Nice

I like it.

Great work

Define "foam rock sheet"..... might foam board with grout lines pressed into it work as well?  Just asking because I don't think I have come across the material you are using.

John

Foam Rock Sheet

To be honest, I have no idea where my friend got it and he can't remember. It is pink 1/4" foam with a mortared rock impression glued on or burnt into the face of the foam. It is also painted. Wish I could tell you more. I'm starting to like it for foundations and want more. Going to have to get my friend hypnotized, I think.

Roy 

Re: Foam rock sheet

Thanks for replying Roy.  Well, here is another spin off from that "Buying into the hobby" article!  I plan to go shopping today and will stop by the local art supply store and get some foam board.  I am going to try to replicate it, who knows I may have a colunm to write!  With that in mind Roy, you do have the real McCoy. What would you do to replicate the facing? Would some sort of textured paint work?  Just wondering.

Thanks

John

Foam Rock Sheet

Hi John. Thanks for your interest.

To be honest, I'm not sure. The rocks are rounded, so replication would be difficult. I suspect a heated metal die was used to create the surface and then given paint washes. I supose a person could replicate something similar using a heated metal tip to make a more squared type of rock face. I think trying to make a rounded rock face would be very difficult. Of course good ventilation would be needed if one tried to do this. Imagining the smell give me the shivers. As for painting I suspect a wash suitable for mortar would work with a base rock coat over the rock faces followed by another light coat of a highlight colour. Textured paint might work. Hope this helps.

Now I have to go find that roofer and get him busy.

Roy

Very Nice

I really like the shingles Roy! Those look great. You're going to have a very nice looking and unique structure. Make sure you post the finished project!

Roofing

Found the roofer lurking behind the cabin goofing off on his laptop. He's back to work now and shakes are being installed quickly.

Yes, I'll be posting a couple of updates and the cabin in its final location, Kevin.

Roy

Foam Rock Sheet

Good news, I hope, John. After picking my friend's brain and a search of the Walther's catalogue it turns out that the foam rock sheets is made by Faller in Germany. Haven't been able to locate the stuff at Walthers or the Faller site yet. Hope this helps.

Roy

Almost finished

Well, here's the cabin in its final, final location without steps at the north end of the Camp 1 passing siding. I had originally planned to place it down by the woodshed I'd recently built, but an overzealous carpenter gave the cabin some really good eaves which would have interferred with passing locomotives and rolling stock. I haven't decided just how I want to make the steps yet, wood, plaster or carved foam. I decided to darken the logs to give them a more weathered look so I gave them a dusting of Doc O'brien's Grungy Gray. I also gave the shakes this treatment to somewhat hide the cut edges of the shakes. I avoided both the acrylic wash and India ink wash as I didn't want to soften the glue and have the whole thing come apart. The eaves are stained with a black acrylic wash, but they're still not dark enough. Waiting for the wash to dry before I go back to them.

I've built small buildings with both paper and wooden shakes now and definitely prefer the wooden shakes. Though they are somewhat out of scale, the wooden shakles, at least the way I make them, look like wooden shakes. Paper shakes might be closer to scale, but they look like paper shakes. I make the shakes from prestained veneer that I cut to about six inch lengths in various widths. Cutting the shakes is boring, but once a couple hundred in various widths are made the actual roofing goes reasonably quickly. The hardest part of shaking the roof was the ridge cap. I'm still not happy with it and may rip it off and start that part over. The cap shakes are held on with only the smallest dab of glue.

Thanks for looking.

Roy

Finished

Here's the cabin finished. I used some Linka rock castings to make the steps, worked great.