3 Methods for Making Foam Rocks

[@geraldstewart]

A painting video would be appreciated. Painting is the scarryest part of creation. I Love your channel Dave, very entertaining.

[@scottmccloud9029]

Amen.

[@dennisfillhart88]

A painting video would be great even though you covered it in the past. I got the rock formation cutting somewhat perfected but the painting took a long time for me to accomplish. It took me about 20 layers before it looked right. My approval came from my son that lives out west when he said he thought it looked great. I must have done something right. Thanks, Dave for sharing all your ideas & expertise.

[@jvanamb]

Really nice update on your technique. This is the type of newbie and restart content I believe EVERY YT influencer should do at least once a year. You never know when newbies joined the subscription trail. Or when some of us OLD TIMERS have forgotten how to. An adding memory is a freighting thing. There are two techniques I would like to add. The first is an enhancement to your tech. Along with carving, shaping, & contouring your layers of foam it could enhance the layouts internal access if you hot wire cutaway interior foam not seen . This inner material may add structure to the formation, but it removes the potential for hidden mechanism, reach in access, and vehicle headroom. And you know what kind of animation freek I can be. From my outer edge contouring I tend ( and sometimes fail) to measure in from the visible edge 3" to 4" and cur out the remanences/ WHICH AS YOU SAID DO NOT THROW AWAY YOUR EXTRA BITS. Tossing your extra bits aside can be painful. The other technique is a material choice. Since the window installer replaced worn windows to the house my club and I have been building up our own rock faces using cans of Aerosol Expanding Foam Insulation. Using a quick shot of expanding foam you can buildup layers upon layers until you have acquired the desired height. And even then you can always add additional layers atop your W.I.P. (work in progress). Then following your carving technique to the letter you can face off your exposed striations. Jim in N.Y.

[@ToyManTelevision]

Perfect!!! All in one place. Now I’m getting a much better understanding.

[@politicsandtrains]

A painting video would be good, yes please!!

[@andrewallum8185]

Your work is fantastic, Dave, and a painting demonstration would be greatly appreciated!

[@loispadgett6306]

Yes please painting and blending video would be every helpful. As wood carver this made great scents to me love your use of tools for carving. Going to have to go tool shopping something I love to do. 😃 Thanks for sharing. GOD BLESS 🚂💖🚂💖🚂💖🚂💖

[@antonrosander2791]

Gratulation to 10 Tusen prenumeranter Thunder Maisen studio 🎉🎉🎉 and Good luck to Kanalen. Mvh Anton Rosander. South of Sweden Skane.

[@BDCSam]

Love your work Dave! A paint video would be great too! Since you asked.

[@bobbybaldeagle702]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!AWESOME THANK YOU FOR SHARING....

[@MRR_Shadowolf]

Very informative and well presented tutorial on foam rock creation! Thank you for sharing! Would enjoy scenic painting video!

[@trishameigs1554]

Thanks for this video. I needed to see different ways to carve rocks. A painting video would also be great!

[@greatnorthernrailwaytother4711]

Thanks Dave, very handy tutorial. Yes a scenic painting clip would be great. Cheers Peter.

[@scottmccloud9029]

I've got a whole sheet of the pink foam, in quarters, that I'd like to experiment with. This was a very informative video. A video on how you paint it and blend them together would be great. If there's enough interest in it. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience.

[@OtterCreek]

Thanks Dave! Always inspirational, I think I'll go carve some rocks now!!

[@vincenthuying98]

Dear Dave, don’t know about the availability of expanded polyurethane foam as home insulation in the US, but in Europe it is commonly available. Although, most expanded polyurethane insulation sheets come with one or two sided aluminum or Tyvek backings. Density of common PUR or PIR insulations may differ from the artist polyurethane blocks. However, it pays off to check for this characteristic, because there’s a lot of different densities available. Great episode and explanations of your foam rock carving methods. Especially when they all come together like in the Six Shooter Butte. Cheerio

[@davidbales8053]

Love the pencil for detail, great tip

[@theangelsmodellingandrailways]

Dave, the various ways you do your rockwork is superb, very inspirational. I'd like to see a scenic rockwork painting tutorial or such like. All the best, Brian @ The Angels

[@duanewhite3275]

Excellent educational video. Thank you.

[@WheresJoseToday-im1gr]

Very cool. I’ve done props and scenic art, but full scale. Can’t wait to get my layout built and using the same techniques in small scale.

[@JoshForeman]

Nice! Lovely techniques.

[@andrewholmes8337]

You rock😂

[@peteyb5150]

The rock is absolutely gorgeous. What a great landscape! It makes me wanna shrink down and visit your Southern town 😄

[@plutoyaldnil4750]

Hey your scenery is fantastic but I'm wondering if something I usually do may actually make things a little easier for you...with the pink insulation once you carve the basic shape. try using a drywall knife at 90° to the surface because the irregular sizes of the teeth will make more realistic ( since irregular) grooves in the surfaces just a thouggt

[@ThunderMesaStudio]

Worth a try!

[@mattbilodeau8603]

I watched your video, got some foam and tried to apply what you taught. I have been working with the pink foam and it's going to take some practice. I will keep at it; I'm getting closer each time I practice. The really golden advice you gave was using the heat gun at the end to get rid of the fuzz and seal it off. That really works great. Thank you for your advice and help.

[@maxfinkelstein2989]

One of my favorite layouts. Used to work in Prescott Valley and would drive through Jerome all the time. You should add a Tuzigoot or Moctezuma Castle feature.

[@AzraelThanatos]

There's a couple other types of foam that have uses. One of the big ones is floral foam, mainly because it carves well with a little work, and I've found it better than a lot of others for things like statues or similar, and it also works well to add a different texture to areas in conjunction with others. It also comes in a lot of interesting shapes and is very cheap. The other is one that's more common in the US, with the expanded poly but with a different character that lets it take a lot of impressions and other things better than the US stuff...but it more fragile and takes impressions very easily so you need to be careful. Of course, if you have a laser, there's another option as well. You can use the laser on craft foam sheets and works great for things like cobblestone pieces that can be worked out Then there's the outside option, I've done some interesting pieces using sheets of stacked foamcore, it creates a natural strata look as you go, but take a bit of time to set up with rough cut pieces glued together that you then work on and break off parts of to get the more natural look

[@ThunderMesaStudio]

Good info, thanks!

[@MrAngelbrujo]

just beautyful !!!!

[@joshuamilstead8324]

I want to see how you made those cactus haha

[@ThunderMesaStudio]

Here you go! kzbin.info/www/bejne/j57UZ3Wkp7aYfZo

[@RobBean-wf9ie]

Dave, I was thinking that this could also work for the rock formations in the Durango area where you can see the strata in the upper area of the canyons. I'm I'm thinking of trying to find what the area looked like around Juanita, in the late 1800's. I'm thinking of modeling a lumber spur from Juanita to Pagosa in On30. Or I might do something similar to whtr you did with Calico and Walt's Ghost town at Knott's. Thank you again for the inspiration and great tips. I'm not sure about the expense of a cutter or go the kit route though. I do like what I saw with the videos you've done on your rock formations and painting technics.

[@ThunderMesaStudio]

Thanks for watching!

[@dundasjunctionmodelr.r-jam8267]

Great tips on carving pink foam

[@paulditzen2708]

For those of us who are dealing in HO scale as opposed to O scale, while I understand that most of the techniques are the same is there any special advice that would pertain to the smaller HO??

[@ThunderMesaStudio]

Good question! I'd say the techniques are exactly the same - from N scale to G scale. Natural formations like rockwork don't really have a scale, You'll just need more of it for the larger scales and the detail threshold will scale up or down without issue. A 10' wide rock in O scale becomes a 20' wide rock in HO scale etc.

[@paulditzen2708]

@@ThunderMesaStudio My main thot was that larger scales lend themselves to more and better detail. How to compensate for less detail in smaller scales. Step one hire a guy like you who actually knows what he/she is doing

[@Ronscout1]

A painting video would be appreciated. Thank you

[@uptownphotography]

Interesting video. Well done. Phil

[@BlackRRRhino]

Great video and great looking rock formations you got going on there!!! I was wondering if you have a list of picture books to use as reference? That would be greatly appreciated! Thanks¡

[@ThunderMesaStudio]

Hmmm. I will need to put some thought into that.

[@davevan8864]

Thanks

[@kevinjones7448]

Dave, Can you provide a link to the heat gun you are using ?

[@The_Brew_Dog]

Did you end up doing a painting video?

[@ThunderMesaStudio]

Sure did: kzbin.info/www/bejne/naHbgHiPn9-glbc

[@Phoenixknight79]

Hello, I was given your name and youtube channel and was told to check it out cause I am wanting to start with making rocks from foam. I live in Minnesota so the rocks are sure different then what you have down by you.. so I just wish i knew how to and where to begin.

[@elberthardy961]

Will any foam method hold up outside?

[@bobainsworth5057]

Painting methods video would help much.

[@tomas5376]

I found it!🚂🚂🚂

[@suzanneroark8804]

What’s your favorite tools for cleanup?

[@ThunderMesaStudio]

A Craftsman handheld shop vac.

[@denisestevens6492]

Hi loved yr video. I am a rather new diorama creator so yr tips/tricks and knowledge is super helpful for me. Thankyou. Best of wishes. Denise W.A

[@ThunderMesaStudio]

Glad it was helpful!

[@user-xn6zz3fm6t]

Please please please make a painting video

[@matthewcragg3607]

21:14 That's what she said.