Model Making Quick Tip: Coloring Hydrocal Plaster Castings

[@dougkinney3207]

I like B. Thanks for the tip!

[@magnificus8581]

C and A are my favorites

[@josephmikeals886]

B - Looks better to me. I like all three. But, yes B. Really enjoying your videos.

[@giulius7176]

they all look good.....nice to see this comparison!

[@stevemellin5806]

Great tips as always . Have a great weekend

[@billsaindon5747]

Interesting techniques. Plan to try all three. Personal favorite is A.

[@fbrailroad4628]

The watercolors looked to be the most realistic to me. Thanks for the tips and sharing, David

[@SteveLee-iw6wz]

I liked "B" the best. You're quite talented!

[@raymondrussell500]

There is a fourth technic. Dust on tempora paints (the old water solvable dry powdered school paints ). Then spray lightly with plain water and allow it to dry. Best used over gesso. Then dry brush with accent colors. I have used raw umber tempora

[@chrislambert5249]

"C" Great instructional video. Thanks

[@toddainsworth795]

Dave "I have used watercolor excluisevly to color stain hydrocal casting since floquil terminated their line of stains..Watercolor also is good for adding a bit of light coloring for stripwood prior to staining w/ Driftwood stain by byuilders in scale. I use Tightbond 2 water-resistant wood glue to hold watercolor stained hydrocal walls together. This allows you to touch up walls as needed without worrying about the walls becoming unglued.( due to the moisture seeping into the castings). Nice tip on lightening up the surface w/ a dry brush. Easier than the damp paper towel method. I vote for " C" Thanks for your tips!.

[@ThunderMesaStudio]

Good tips!

[@davidhorton5965]

As you said all would look nice. I personally prefer "A" over the others. Not sure how to describe it but the colors seem to appear more "of nature" ... they have an organic feel to me.

[@Azure-Scenic-View-Railroad]

C works best for me.

[@samshoes1]

I have used A in most of my work with hydrocal. I never cared for the sealing approach. I had never seen C used before and I really like the results. I will give it a try on my next project. Thanks!

[@tomschmidt3165]

I liked all 3. The choice selected would be made by what the project is and how one would want the final (look/feel) to be.

[@aussiefrenchman-hobbytable9960]

Hi Dave , my wife and I love your channel, we found you a few weeks ago and have been binge watching , your layout is so different from others and im my opinion one of the best , As im about to start my own small n guage layout, thinking that a Disney disigned Canadian railroad is now on the cards ! All the best Marc 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

[@PatrickNijhuis]

Absolute: B (A is also looking nice :)

[@royreynolds108]

Depends on the stone you are trying to depict and the area.

[@bobestep7681]

i like them all

[@dff19707]

B is the method I would have used before watching this video, but I like results of A the best. Also, A is the least amount of steps, which is great for me, since I am a lazy modeler.

[@paulbottrill8391]

To be fair they all look good but if I had to choose I’d go for ‘B’.

[@michaelsullivan3581]

I really like all three! I'm leaning a little towards "A" in this case! I've always used Acrylic washes. The water color looks like a fun technique and gives great depth! Can't wait to try it. Thanks Dave!

[@pbyfr]

Nice comparison of techniques. Hard to choose on the result only, as they some color variation, but all are realistic. On the technique itself, I would use B, as it allow gluing the parts together before painting without worrying about blocking the washes/stains.

[@davidsoldiron]

Love that water color's look for random stone coloring. "The Opaque colors look goos as well for model stone work, where the rock all came from the same quarry.

[@Froggy744]

Personally, I prefer "A" &"C". I think it could be the brown spectrum.

[@benpiffero]

I like "C", but I think it fits my style of modeling. I like to use base colors to vary the warmth of the tones in my work (a concept i picked up by watching your videos and listening to the podcast). The color wheel is a magical thing.

[@lynnmccurdythehdmmrc2561]

"C", don't think I've seen that method before and looks great. On my Twin Peaks layout, I used Powered paint, then an Ink wash.

[@theragingdolphinsmaniac4696]

Could you do a video about the scratch building materials you use and how you go about selecting them?

[@thetobin8or]

did you do a video on the making of Old faithful ?? like the fog / smoke machine ??

[@ThunderMesaStudio]

Yes. Linked here in the comments and in the video. Thanks for watching.

[@scottbaker5975]

I've only used method A and C. Many profess method B though. I think a lot of interesting results could be obtained from method B by using different seal coat colors such as ochre etc. Thanks for the videos Dave!

[@rrswitch48]

B looks best in my observation. I actually use a concoction of A on my mobile show layout and it scuffs easily but touch up's are easy. I also prefer A as it tends to soak deep into the hydrocal.

[@williambrueggemann2959]

I like B...in fact a combo of B&C

[@robertscobie5193]

Great video on a very interesting topic. Have you tried Pan Pastels? After using the Yorke technique for years, Roger Malinowski turned me on to them.

[@ThunderMesaStudio]

I have not, but I'd like to give them a try

[@markg890]

I wonder (because I can't see at this resolution) if the granulation on different watercolors comes out? One of my favorite things about watercolor is that you can see how the pigments settle on the finished paintings. It's a very textural medium.

[@ThunderMesaStudio]

It does a bit, especially with very wet washes where the colors are allowed to separate.

[@dstenger]

Love your work! The water color technique is interesting, but still think the tried and true acrylic staining is the most realistic and my preference. Why didn't you use the black/umber wash on C?

[@tommysager138]

"B for Me".

[@markdeschane4467]

Dave, Did you make the Hydrocal Castings? If so, maybe a video on doing so would be good.

[@dkaustin98]

Dave, Thank you for providing this tip. I have several of the hydrocal kits to do. Wouldn't the choice be dependent on what part of the country you are modeling? I am modeling the same area you have with Thunder Mesa Mining. So, I would think C is closer to Arizona stone, but I am not sure. It seems a little darker than I thought it would. I do remember finding some old abandon stone cabins out near Thumb Mountain that had Turquoise stones embedded in the interior on the chimney. The stones on the exterior of the cabins seemed more like C. BUT, that is from a memory made back in 1967. You showed us a video where you use chick grit for On30. I will do the same. I wanted to ask you something about ballasting that I noticed in the Railroads of Arizona vol III by Myrick. I wanted to ask you about some of the old narrow gauge photos from the late 1800 to early 1900s. There are photos showing ballast heaped between the rails with no ties showing between the rails with the tie ends extruding from the ballast completely. That seems a lot different from the "groomed mainline ballast" we as modelers do today. I know the Morenci Southern Railway there in S.E. Arizona used their mine tailings for ballast. That may have changed years later. Are we modeling ballast wrong? Would heaping the stone over the ties protect the wood? I also found out that at one time there were old growth Mesquite growing all over Southern Arizona and many of the Mesquite trees were used not only for paving streets in the towns, but for railroad ties too. These Mesquite ties were laid bare, no creosote. In some of the old B&W photos those ties look very white when freshly laid out. I have been told that Mesquite is a reddish color when cut. As a kid living in Phoenix I know the hot sun had to bleach out any exposed ties to a silvery color. Since you live out there in Jerome can you provide any advice on this?

[@ThunderMesaStudio]

All good questions. I must admit that my ballast is based more on Colorado narrow gauge practice than Arizona. Sadly, there is nothing left of the United Verde & Pacific in Jerome to compare too, and the few photos that I have don't clearly show the track conditions. However, in my experience, ballast dumped between the rails and atop the ties is usually ballast that has not been tamped. In practice on a model, I believe it might interfere with operations if not done very carefully, especially with lighter gauge rail and definitely on turnouts.

[@joesephjoestar4449]

Wait is hydrocal waterproof? It wont break up or fall apart if you use water based paints? Im new to this

[@ThunderMesaStudio]

Not completely water proof. If you soaked it in a bucket overnight, it would probably crumble. But cured hydrocal can easily take washes of water-based paints with no problem.

[@garyrogers1469]

B

[@brianscott9749]

‘C’ and ‘A’

[@jimmclaughlin8195]

I like B the best, but them my rockwork will be a basically granite rock, as found in Oregon, Washington State and British Columbia in the West o along the coast of Maine and Newfoundland and New Brunswick in the East. More a mix of grays with whiteish anb blackish accents and tones. That's why I like sample B with the sort of blueish mixed with a sort of grayish, rater than the burnt umber and burnt sienna earth tones you use.. I thin the rock colors on a building are a function of the very local geology of the countryside where the railroad is located. Your Arizona tones are beautiful, for many parts of the Southwest, but don't fit in the New England and Maritime Provinces or the St. Lawrence, or Penobscot river beds / gorges I'm more interested in. Gotta' make the rock look like the geology of the area you are setting / siteing your railroad in. Jim McLaughlin Nov. 2024

[@stevepringle2295]

C!

[@allenlandis4504]

water color wash

[@williamdickman7917]

Sorry Dave....I still think Tom Yorke's method is the best. Seal the casting with clear acrylic spray, stain with very thin Raw Umber water color, pick out individual stones with washes of Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, and a variety of other earthy tones. The color is lighter and more subtle than your results, imo. Thanks for this demo though.

[@ThunderMesaStudio]

No need to be sorry! The whole point of this video was to show the methods that work for me and ask what methods work for others. Tom Yorke's method is solid.

[@WMTrackdog]

Have you tried inks?

[@normanrowe2831]

A.

[@ArizonaGhostriders]

B