Possible Concrete Structure Scenery Tip

Looks good, i have thought that many of times. Always thought they were a little oversize looking in store, but now will have to try it. Thanks

Great idea.

I've seen the product. The stones look good, but a bit large for O scale, perhaps better suited for 1:32 or 1:24. Good idea, though.

Good idea and a nice looking wall. Those are nice looking stones. I can't tell if the scale is off or not? To me, from the pictures, it looks very good from here.

In my opninion, this is one of those "it ought to work but it doesn't" things that we always come across.  I got one of these Solistone Opera panels, and spent the better part of six months off and on trying to get it to fit in on my layout. I even ended up cutting it up to make a flat car load out of them.  They are now in a box in a closet

To the points made, yes, the stones are on the large-ish size for O (dimensions of an individual stone are 0.4 x 0.8 and 0.3 inches deep) but so are the lobster claw couplers and other features that come with the hobby. So this is within the limits of my suspension of disbelief. I'm going to try them on a tunnel portal. Eyeballing seems to indicate they are better match there than for a wall.

Scott, if these were modeled quarry stones then they can be cut to any size.

nice gotta check out LOWES

Thanks for sharing and I am sure they become an accessory many can use.even if one has to cut them down in size on a tile cutter. They have a nice surface 

I use them for long span stone bridges and for walls. Goes up nice with polyurethane hot glue.

Hot glue! Well that's a great big "duh" on me. Thanks for the tip Alan. I would share how I did the attachment but it's too embarrassing.

Acetone or Hexanes will melt the adhesive off of the matting.  Just do it in a well ventalated area.  The stones are not that out of scale if you look at the PRR retaining walls for their bridges.  You just need to stain them rust brown.

If you want a slightly more rough-hewn look, you can get a similar result using thin slices of pink foam:

 

 

how did you texture the foam?  Your results look good.

Been awhile, but I'm pretty sure I just sliced it with a dull knife. it is friable enough to result is a nice random texture.

Oversize sandstone walls are getting to be pretty common.  Probably oversize for steam era modeling - but if it's a more recent layout time period - looks good to me.

In our area there are several walls very similar to the ones shown in your picture. Many here are not as tall as the front one, maybe only 2-3 rows of rocks high. Some are also very much like the one you have above the front wall. It's kind of hilly and rocky around here and they use the big rocks for landscaping and retaining walls. Very common around here now days in the newer developments.

Excellent tip.  Kind of reminds me of the large concrete panels that you see in various highway overpasses and retaining walls.  Some of these panels are taller than a car!

 

Concrete is often textured to look rock-like anyway, so it's probably a good fit. I'm not completely sold on the raw color though. I think it could either use a lightening with a drybrush of white or very light grey or a nice dark wash to really dirty it up.

These stones are actually not out of scale for O gauge. They are just under 2' high, by just a tad over 3' long. We have a small viaduct with stones similar in size. Here are some photos. This was a topic of discussion on another forum a few years ago, so I measured some of the stones in this viaduct, and several are larger then the stones in the tile mat.

Don

I like this idea a lot. I want to construct a retaining wall using this stuff. It kinda reminds me of the Pennsy stone as someone else has mentioned.I believe I once saw a picture of this stuff
used on a layout by forum member RockStars. I wish they would chime in.
Mike

Here's two videos of a retaining wall with this product.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMgt59D2Auo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWfxwy08gvY

 

Thanks Rich .
Mike

I've seen these products while shopping for a kitchen back splash, had the same idea for making walls and using pieces for mountain ledges.

 

Jack 

To underscore your assertion, Rail, and to support Scott T. Johnson's suggestion, I offer these photos, which my fellow hobbyists may want to consider in this discussion, taken on a winter's drive to Upstate NY along Rt.11 ..

FrankM.

Found this on another train forum; it just happened to be posted today. The stone work in your photo is similar in composition color and size as my photos. Rte 11 runs past here a few miles to the west, so the stone could have come from the same quarry.

Don

I'll be stealing this idea for several of my future bridge projects.