Adding Rocks

Having removed the Unitrack from the layout (see previous post), I am now at liberty to make a complete mess of the layout wihtout fear of harming my track!

First up, are some stone molds from Woodland Scenics.



I added some acrylic mars black paint to the Hydrocal batter to give the rocks a pre-formed, dark grey look. Inevitably, these will chip I expect, and rather than a 'bright white' chip, the extra 'insurance' a dark grey plaster will provide is a very easy and worthwhile step!



This was my first attempt at casting and using these rock molds. My dad showed me a thing or two about these a couple of years ago with my O gauge layout, and it looked a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. And I was right! Two important tips: One, get the mix of water to plaster right! My first mold was bit too 'wet' and the casting did not turn out all that well. I learned my mistake, and the mold is still salavabeable, but lesson learned! It is worth it to measure the water and powder! Lesson 2, is that ordinary household 'Pam' (a cooking oil spray usually used for muffins and other househild baking!) is great for spraying into the mold before pouring in the wet plaster. I had no problem removing the hardened molds.



Of course, now that I've completed my rock molds, time to clean up the rubber molds and prepare to sell them on eBay!