Concrete Retaining Walls

I've used Masonite for the wall itself, with pilaster supports cut from 1/4" pink foam.  The foam pieces are glued to the Masonite using yellow wood glue.  You need to be careful with foam: hot glue tends to melt it and many solvent-based glues will dissolve it.  I used Plastruct railings along the top.  The road tunnel is an HO double-track tunnel portal.  The wall was painted with Woodland Scenics Concrete Top Coat and then weathered with a black wash.  Click on a photo to see a larger version.

Bob,

Just amazing work. Could be real.

Pink foam:

Very nice work gents!! And economical to boot. 

I have over 17 feet of high line that needs a wall in front of it. I was thinking about concrete and thought of foam core, but Bob's use of Masonite certainly works. In fact, it works great. I just bought one piece of Chooch large stone sheet to make a silicone mold and make some plaster walls to see if that works too. Going the Scenic Express route would cost a small fortune which I can't do.

I'm looking at two large walls - one of them is roughly 400 Scale feet in length, ranging from 18 to 24 scale feet in height. It's a pretty sizeable  feature - I'm worried about it taking over the scene vs. sitting into it realistically.  Photos of others work are most helpful.

I had to take second look it looks so real.

Nice JOB,GOOD LUCK, jOHN

Here are a few of mine from the old layout. All made from MDF in .25", .5" and .75" thicknesses.

Donald

My first attempt... 

I thought it looked bad without something at the top so i decided to add some detail.  May need to add a inset inside this.

I think the color is mostly good - I tried doing mold lines ala Norm.  Not too sure about it.  Maybe some chalk weathering and foliage will make it look better.

Looks like concrete to me, JP. 

Bob,

very well done!

Foam Core

I know Dennis uses Masking paint, but what colors do others use for painting foam?

From the old layout:

Peter

I also use Rus-toleum Camouflage Khaki. Both the Uline Masking Spray and the Rustoleum provide a  great aged concrete look. They look about the same.

DennisB posted:

Foam Core

Incredible picture.....Dennis' book is a must if you are into urban modelling!

Peter

Bob posted:

I've used Masonite for the wall itself, with pilaster supports cut from 1/4" pink foam.  The foam pieces are glued to the Masonite using yellow wood glue.  You need to be careful with foam: hot glue tends to melt it and many solvent-based glues will dissolve it.  I used Plastruct railings along the top.  The road tunnel is an HO double-track tunnel portal.  The wall was painted with Woodland Scenics Concrete Top Coat and then weathered with a black wash.  Click on a photo to see a larger version.

The pics of Bob's layout are great, but to do it justice, get the recent OGR video on his layout....it's fabulous!

Peter

I recycled the cork roadbed that I removed from under the tracks. Cut it to size, painted it grey and combined it with Plastruct components to resemble a modular slab style wall.

Bob posted:

I've used Masonite for the wall itself, with pilaster supports cut from 1/4" pink foam.  The foam pieces are glued to the Masonite using yellow wood glue.  You need to be careful with foam: hot glue tends to melt it and many solvent-based glues will dissolve it.  I used Plastruct railings along the top.  The road tunnel is an HO double-track tunnel portal.  The wall was painted with Woodland Scenics Concrete Top Coat and then weathered with a black wash.  Click on a photo to see a larger version.

Bob, this is amazing. I'd like to use masonite as you have, but I also need to bend the wall to follow an O-72 curve.  Will the .25" board bend sufficiently to do  that?

Thanks,