The Mogollon Railroad

[nachoman]

here is the latest I have been working on:

A set of concrete stairs to go between the station area and the company store. They are constructed of styrene, and I still need to make a railing.

   

And continued work on the rock face:

   

[ocalicreek]

Looks great!

Galen

[nachoman]

THe weather was great today, so I rode my bike up the road and stopped at the trailhead for Camelback Mountain for a hike. I took a few photos for inspiration of my layout rockwork. The mountain is composed of the two basic types of rocks I want to portray on my layout. As I mentioned previously, I wanted one side of my layout to show older "hard rocks" (granite and metamorphic rock), and the other side showing younger "soft rocks" (conglomerate and sandstone). This is typical geology of southern Arizona to see younger sedimentary rocks abutted against older hard rocks forming the core of the mountain ranges.

Here is a photo that shows the jagged nature of the granite that forms the "back" of Camelback mountain:
   
I am attempting to model this using rock castings using the technique I outlined.

The "head" of Camelback mountain is made of much younger conglomerate and sandstone that is similar to many rock units exposed along many southwestern basins. It forms a rather unique weathering profile, and the larger rock fragments that make up the conglomerate are big enough to be seen in HO scale.
   
   
Notice also that the conglomerate exhibits some sedimentary bedding, and tends to weather more rounded with many cavities. I am going to attempt to model this by carving the foam to an appropriate shape, and then adding a veneer of plaster, joint compound, tile grout, or similar to get the appropriate texture.

[ocalicreek]

Fascinating...

You have a rough patch ahead of you, and that's a good thing in this case!

Looking forward to see how you translate this onto the layout.

Galen

[nachoman]

I've been attempting to paint my rocks. I started with stains of brown and black india ink, and noticed that the various batches of plaster didn't stain the same. For some reason, the castings took the stain well whereas the filler I applied between the castings did not take the stain as well. So, I stippled on some thinned brown/black craft paint over the light areas and wherever I thought it would look good. Then I applied washes of pink an turquoise colors to try and give "hints" of the ore minerals cuprite and malachite http://www.tigerminerals.com/morenci.htm. I then highlighted the rocks by drybrushing a sandstone color, and then white. I then went back with the brown and black ink and re-darkened some areas. I think it looks better in the photo than in person (that doesn't happen too often! ), but I will see how it looks after drying a few days.

[ocalicreek]

Looks a little washed out and overall gray in the photo...could it just be my monitor? I'd love to see the colors you described.

Galen

[nachoman]

Looks a little washed out and overall gray in the photo...could it just be my monitor? I'd love to see the colors you described.

Galen

No, I think it is the camera/lighting. It looks different in person (almost too dark)

[nachoman]

I tried taking another photo in front of a place in the rock that I have tinted greenish to indicate the ore minerals. I am debating whether it is too green in person, yet still came out looking mostly grayish in the photo. I think it could be the "daylight" fluorescent tube lighting i have kinda washes things out. I also tried manipulating the photo on the computer, and still was not able to get things to look like they do in person. Here is the result:

[Russ Bellinis]

Everything is green including the locomotive in that last pic. I'm wondering if a daylight incandescent flood light like an "Ott light" or even a couple of halogen flood lights to light the scene with the flourescents turned off would give a more correct color? I'm not suggesting that you go buy lighting, just thinking that you may have something that would work better for photography in your shop.

[doctorwayne]

Kevin, your camera should have an option (often called "White Balance") that allows for colour correction under fluorescent lighting. Mine works well for the "Cool Whites" over the layout, but is sometimes confused by the "Daylight" tubes over the workbench.

Wayne

[nachoman]

Kevin, your camera should have an option (often called "White Balance") that allows for colour correction under fluorescent lighting. Mine works well for the "Cool Whites" over the layout, but is sometimes confused by the "Daylight" tubes over the workbench.

Wayne

Well, whaddaya know. Even a 6 year old point and shoot camera has this feature. It has 4 settings - normal daylight, cloudy, artificial lighting, and flash. I took photos under each setting and this was the one that best shows it how I see it:

   

It turned out this was the "cloudy" setting. It is similar to the "daylight" setting except the colors are slightly more pronounced. The artificial lighting setting was just horrible - it looked blue. The colors still arent as vivid as I see them in person, but... I have been known to be colorblind in the past!

[ocalicreek]

Now that's more like it!

After seeing the green-ish shot I thought the same thing - pick a different light setting for your camera.

Now that I'm really seeing it the way it is (I hope), the colors look great! Nice mottling!

Galen

[nachoman]

I've been working more on the area around the company store, the retaining walls, stairs, and the station. Lots more detail will eventually go into this area.

[tomustang]

Your Camelback Mountain looks a lot different than our Camelback Mountain

[ocalicreek]

The retaining wall behind the little building looks great. Just make sure the building will sit level.

Galen