Keep on rockin’…

It had become obvious that the homemade rock mould technique I was using was going to take too long to create all the cliff face scenery on ‘Dales Peak’.

I was impressed by the effects achieved in an article, written by Bob Alderman, in ‘Railway Modeller’ February 2007. The article, ‘On rocks – A simple way to create effective rock faces’, described the techniques he used on his ‘Albion Quarry’ layout. Having re-read the piece, I am trying out the technique here…

I started by sketching a rough profile of the landscape on the backboard and adding a few of the upright supports to carry the foreground rock face.

I’m splitting this landscaping into two sections, the nearer quarry edge, and the cutting for before the tunnel. The quarry edge can be seen here with a flat surface glued in place. Rock face detail will be added onto this surface, whereas the cutting face will be built up in sections.

Here I have started building up the rough stepped structure of the cutting side.

Then I gradually expanded the rock face towards the quarry.

Finally, I ended up with a complete stepped rock face structure.

Next, I started to add some detail to the quarry edge.

And to finish, an overview of the complete structure with ‘Overdale Quarry’ in the foreground.