In this video I explore an alternative method for creating model dry stone walls that's a little less messy than some other methods explored on RU-vid. 0:00 Intro 5:00 Down to Business 18:10 Conclusion
I use DAS Clay for my stone walls but I carve out the individual stones, This might sound like a time consuming process but in fact it isn't. My first attempts were terrible! I removed them from the layout and began again. Now, after practice, they look quite good, especially when you can scribe in things like gate posts. I've seen many ideas on stone walling and yours looks good. I'll give it a try. Thanks for the video.
Great video! I’ve been doing dry stone walls in a similar way for while now and have also found using strips of cork underlay works well too, maybe I’ll have to do my own video on that. Keep up the good work 👍🏻
Thank you for your kind feedback, cork underlay or even cork floor tiles cut into strips sounds good, and I imagine it would be flexible enough to transverse hills and curved sections.
Interesting that you call it "Stone wall fencing", in the UK Walls and Fences are two totally different things. Walls are generally constructed of masonry (stone, brick, concrete), whilst fences are generally constucted from timber or wire. There are exceptions that use concrete and timber but these are refered to as fences (no reference to wall). Nice project though and I think the air dry clay produced a better finish. Enjoyed the video.
I love the way the English language varies around the world. In America these would also be "stone walls", a fence would be wooden, chain-link or the like.
A very effective technique, quick and effective. Perhaps selected pieces of the cat litter could be used for the capping stones and also to represent the sporadic larger base stones you showed in your photo. As you noted UK dry stone walls very considerably both construction and stone; so its very much use what suit what wall type you are modelling, I will give it a try!! Stephen
I had a go using Aldi's own cat litter today and it worked very well. So long as you sieve it to remove the dusty bits (which can then be used as gravel/ballast) the pieces are about the right range of sizes, and because cat litter is absorbant it soaks up the PVA and Scenic Cement. Ironically a better quality cat litter like Catsan would probably have pieces that are too large. At £1.55 for 10 litres, the cheap cat litter certainly beats buying Woodland Scenics gravel.
@@StandardGoose Hi Jonathan, thank you for sharing your experiences and glad to hear worked for you too. It sounds like it's 100 times more expensive using bespoke railway products. I certainly will look into over here in Canada, I have a few hundred feet to ballast once I get back to the layout construction, the savings can be put towards more rolling stock!! Have saved some of the sawdust from the baseboard construction for scenic purposes that would work too to represent the ash surfaces they laid at coaling, maintenance and (some) goods yards etc. Best regards Stephen
@@stephenpike3147 Woodland Scenics and similar products are actually mostly made from waste products like sawdust. Today I made use of the sieved dusty bits of cat litter to make a gravel/cobblestone road. Turned out pretty good. There are definitely ways to make the hobby less expensive. A good youtube channel to follow for more of this sort of tip is a chap called Budget Model Railways.
@@StandardGoose Thanks for that information and other ideas Jonathon, definitely a question of repurposing other materials. One big saving I have made is on the WS inclines, made all my own out of foam insulation board with gradients accurately cut at several different gradients from 40:1 to 67:1 for my 2 x 7.5" double track elevations. Used some offcuts of my baseboard to make sturdy a jig. Sure it takes (my free) time to do and that is where it saves an absolute fortune and I get exactly what I want!
Thanks Donna. Interestingly I modelled the house about 30 years ago. It's an HO scale model of the house my parents lived in at the time. Without access to plans, I measured every inch of the house and recreated in card. It's unfortunately in need of some TLC, so is on my list of things to do.
@@StationRoadModelRailway We are loving your video's, have just started rebuilding our H0, this time transportable so it hopefully can be taken to shows as well as run at home. Really appreciate your hints and cheap innovative solutions.
Hi its a interesting idea ,but to me the walls looked to neat they probably need a few different grades and size of stone ,and to look more realistic a few gaps of broken stone where the sheep have tried to escape and perhaps a diorama of a few farm hands rebuilding the wall ,in the UK that what they would look like ,also the das clay is better and perhaps shape it to what you want and also paint it first then when dry apply the glue and stones ,with bits of stone sticking up here and there to look more natural ,but for anybody looking to do this its a much cheaper method than paying for the mass produced ones you can buy ,but eh overall it was a very good attempt and I applause you for that in this very expensive hobby of model railways ,I enjoyed the video ,I take it its still cold in NZ you still in the little room ,all the best stay safe.
Hi Ray and thank you for your suggestions/feedback. The only problem I see in painting the clay first is that in allowing the paint to dry, the clay will also begin to harden, thus when pressing into the stones it might not work so well. I would be interested to know why you think DAS clay is better, have you tried both? Yes, it's still cold here (and wet) and there's a few months of winter to go, so I would expect a fair few videos over the coming months to be filmed in the office. I will however, still be incorporating layout footage when needed.
@@StationRoadModelRailway hi I have used das clay in the past ,the white and the brown ,and can shape it into all sorts of shapes ,rolling bits in the palm of your hands to make a bit more pliable, I really meant for the clay to dry first into what shape you want ,then when fully dry paint it ,let that dry out and then apply glue and your rocks, if you ever look at a dry stone wall you will see how they pack the stone in even at slanted angles to compact it ,I'm not knocking what you did ,I have not tried the other product that you used I just thought the air clay looked better ,we have had some glorious sunshine in the UK but now gone from 1 extreme to the other ,I'm on the east coast of the UK and now we have gale force winds a lot of heavy rain showers ,so just waiting now for the sunshine again ,keep warm in your office look forward to more interesting videos, stay safe and well.
Oh yeah mouldy raspberry I don't really want to make any dry stone walls ,well not yet anyway ,I was just giving an opinion, no criticism of julian, they do look good on that layout very realistic, thanks anyway.
I've been catching up on all of your older videos - a really good watch. One thing that struck me with this is whether a larger grade pumice may work (similar to the ones you used for a cheaper ballast)? Either way, a great shout on the air-dry clay - we use that for homemade xmas decorations for the kids to do so have plenty around!
Hi Julian. The putty seems to be an effective way to make a stone wall. The air-dry is certainly a cheaper method and therefore will appeal more to most modellers. You didn't give too much information on prices and drying conditions for each of the putties; perhaps the air-dry could be warmed in a low oven if you needed a quick dry - although, just a day seems to be OK.
Hi Paul, thank you for your feedback. Both clay products I used have quite good instructions on drying times and I imagine other brands would too. The oven-bake takes 30mins at 135ºc, so pretty quick, and I found the air-dry took 24 hours at room temp (above 18ºc), so still an acceptable drying time. The air-dry was $8 NZD for 500g and the oven-bake was $5 NZD for 50g, so price difference is significant (80c per 50g for air-dry). And of course with the 500g air-dry pack, you'd get a meter or two of stone wall.
Thank you. If I can find a way of creating something from scratch, I'll always give it a go, and if it doesn't work out, I might buy something ready-made.
Interesting method. If you are after much longer lengths, ie for a complete layout and not a smaller diorama, you should check out Mouldy Raspberry. He has yards and yards of drystone wall (Yorkshire Dales) and makes it in situ with glue and cat litter! Fresh cat litter I hasten to add!
Interestingly, it was his method (and a few other similar methods) that inspired me to try the method I have used simply to find a less messy way of creating stone walls. I worked out I could probably get about 2m of wall out of the Jovi air-dry clay block which is a reasonable length of wall. It also means I can create the wall sections (ready to go) in the comfort (and warmth) of the office.
@@StationRoadModelRailway Fair enough. It IS messy right enough! I hadn't realised, until I watched a few more of your videos, that office/workbench and layout are separate! ;-) Cheers.
Thanks Mike, I'm always trying to think further left field when it comes to modelling techniques, and most turn out successfully, but sometimes others don't. It's also no surprise I get a huge amount of inspiration from everyone else in the railway model community.
@@StationRoadModelRailway julian ive yet to witness any failures as yet -i follow your chanel for inspiration in ready to stert my own model railway and i find your methods not only economical but constructive - thanks for sharing and keep up the great work 😎😎😎
Just wondering if a light undercoat of similar colour to the stones on which ever product you use might help allow the stones to blend in well to the material you are using. Cheers Greg
Great job done there Julian i live in Cornwall England and see these every where and think what you have done has shown the the way for me mate the walls in Cornwall have a bit of dirt laid in between and you get a bit of grass grass growing out here and there up in the north of England they don't put dirt in them there real nice to look at and over the years they get get very higgley pigley good tip mate thanks gonna give it a go iv'e some Das cheers mate.
Thanks Tony for your kind words and informative feedback. In doing the research on dry stone walls, I soon became aware of just how many varieties of wall there are in the UK, dozens, if not hundreds maybe.
The type of wall you describe is a very ancient design, still popular in Wales, Cornwall and Cumbria. In Welsh it's called a Cloddiau. It's not just dirt on the top; it's an earth embankment with stones laid on either side as a facia. You could probably replicate that design quite easily using Julian's method here if you just paint your clay brown first. I'm planning on giving it a try.
Thanks Steve for the kind feedback. I since filled the gap with rubble and posted some completed shots on my facebook page. I suspect the sheep still might find a way to clamber over the rubble, so it will be all eyes on the farmer to get it fixed😀
Hi Louise, thanks for your comment. There certainly are some colour options with these materials. But for the purposes for this experiment, I was after either a close match to the stone chips or at least something neutral in tone, hence the white air-dry clay. I chose the black oven-bake simply as a comparison. If there was a grey air-dry clay I would have used that, but I couldn't find anything that was available locally.
The big problem with dry stone walls, as you mentioned, is that there are regional variations across the UK. The style used in one valley might not be the same as that used in next.
In doing the research on dry stone walls, I soon became aware of just how many varieties of wall there are in the UK, dozens, if not hundreds maybe. However, as I always say, I don't model to precise prototypical levels, and that the goal is to achieve a relatively convincing representation of the real thing. Also Station Road is set in a completely fictitious location.
Very true. I'm going to be having a go at making a Welsh "cloddiau" style wall (basically an earth embankment with stones set in the faces, and turf on top) using this method. You could just make something up and there's bound to turn out to be a real life traditional style of wall that yours happens to look like.
I think you answered your own question below, foam would work but only if you intend the walls to be straight and flat. I imagine hot glue would be no-go, incredibly messy, stringy and you'd need to be quite fast applying the stones before the glue sets without burning yourself.
Hi Bazil, thank you for you feedback, much appreciated. And yes, there's a reasonable amount of 'how to' content on my channel that isn't necessarily restricted to model railways.
