Mill Creek HOn30

[davefoxx]

Pretty sure the porosity of sandstone in conjunction with mold and mildew and soot and grime over time will likely turn very dark, especially near water and lack of sunlight.

Boom!  ^This.  Beat me to it, @Lemosteam.

[peteski]

Ah, so unlike the nice beige sandstone building in the Wikipedia article, this foundation has not been sandblasted  every few decades. 

[Chris333]

Can confirm. 
Very large retired Sandstone quarry just Southeast of me here in SW Washington. 
Lots of black stone in it, but was mostly light tannish gray when in full production.
I don't know the history of the quarry but getting to the darker stione may have spelled its demise if it wasn't desirable.
I do know that one of the larger local quarries struck a spring, thus flooding the pit.
It's purported that there is a bunch of equipment that remains under water as there wasn't time to remove it.
The flooded pit is now a public pool.  Very cold and very, very dark water do its extreme depth.

Tenino?

I was just searching and found it, they said it is a public pool now.
https://teninostonecarvers.com/about-tenino-sandstone/

https://www.google.com/maps/@46.8544766,-122.8531164,3a,75y,103.32h,94.93t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipOFkyo8Nq4f9_0o9Zk1rqTEdOZMehjnXkZdAkgX!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOFkyo8Nq4f9_0o9Zk1rqTEdOZMehjnXkZdAkgX%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya14.910119-ro-0-fo100!7i10240!8i5120!5m1!1e4

[wazzou]

Tenino?

Bingo.

[Chris333]

That Tenino quarry turned out to be a good find. They even have a Facebook page 
https://www.facebook.com/teninoquarrypool/

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I took this shot of Tenino and reversed it:


Looking at the staircase I guess the rock face steps are about 4' deep. So I bought some 1/2" foam and did this:


I lightly scored the edges vertically to look like drill holes. I brushed on some wood guess to sort of seal the surfaces and fill and small pin holes in the foam. And I painted it tan to see better, I'll take a pic when the paint dries. Might hit it with some fine texture paint too.

[DKS]

The background of trees looks painted in this image!

[Chris333]

After gluing the stack together and painting it tan just to see what I had. I saw some very small pin holes in the foam. So gave it a coat of Mod Podge to hopefully smooth it out a little.


And I started mocking up what I want here using parts from a Walther Midstate Marble kit.


And this is what it looks like in relation to the flour mill area:


I really wasn't gonna build the quarry right now and instead finish some of the main layout. But to color to rock face at the flour mill I needed to blend the edge into the fascia. Was about to cut that and was wondering how the scene would flow into the quarry area. So yeah I built it up. 


Oh and I ordered some slate shingles for the mill.

[wazzou]

Looks really good Chris.  You're nailing the look of the quarry if you've patterned it after Tenino.
You'd better make sure they've installed some good pumps with that river nearby.   

[Chris333]

Looks really good Chris.  You're nailing the look of the quarry if you've patterned it after Tenino.
You'd better make sure they've installed some good pumps with that river nearby.   

Just need a diving board 

[rodsup9000]

Chris, if you keep adding on, before long your going to run out of operator space.

[Chris333]

So I need a ton of stone blocks to model this scene. These would be perfect if they were the right size:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/100-Miniature-white-Stone-Blocks-O-HO-scale-diorama-model-1-43-1-35-wargame-wall/162045459467?hash=item25baa97c0b:g:v2YAAOxy9dVTlahV:rk:1:pf:0

So to get them the right size guess I need to make them myself. How were those blocks in the e-bay link made? Notice they have a nice random stone surface to them.

[Chris333]

This might work. I made these out of balsa foam. I was searching how to seal it and many said just use spray paint. It isn't really foam so teh paint doesn't attack it. But it will take a while to paint them all 

[rodsup9000]

 Cut stone backslash might work if you could find some small enough. I used some a long time ago for a natural retaining wall on our large scale layout.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/MSI-Rustique-Interlocking-8-in-x-18-in-x-10mm-Slate-Mesh-Mounted-Mosaic-Wall-Tile-10-sq-ft-case-RUSTIQUE-3DIL/205077856?cm_mmc=Shopping%7CG%7CBase%7CAll-Products%7CAll%7CAll%7CPLA|71700000014585962|58700001236285396|92700010802552373&gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=CjwKCAiAkrTjBRAoEiwAXpf9CQGcbrncksUJ4tko4F6HeM1mls19--x4knGhy914_qmPBHAA7B1sSRoC8CkQAvD_BwE

[peteski]

I don't know, those stone blocks look like something someone made from putty, molding it with their fingers.    Shouldn't stone blocs have flat faces and crisp corners?  Couldn't you use the same foam you used to make the stone walls of the quarry?  Just slice it into blocks using a sharp blade and some sort of a jig to make straight cuts.

[Chris333]

Yeah the edges rounded off just from handling them. I did emboss all 6 sizes of each block with a real piece of rock.

Now I wonder if I can make them out of clay and bake to harden them. I could slice the clay (I think) and emboss them the same with out the edges crumbling away.