I don't think it woulod be a

I don't think it woulod be a problem to 'wrap' the embankment around the front of the abutment. Not all abutments went strait down into the water they were crossing.

If this bothers you or is otherwise unfeasible cut the beveled edge off the abutment and add some wing walls.

Cheers,

Charlie

Thanks. I actually have a

Thanks. I actually have a similar abutment without the tapered ends.. but I don't have any wing walls and havent had much luck finding something appropriate for N. I did see one product on scenic express that might be right.. and I could always try carving my own.. I will keep it in mind.

None of my reference photos show the causeway exceeding the size of the abutment.. likely to prevent erosion as the water flows through the gap.

Chris

I have made my own abutments

I have made my own abutments and walls using sheet styrene painted a concrete color and weathered. But if you want a cut stone abutment that doesn't help much. Was the abutment you were showing a Chooch? Both Chooch and WS offer a number of pieces along these lines.

Another way to do it would be to make some forms and cast a plaster wall blank, then after pulling it from the mold use xacto knives and dental picks (or what ever) to carve stone block edges. Use a straight edge to guide the horizontal joints if you want em to be straight.

Regards,

Charlie

Chooch

The one I have is chooch. I bought a number of Chooch pieces a while back and am making molds of them to reuse.

The latter method, making my own forms, is one I am leaning toward now.

Chris

good work Chris

Looks great, What are you going to cover your webbing with?

Thanks!

Thanks Chuck!

I am going to do this initially per Joe Fugate's scenery DVD and cover it with masking tape followed by earth color paint. When I saw this on his video it really seemed a logical way to handle that aspect of building the scenic form, and as it happens I have an almost limitless supply of wide masking tape.

After that I am going to experiment with a slightly modifed version of Joe's mix of plaster and vermiculite but instead of portland cement will use Dave Frary's idea of using paint tints to color the mix in event of a chip. I will be doing a small section to experiment to make sure it works as I expect... but I am hopeful!

The "shelf" in the first image to the right of the ROW in the cut was put there to accept a rock casting. I think castings are the way to go in there.. I have a spot near the outside of that ridge to practice rock carving more conveniently.

Chris

hard shell

Chris,

Looks good. 

As an alternative to the stiff cardboard, I've used wadded up newspaper to get the approximate shape (doesn't have to be wadded tight), then taken wet sheets of newspaper and draped them over the wads.  I find I can do a lot of forming that way.  let it dry:  you can move it some more.  After the shell (tape, or in my case, the old method of paper towel strips dipped in runny plaster) is set up and painted and plastered, you can pull out the paper wads and re-use somewhere else.  I would not advise leaving the wads there because of the fire hazard.

Thanks for the suggestion..

Thanks for the suggestion.. I have actually completed somewhat more at this point. I have completed applying plaster to the tape shell and am in the process of applying texture. I will be posting a new scenery blog entry shortly after the image uploading is re-enabled.

I like the idea of using wet newspapers in areas where the tape and cardboard is problematic. I am not a fan of the "paper towels and soupy plaster" method for the plaster shell, but alternatives to cardboard in some spots for the basic form are clearly needed. I did actually do something like that in a corner where I couldnt really get the strips where I covered some wadded newspaper with tape to get the form.

Chris