New rocks

[Joepomp]

Has anyone used Alumimum fiol to cast rock face?

I think it works better then the castings I bought. Just crinkel the foil un-crinkel, not too much, shape it to fit the space. Leave the edges longer so you can fold them to make a lip.
spray with Pam, pour in the plaster and vola!

I used Plaster of Paris, which is very heavy and tends to flaten out the foil.

 

[2-8-2]

Impressive looking rocks! :thumb:

I have to admit, I never would've thought of trying aluminum foil as a rock casting. Not only is this cheap, but you won't get the "cookie cutter" look you get with store bought castings. Nice job, great idea!

 

[TrainNut]

I do this but I lay the crinkled foil flat in the bottom of a bread pan. Then I pour the hydro cal in and let it harden. As soon as I can pull it out without it breaking, I carve either rocks or bricks into the face for N scale retaining walls. It takes a little work but well worth the effect. It is kind of hard to tell as I did not take these pictures with that in mind and also the first picture was taken with a cell phone but hopefully you can get the idea. Also keep in mind that these were taken "in progress."

 

[XavierJ123]

Great job! Looks great. I am always looking for new ways to mold/make mountains and rock retaining walls. I have used homemade latex molds of real rock but am looking for a more---------------hmmmmmm-----rugged effect. When I look at John Allen's mountains I feel like a whimp. LOL He used textured paint so I am anxious to try that too. This model railroading sure is fun, ain't it? sign1

 

[EngineerKyle]

good idea!

 

[steamhead]

Hi,
I used this idea on my first layout but was trying to get a layered rock face so I folded the foil lots of times. Looked OK, but I see that crumpling it can get better results. I didn't think of using PAM either. Learn something new everyday...Good job.

Gus(LC&P).

 

[RailRon]

Crumpling aluminum foil has the advantage that you can adapt to your modeling scale. The more you crumple it, open it and crumple it again, the finer are the wrinkles and stone faces. So for N scale you just crumple it some more than for 0 scale.

IMO, crumpled foil works best for rock walls that (on the prototype) were supposedly blasted away. Here is an example I did long ago for an 0 scale layout.
(I also used it for lining the inside of rock tunels - sorry, I have no pics of that. But it looked good.)

Ron

 

[xristos]

Nice rocks!! Ill be trying this out for sure

 

[jetrock]

Just goes to show that there's nothing new under the valence lighting...the tinfoil technique dates back to the fifties at least, because it's a simple and effective trick. I wonder why Woodland Scenics doesn't try to make a buck off it, selling "Rock Modeling Foil" in WS packaging for ten bucks a roll...