Cobblestones From Scratch (O Scale)

So I've been trying to come up with a good way to do cobblestones from scratch. Experiments included gluing down lentils to have the 3d cobblestone look (and perhaps I'll continue this line just to see how it goes). Lentils have issues though for modeling sake -- For one, they don't take well to water and tend to shrivel up when they have grout or something with heavy water content brushed over them. They're also a bit bigger than I think I wanted for O scale.

My other line of experiments have been with plaster. Initially I was casting a square piece of plaster, then breaking it up, gluing it back together, then grouting it (a lot of work indeed). After a few tries of these other methods it hit me it would perhaps just be easier to carve the shape directly into the plaster.

Enter attempts #5 and #6:

Attempt #5

Attempt #6

#6 is getting close to what I've been looking for. The painting was done in these steps (all paints acrylic like you'd get at your neighborhood craft store):

• Did a wash of light gray over it
• Did a wash light light green over it
• Did a wash of burnt umber + light green over it
• Dry brushed black
• Dry brushed white

The color shown in this photograph is a bit off from how it looks in real life (less orangy in real life). Washes were created by combining the acrylic paint with water and mixing well (about a 15:1 water-to-paint ratio).