A Model Railroaders Best Friend | Pink Foam - Vlog #31
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- Опубліковано 10 жов 2021
- Sculpting Pink Foam along the shoreline of the HO Scale River Road Diorama. This episode demonstrates how I take advantage of "Pink" foam when forming rock strata - a common feature on all Model Railroads.
Boomer, what is your theory of painting rock shadows? Which camp are you in, dark to light or light to dark? I think you mentioned it once, I know you love Gesso as do I, but switched because I could not get black Gesso. I’m using a black/brown latex house paint to seal my foam now. What are your thoughts?
Any paint will work for scenery. Thinking about light and shadow methodically, before anything, is key. Then, deciding if one wants a warm look or a cool look. I use Tamiya (due to superior "flat" pigments over craft paint), because I really don't have much terrain to cover when you think about it. I like to "white out" my terrain first, then build up thin "umber" layers so I can correct color shade. Black to light works well for small details but tends to turn "muddy" with terrain.
Rock shadow depends on the base color (from a long distance view through the atmospheric lens). I generally like to add blue, green or brown washes for shadow depending on other factors like: If I want a warm feel to the rock, I use Umbers (Browns). If I want a cool feel, I use Blues and Greens. For neutral, I stay with grays. I usually finish highlights with beige (cool) or flesh (warm). I prefer (very thin and light) flesh, applied with the airbrush, because it embodies the mauve shade which seems to be the magic filter we see in all terrain due to the atmospheric light spectrum throughout the warmer seasons. ;-) Cheers.
Boomer, I can not even begin to let you know how helpful your channel has been for my modeling, you have inspired me and helped me get excited over modeling HO trains again. I came back to re-immerse my self in HO scale and developed my own slightly narrower version of your Glover road diorama shelf.. thank you again and thanks for the helpful tutorials you have been giving.. your eye for detail really shows the true artist in you. Please don’t stop with the great content and thanks again for helping me find my artistic modeling self again! 👍👍🤝
I am so glad to hear you are inspired, and thus, find happiness and comfort in a fantastic hobby we all share. Thanks again for sharing that. It means alot to my inspiration as well. Cheers ~ Boomer.
Absolutely amazing stuff something we all need to see especially over here in uk England
Thank you. I appreciate that. Cheers ~ Boomer.
Hmmm 🤔 How about a foam painting video? Thanks for the tips. Cheers 🍻
Great suggestion!
Great choice of background music. I can listen to that genre all day long, subconsciously working to the beat, I get a lot done! And relaxing whenever the softer parts play. Cheers.
Thank You. Glad you enjoy it! ~ Boomer.
Foam is great. I carve mine with an antique bone handled butter knife that used to be my great grandmother's.....just for a bit of style. In fact I've been using it for years for craft projects. The foam is blue or light tan in Australia. It's funny how every country seems to have its own colour for foam.... Anyway, for finer detail I find scultamold comes in handy but I'm looking forward to your techniques. You're a wealth of knowledge and very inspirational. Thank you.
That's cool you use the antique tool for modeling. Very cool indeed. Sculpta -mold is fantastic product. Other names are Celluclay, Fast Mache. etc. Very under-rated product. You can do almost anything with it depending on how much water you add. Good stuff.
Totally agree with you, I use foam a lot and will continue to do so.
It's a great modelling medium for sure.
Great rock formations and especially on that upward slant to draw your eye into the layout. Really cool. I’ve used foam many times but here in the UK we get yellow foam, I made an attachment to the end of the vacuum cleaner pipe so that I could carve and clean up the mess at the same time! Worked a treat. Thank you again for the inspiration. 🇬🇧👍🇨🇦
Thanks. Yes . . . the vacuum. The foam debris can be painful to clean up at times. Good thing I'm only using a small amount.
You'll be finding little pink offcasts around the house for years! 😁
Nice sculpting.
Yes. Brutal stuff this way for sure. During my film industry days it was everywhere. I mean everywhere. I probably ingested some as well . . . lol.
I have watched multiple channels/videos on working with extruded foam (which I am using for my layout), you have taken it to a new level and I'm so glad I am almost caught up on your videos! Amazing!
Glad it was helpful! You must be binge watching . . . Thank you!
@@boomerdiorama I am but I have also been taking pages and pages of notes, from technique to material, etc. Amazing channel!
Thanks. Can't wait to see you paint it. I did this same tec with plaster. it looked good. Haven't tried this. I should see if it will work for me. Thanks for sharing.
Have fun!
Thanks for all the inspiration thus far 😊
You are so welcome!
Wow! Great work! The photos remind me of shale strata. Out here where I live, the strata are evident, but are not so "hard" or separate like the photos you put up. Where I live was under water for many thousands of years, so most of our rock is sedimentary and the strata are distinguished by various colors: red (iron), yellow, tan, green, grey, etc. Rather than distinct and separate or "piled" strata, they are softer. Kind of like different water colors all streaked across the cliffs,, with the colors running together, yet somewhat separate. As you can probably tell, I am not a geologist.
Me neither . . . lol. What do I know, I'm just an artist.
Self made rock work is always the best. Whether it be self made molds or full on carving.
It sure is!
I've used a wooden handle wire brush(aprox 2"×6"),before in pink foam for horizontal slate rock. It worked great. Thanks for the inspiration and ideas.
Yes. Wire brush works great as well. I prefer a knife due to the foam dust. I had enough of it in the industry. Cheers.
Wow lovely upload today hope there more to come.
Yes, thank you
Thank you very much for replying to my comment. I have a new video out now. Hope you like and share.@@boomerdiorama
I love the way all those little pieces clung to your cloths. I've made large cubes of it and painted and used as sea wall break . Looks like cut stone huge blocks. My whole layout is on 2" blue foam on 1/2" plywood ( on end) , on 16" centers. It's strong enough to hold me -- 215lbs. Only real problem is when you want to install tortoise machines or the like. Have to make 1/4" plywood squares to mount them on - screwed &glued to bottom. Easy to run wire.
Foam has it's advantages for sure. Light weight is one of them . . . which I like.
Neat Vlog. I love using foam. We used it on our Thompson River Canyon N Scale display layout in the early 20's. Covered the foam with grey sanded tile grout and then threw on stone dust and that was it. Still using it on my current HOn3 layout. Rod.
Yes. It's a great modeling medium. Nice and light weight as well!
What is stone dust, brand and vendor please, I'm new to this?
@@file1man I have never used "stone dust." I just use fine aluminum Oxide sand which is normally used for sand blasting. I imagine a sand blasting shop supply would have it. Cheers.
@@file1man Stone dust is used on freshly laid concrete to give a very smooth shiny surface. It is very fine and applied after troweling the concrete level with a wooden float. They wait 3 to four hours, sprinkle on this dust (very finely ground stone) and then troweled in with a steel float. It has no brand I gather from a concrete supplier in and ice cream carton close to where I live in Australia. Trust this helps.
Funny that your doing a foam video. I just went last weekend and bought some foam. First time I bought some called " GreenGaurd" 2'x2'x1". Its light green.Gonna use it for a new module. ☕🍻👍
That is awesome!
[thank, you for youre video👍 my, state which i live in sells the same 2" foam board and comes in 3- colors. Blue, pink, and now green]
I saw some grey foam the other day as well. Thanks for sharing!
I sometimes take a propane torch to my foam to get some interesting weathering looks (glacial erosion) . I do it in a well ventilated area of course :) Pink foam is great. I will try some Gesso .. never thought of that. Thanks.
We used to use torched on foam in film for a certain look as well. Cheers.
Not sure if you’ve tried this, but mist some water on the foam before you torch it. Incredible textures can be achieved this way.
We call man made banks usually around lakes rip-rap, supposedly to prevent erosion.
Your eye for things is very cool. I see insulation you see a river bank.
I see a model in everything I look at in life . . . lol. I use almost anything or everything I can get my hands on. Real stone, real dirt, real wood, etc.
Great technique. I am going to have to try that. My whole layout is foam and I’ve been trying different methods of carving, love the effect you’re getting.
Have fun!
Man my layout has been on hold for months due to my local home Depot and Lowes has be out of this stuff . Hopefully I'll find some soon I've even check craiglist lol haha . Thanks for all the hard work you do to show these videos . Cheers 🍻
Thank You and you are welcome. I hope you find some foam soon!
Hi Boomer. I’ve been unsuccessfully searching your videos trying to find your thoughts on using Varathane. I know you are a strong believer in it to seal wood and mitigate the effects of humidity. However I also ran across an example where you specifically said you didn’t seal the wood, but the reason escapes me at the moment. Could you include your philosophy on using this sealer in a future Q & A segment in one of your videos. Thanks for all you do.
The only time I don't use Varathane or Urethane to seal wood is when I use "Matte" medium directly on the wood for ground texture. Having said this, I like to always seal with (water-born) varathane one side when it comes to bench work. It prevents warping and extreme compression or lateral movement.
The down side to model railroad benchwork is expansion and retraction. Most notably with cheap soft wood or poor grade plywood, which usually does not occur right away, but several years later.
We can reduce the latter if we seal the plywood (good quality) one side, and still allow it to breath. I hope that helps some. Cheers.😁
Hey Boomer. Thanks for the reply. Yes your explanation makes sense. What I didn’t realize was you only treat one side. I had assumed you treated all sides. Budget restraints are limiting what I can do right now but I’m planning a 1X2 foot display scene. I haven’t yet decided on 1 inch foam on birch ply or cork on ply. I want some elevation to provide a drainage ditch or narrow creek running on the length of the front edge. Knowing more about it will help with decision making now and when I am able to build the shelf layout I’m planning. Again, thanks for everything Boomer.
Excellent
Thank you! Cheers!
Using foam really does make for weight savings. With foam you can get very close to the scene your looking for, I see it being used more and more on model RR these days.
Yes. Foam has been around for awhile now. Lot's of ways to use it for sure.
Foam, yeah, from packaging polystyrene, closed cell polystyrene pink, green and blue foam, to LDPE foam, or PIR, they all have their specific characteristics. Especially the different ways they chip. Softer foams may need a harder shell than just gesso though.
A matte medium glaze, at the end, fixes everything . . . Cheers.
Boomer, always great content and enjoying learning from you. Quick question...what do you recommend for gluing foam down to plywood? Thanks! Keep up the good work!
I use PL300 for gluing foam down. You need the cheap metal plunger (glue gun) because they are cartridges in the construction department. Fairly cheap though. Make sure you put a good bead down, press the foam down, lift it up (to get air into the stringy glue), then press down firm again. It takes about a week to cure. But it won't come up under most conditions. See this video: ua-cam.com/video/K3KWAHAtM7k/v-deo.html
@@boomerdiorama Awesome! Thank you so much - keep up the great content!
Looks very effective looking good Boomer 😀👍
Thanks 👍
Can't wait to see you dress up the bank and create the river itself. Hurry up, will ya? :o)
Soon. Cheers.
So I am not sure what I find most enjoyable, you carving foam or when I did a search for the music finding a stunning graphic of a girl watching a commuter train (accompanying the music).
Lol . . . Beauty is in the eye of the beholder they say. Cheers.
@@boomerdiorama "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, get it out with Optrex", the late and great Spike Milligan.
Boomer,
Great video! It transcends scale and can be done in any scale. Hope you do a follow up video on how to paint it.
Hope life is treating you well.
Jeff
Thank You. Life couldn't be better to have both health and modeling passion. Cheers.
What exactly are you using to paint the the foam before staining?
I use Golden Acrylic Titanium white. It needs to be good quality - not cheap craft paint. Often times I will do rock faces like this with Sculptamold (Activa) if I want additional textures.
Trying to source the dense kind of foam here in Sweden at local shops. Am I right in thinking the pink and blue foam you mention are of the XPS type?
I'm not sure, but any foam will work, especially if you only use it to build up and fill space. It all gets covered mostly anyway. The point is "light weight" and ease of sculpting.
Hello,
I'm from the old school of strip newspaper dipping in hydracal and screen.. excited to use foam in the future. In your past comments you have said you didn't like using foam but I think it was for sub and instead you use cork sheets, and if so can you tell me your opinion on this with your experience... thanks
"Old School" is fine for larger areas if one chooses. Foam can be expensive. I just happen to have lots kicking around from the past. I only use it for scenery like this. I also don't build road bed on foam. I shared all this in a previous Vlog here: ua-cam.com/video/sNwkl3HeBMU/v-deo.html
The thickest foam I could get in NM, was 5/8" blue foam... 😂
It's tough to find 2" foam these days and it is very expensive. I just happened to have some I saved knowing I would need it one day . . . and sure enough! Cheers.
Do you paint the foam before you apply celluclay.
It doesn't matter. Either way works. ;-)
Do you air brush the color you want after cutting foam?
I usually seal it first with matte medium and white paint. Then I will airbrush it some. Cheers.
Crazy good Boomer!
Crazy fun!
I like pink foam. I hate when I see people use it and then cover it with a thick layer of sculptamold. They might as well use anything instead of pink foam. Like the cardboard strip method. Don’t waste pink foam!
I also like it for filling in gaps like along the facia. But yes, foam is cool. Cheers.
My attempts at carving foam always seems to result in…obviously carved foam, not unlike how aluminum foil rocks look like aluminum foil rocks.
Apply long angle slices first across the face, then come back and chip away. Change up the routine as well by trying different tools etc. Cut slivers out without chipping. Change up your application often on the fly. etc. Study photos! Cheers.
Foam me
That is possible in film where we would use big foam spray guns for massive walls etc. Really tough to remove as well. I destroyed many a pair of blue jeans using the stuff. Cheers.