Yep, I spent the better part of a few hours last night building a retaining wall.

I was researching techniques on how to build block retaining walls and came across one that appealed to me. It was scratch built using linoleum tile as the medium to make bricks from. The technique also called for making hundreds of tiny scale bricks out of the 1/8th" thick tile and using adhesive to glue it all together. Best part was I picked up a single broken "granite" tile at the Home Depot for free. Which will make me more then enough bricks for this projects and others down the road.

I apologize in advance for the quality of the pictures, they were all taken using my BlackBerry phone.


Start by scoring the tile with a carpenters knife about 1/4" width. Lightly score the tile with a couple of passes don't cut it. Then grab the scored length with some pliers and carefully work your way up and down the tile bending a little at a time. Don't try and snap it all off at once or you'll just make the tile break into small pieces.


When done you should have this. I cut about 20 lengths, as you'll see why.


Then over to the Chopper to cut the 1/4" strips into 1/4" squares. 1/4" works out to about 24" scale. A bit about the size:

The wall is 9' high at its highest and long.... I don't know the actual length of the wall, I think its about 100'. So I made some largish bricks without make it look to weird given the roughly 9" scale thickness. A fairly decent sized brick, I'd say. The width is irrelevant as you don't see it until you get to the top course.

Besides, in the end, I like the look it eventually achieves.


A pile of bricks. This isn't all of them. I stopped to take a photo break after chopping a few strips.


The first row of bricks were glued to a piece of .040 Styrene sheet which measured about 30 scale feet long using hot glue. I made the height of the styrene strip just a tad shorter then then height of the wall I was trying to achieve. Using the hot glue allows me to position the bricks and get them nice and straight before it hardens. To apply the hot glue I would squeeze a small amount out of the tip of my gun and dip the back edge of the brick into the glue. Still somewhat stringy, but less messy. The remaining rows were glued in succession with CA.


After I established a few rows I fixed the wall section in place using some more hot glue and then built the wall in place. I enjoy building in place when I can. I built the wall in 25-30 foot sections and followed the terrain as best as I could. And then built down the ends.


I used about three wall sections and filled in the blanks to connect the pieces. Gluing and building as I went. I was tedious but fun. I also had a feeling of satisfaction when it was all done. Only thing left to do is fill in the terrain around it to blend it in to the landscape.

Looks very realistic. The result is worth the work to make the bricks. A bright idea

Tetters,

the best home made wall I have seen ever! Gives a very natural look to the layout! Built with all the fine inaccuratcy which we can see daily out of the home.
An excellent job and a very good idee for copying a scene where everyone will find an application! And best of all, each realisation will give a different look!
Really great!

Oh, boy, Tetters!

I think you've discovered a really cool technique!

Thanks for kudos gents. It means a lot. I too am really happy with the way it turned out. But I must stress this is not my idea. I stumbled upon it by accident whilst surfing the net a couple nights ago.

I think the key trick to remember is to lightly score the tile and carefully break off each strip. It's what gives it that nice rough hewn stone look to it. I am hoping that once I blend it all together with some scenery elements it will look like its been there for a very long time. I'll fix the back fill in place and do some landscaping around it tonight. Maybe apply a thin wash of paint to the brick to weather it slightly.

Once again thanks!

Why didn't I ( What'-a-come-n-a-go )think of that !

That is one sweet lookin' wall, and one simple, interesting, and effective way to model it !

Great Idea Teeters, and thanks for sharing...Agreat wall
Charlie

Very neat way of making that wall! I would have never thought of that.

You built a fantastic wall. I gotta keep this method in mind.

Creativity + patience= GREAT RESULTS!!!!!! Tetters, that wall is excellent! Very effective!
Ralph

Added some ground cover and started blending thing in. I'm trying not to over do it. I find scenery works best for me when a little is added each time. Over time each layer adds to the over all effect. The ground foam might also still look a little wet in a couple of these...

Very effective and a nice variation on "board-by-board" construction.

Wayne

Tetters---another fine example of the talented and creative modellers from Big Blue---very well done

Thank you all very much for your kind words! I appreciate them very much!

Just saw the new pics. Nice work man! Reminds me of braking up ceiling tiles for rock faces. This technique will be great for making casting masters.