"Building Stone Walls in 15mm: Do You Have A Favorite Method?" Topic

Hello, everyone:

I'd like to build a lot of stone walls ( the kind you find bordering fields and meadows) for my 15mm ACW and ECW terrain. Do any of you have a favorite method that's relatively quick and easy to do and looks good? Just about anything I've thought of ends up being tedious (building them from small stones or bits of baked Sculpey, etc.), but there must be an easier way. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

Patrick

I would recommend getting some of the Hirst Moulds and casting your own. The moulds are between $20 USD-30 each, but if you plan on making lots of walls and buildings they will repay the cost many times over. Casting with them is easy and fast too. Plus they look excellent when finished.

And before anyone says that they are designed for 25/28mm, there are smaller blocks in the mould very scaled for 15mm, but even the larger blocks are pretty well suitable.

The Fieldstone moulds are probably your best bet:

hirstarts.com

Scott.

Patrick,

Line the table with some newspaper. Get some sealing caulk, preferably clear acrylic. Make several thin lines of caulk across the newspaper. Pour on kitty litter (the odorless, non absorbenant type), or alternatively, ballast from your local model railroad shop.

Push down gently, then sort of pinch along the sides of the caulk/ballast rows to give the wall some height. Let it set for awhile (perhaps an hour or so). Then the caulk strips can be removed from the newspaper (this sometimes is not all that easy, but the paper can be picked off if need be).

For variation, you can then apply thin washes of grays and earth tones.

I followed this method for 15mm ACW. I made many yards of walls that were both flexible and held up well under the pressures of battle. Fast, easy and looks effective. The neatest part was that the walls could go over hills and could be cut to desired length.

Hope this helps.

John

Go outside and scoop a coffee can full of the small pee gravel the city spreads for traction during the ice and snow storms. Then sit around by the fire with a hot glue gun and have a ball making stone walls. I sift out the stones by size and shapes, these will then be used for the approate scale of wall I wish to make. 15mm end up about 2 1/2" long. I used a Stone Mountain miniatures wall as a guide for the height. Hey, super cheep and they look great. You can't beat mother nature for realistic looks.

John:

That sounds like a pretty fast method! I also like the flexibility feature. I've got lots of cat litter, but unfortunately it's the scented kind (I have plenty of the "used" kind around, too, but that's a different story), so I'd probably go with the model railroad ballast. I suppose I could try the pea gravel as suggested by "dmebust" in place of the ballast as I do have a large bag of that sitting around left over from another project, but I would have to take the time to sift and sort it, so that would add to the time needed to finish the walls (these should probably be more properly called stone fences, I suppose).

One thing I might try instead of using newspaper as a protective work surface is use some of this new-fangled aluminum foil that has a non-stick side (Reynolds "Release" as I recall). I still have some of that around after the holiday cooking. It's worth a try, anyway.

I took a look at the Hirst Molds website and I think the fieldstone molds are a bit too "dressed" for what I have in mind; I'm going for a more rustic look. However, I did bookmark the Hirst page as there are some very interesting and useful items there.

Thanks for the tips so far, but I'd like to hear more suggestions if anyone has any; it's always good to have a few extra tricks in the bag.

Patrick

Patrick,

Worked well for me. It took a bit of experimenting before I got the technique down. The worst part was removing it from the newspaper. Your suggestion of using the non-stick Reynolds aluminum foil is great. Put it on my LONG list of things to buy.

Cheers,

John

John, Have you considered using wax paper rather than newsprint? It should release nicely, if it sticks just toss it in the microwave for a few seconds.

I second the wax paper suggestion. I followed some advice on making roads using acrylic caulk. Tape the was paper down, spread out the caulk, let dry, and it peels off very well. Now you have a nice, rubbery base which you can paint, glue sand on, etc. Should work for the above walls.

I wonder if glass would work the same.

I'll give it a try....great suggestion.

I start with fudgesicle sticks, which seem to collect after a while...anyway, I take a stick, cut a piece of cardboard a little shorter than the stick is long, and about 6mm high.
This is glued down with white glue. A
After a few minutes, I lavishly coat the cardboard with more white glue, then sprinkle/pour model railroad ballast over the glue.
I drop pinches on spots that didn't get enough ballast, then pat the stones into the glue with a finger tip.
I repeat on the other side and top/ends.

I work with a plastic bowl and newspaper, dumping the ballas from the bowl a bit at a time, and every few sections I pour the spill back into the bowl.

I have some photos of a few walls I made at:

link

The top three photos show some field stone walls I made this way: Start with popsicle stick ( or wider craft stick from craft store ) use Duco ( or other sticky solvent type glue that srinks when curing ) to lay down a bead and add
a row of aquarium gravel. Best if you let each layer cure before to add the next. Add more glue on top and next row and so on to build up to hight. Paint and dry brush for details. Add ground work with filler or just thick PVA glue and flocking. Spray to seal.

The next is even easier! Solid walls, see photos 4-6, Like this: Start with stick again as base, use PVA to glue foam core cut in strips to hight you want. Use self sticking printer labels cut across to make blocks ( you can just cut these out of card and glue on ) fill top with thick PVA or filler ( or cut card to look like tiles for Italy or Morocco etc. and glue on top ) . Good old cat litter ( the really cheep clay kind ) for broken down sections. Paint all with old house paint ( latex ) with sand added. Let dry and dry brush. Add ground work as above. I may just have to add a wall "how to" to my pages.
Have fun!

DyeHard

Oh Ya! For brick or mortared stone wall try LINKA. A mold your own system.
Look here:

link

Or here to order new molds:
linkaworld.com

See molds code B6 or B5 for brick and S1 or S3 for stone.
I don't have any photos of these up yet, but in this diarama:

The closest wall ( and all the buildings ) are LINKA.
I will try and add some of this to my page when I get a chance

DyeHard
Check out my Victorian Science Fiction page at:
link

Hello again, everyone:

I just tried John's (Condottiere) method of using silicone sealant and I'm extremely pleased with the results! I bought a tube of DAP 100% silicone rubber sealant and a bag of some stone chips at the local Ace hardware store (which conveniently has a small hobby section with model RR supplies). I picked up the stone chips in the hobby department. I looked at various kinds of ballast, but the stone chips were the closest to what I had in mind. The cost of materials (including the caulking gun for the sealant) set me back less than $12 including tax.

When I went to the cupboard to find the "Release" foil, I found that I was all out, but that may be just as well. When I opened the tube of sealant, I detected the whiff of something like acetic acid and that might have reacted badly with the foil. (There is a warning on the side of the tube of sealant that says that it may react with certain metals.)

Since the foil was out, I went to Plan B and used a sheet from a disposable paper palette that has a waxy surface as a work area. I squirted out a short bead of sealant (4-inches or so), sprinkled some rocks over the surface, pressed them in a bit, then squished the edges in with a couple of tongue depressors (a.k.a. wide craft sticks). It didn't take long for the sealant to set. After less than an hour, I was able to peel the stone fence off the paper as nice as you please!

I primed the whole thing with a mix of black and burnt umber gesso and let it dry for a bit. Then I drybrushed it a dark gray, and did a few more passes with lighter grays. I added some medium texture green foam flock for weeds along the base, and that was it. Incredible! A flexible stone fence that looks good and wasn't all that much work...Thanks for the tip, John!

Cheers!

Patrick

Wow! I think I've got a project for this weekend!

I may drop on some 'weeds' before the 'gravel' though.

Thanks for the great idea!

On our model railroad we used kitty litter(non-used) and waterer down white glue.

Make a base and but some non-waterdown whiteglue and drop kitty litter on it.

Then after that is dried drop some more on and use an eyedropper to glue that layer in place. Repeat until you get the desired height.

Two Notes on this method:
1: Make lots at a time
2: Use something under your work surface to collect all the kitty litter that does not stick for recovery

There is also something called "parchment paper", that I buy at Sams Club and is also available at stores that sell to resturants commercial cooking supplies. It is like wax paper but doesn't have wax and can be used on baking trays to keep food from sticking to the metal, even after a hot oven. Should work.