have left some of the repair work u touched by the peat to show just how rusty this stuff can make mountains. It works on LGB Track too!
Repair work to the mountains before any colour has been added.
Now I have wetted down the mountains and am applying the Sulphate of Iron using my OLD trusty flour sieve
Here is my Sieve and the Sulphate of Iron to show what I am talking about.
After a fairly short time you can see it all going Rusty, I think that i may have put a bit much on here.
Then I wetted it all down again.
Today I have just tipped some gone off milk on the work, then I painted some Dark Peat with a tiny db of PVA, some water and washing up liquid on the lot. As you can see it has toned down the rusty looking colour somewhat and once the algee or moss gets into the peat and sour milk the colours will be toned down even more. I have left some of the repair work u touched by the peat to show just how rusty this stuff can make mountains. It works on LGB Track too!
The goo has dried off now so I thought that another pic just taken might be appreciated to show how the goo toned down the rust somewhat. If I had some Black Concrete Dye I would use some of that as well.
JonD
JonD
granddad gnome
Registered
I think the results are great, the finished look is very effective. My own approach to achieving the Southern Colorado Red Rock look was I think a little easier. I used Creosote, this was applied with the dry brush method so as not to make really dark wet patches. (brush dipped in and then rubbed on a piece of old rag to get most of it of) I found the creosote soaked in as well as stainedthe concrete, I then followed this straight away with and covering of Red Oxide paint. Results as following photos.
granddad gnome
Registered
I have now managed to get some track laid, and trains running.
