Dear Dale and Karyn, as said before the cement based tile glue is a good alternative for increasing the grab on the foam. Even though your batch of mortar mix may have been beyond the expiration date, it could also be what the mason calls burn. Either when the surface you add the cement to sucks up the moisture from the mortar mix, when the evaporates too quickly, or when capillary action in the mix sucks the water down. Part of that can be prevented by dispersion primers, or the good old method of a sloppy mixture of Portland cement touched on with an old brush. That will form a ‘barrier’ between substructure and cement layer. To prevent capillary action downwards, masons prefer to start their smearing on top and work downwards. Plus, another thing they to check the mix is form little balls, which they just throw on the surface. When the ball still splashes, the mixture is too wet. When the ball still puffs dust, it’s too dry. When the ball will just land and stick, almost like a ball of well mixed dough would to a tiled surface, then the mixture is perfect. It’s all about trapping the water inside the cement and sand molecules to get the best grab action. Last but not least, look at Polytex netting. It’s the kind of netting used for outside stucco or cement stuccoed walls. It’s a durable LDPE coated glass fiber netting often used over EPS or EPF insulation. It’s easy to cut, easy to form, and truly increases the grab of the cement and foam. Don’t know if Polytex is a known brand name in the US. Maze comes in 7mm, 10mm, 15mm. Saw something similar at Home Depot a while ago, think around the bathroom waterproofing aisle. Brand name was Schluter, if I recall correctly. Although it might be that they only sell a membrane with a similar kind of coated mesh attached to the membrane. The other equivalent is the mazed drywall tape. I would choose the wider than 2” version though. Hope this helps! Cheerio
Steve's layout has to be one of my personal favorites of all time, and to see younger Steve working on a railroad however many years ago that was makes my heart happy
On my outdoor layout here in Carson City, I used sandstone powder color meant for stucco and mixed it straight into the concrete. That way it cures into what becomes actual synthetic sandstone with pieces of gray rocks interspersed with the tan sand color!
I've always been in love with our red rock country and the way you have made yours is perfect. ( your "cold") sounds better but it hangs on a bit. Thanks again for your extraordinary videos! Love your railroad videos the most.
Thanks. I’m mostly over it. Karyn can’t shake it. Mostly but then it comes back. Not a cold… they think RSV. No problem. It will go away in it’s own time.
@@ToyManTelevision yes I know that it's worse than a cold! I just use that term myself. Be careful guys I ended up with pneumonia because I wouldn't admit that I was too sick to keep on working. Dumb me!
I really enjoy the attitude you communicate on this video (and so many of your others). The work your doing is very impressive and definitely an accomplishment and yet you make it clear that it's okay to make mistakes. You keep learning and always make it very clear that you are having fun with what you are doing. I find these videos are really enjoyable to watch from what you are accomplishing but just as much how you are enjoying doing it.
Lots of learning curves here. Everything is trial and error...like life itself. And your doing great! Keep up the "excellent" work. Can't wait to see the finished product. 😊
I would think that the glue attacking the foam would not matter much, since you are covering it with the mortar. It may actually make everything stronger. You are fast approaching some very interesting segments on your garden railroad. WE are all looking forward to seeing and learning more. ;-)
Mr toy man and Mrs toy man here in Australia we use a product called Bondcrete were used in concrete work and we used in rendering basically what you were doing on your tunnel portal rockwork bond Crete is a PVA glue which is a ceiling agent and a bonding agent another words helps your mortar mix to stick to your polystyrene blocks there on your rockwork it’s an Australian invention it’s been around for years here in Australia I used it all the time I used it in for ceiling and I use especially in my model word because I build a lot of my own buildings out of timber but I don’t know if you’ve got a product there in the US yours sincerely Jeff Melbourne Australia
Hi. Er… g’day. Yup. I bought a product…. I forget the name.. much to expensive to use outside… about $2 a pound. Er… $4 per kilogram. Anyway I’m going to use it for casting cement floors and stuff. More to come with that.
Something you can add to your mix is Moose Milk or the like. Moose Milk is an cement additive that helps it stick to itself and other surfaces. As I remember it's an acrylic latex additive that helps give the mix more body. An artist friend uses it in her concrete artwork pours and sculptures.
Interesting stuff here. And lessons learned and applied. Outdoor coloring has got to be interesting. Although I know there are color additives that can be added to concrete mix. I guess that's your next step. Tune in next week to see how Dale adds color to all that greyness
Sounds great! I love this stuff but Steve always did it. He did zoos and the Luxor hotel with like 100 other guys… but he did the huge statues of Rammesses. Anyway now I gota figure this out for myself. 😊
Yup. It’s the neighbors vine. Love it!!! Love the bees!!! I’ve lost all fear of them.. they come around. Even land on me. Wasps and yellow jackets are a different story!!! But the bees, especially bumblebees are wonderful.
Hi , I have a question ! I know that my question , is not related to your garden rail road build ! However , I'm not sure where I can find a comment section , so I'm using this ! My question is about a locomotive that up untill today 02/05/23 , I did not know was even real , but tonight , upon closer look I found out that it is real ! My wife and I have been doing a little traveling since Friday afternoon , when we left Idaho , we went over to Vancouver WA. For a family function yesterday , then tonight we are in Salem or. , So basically we're screwing around ! And go back home on Tuesday ! know you go traveling around a lot , doing pretty much anything train related so I thought you might answer my question ? As I said , we are in Salem or. Tonite , and my wife wanted in and out burger , so we drove up Interstate 5 to kaiser Oregon ! There is an in and out burger , at a place called Kaiser street station or something like that ! Any way , outside the restaurant alongside of the freeway , is a small locomotive and tender ! It was already dark when we got there , and as usual , the line was long ! Upon closer inspection while waiting in line , I noticed that the locomotive was a 4 6 0 , manufacturer unknown ! Now i'm not sure , but with the way the light was casting shadows inside of the cab , it looked to me , like the the boiler didn't stop at the front of the cab , but actually extended into the cab , almost to the back of the cab ! If I'm not mistaken , this would make the locomotive , a deck less locomotive , since the boiler goes back so far , and there is very little room between the boiler and the sides of the cab , and there would only be a small fold down bench with no back rest on each side of the boiler and very little room inside the cab ! How can I verify what I think I saw tonite , was a deck less locomotive ? I tried looking it up , but couldn't find anything of this locomotives origin !
Hi. Nope. Lots of small locomotives were built that way. The engineer needed to squeeze in alongside the boiler. Only about 30”! The fireman same thing on the other side but then outside on the deck between the locomotive and tender to shovel coal. The “Connies” Don and I are building are of that design and I have a cab ride in one in the show on old videos. Can’t get to it without loosing the comment. I’ll see if I can find it.
Check on Sunday. It’s hard to use over many shapes. But the big wall uses that. And a few other places. Using cheesecloth in places but a commenter said there’s a cloth product just for doing that! Stay tuned.
Danial Smith who builds garden railroads professionally in California has fallen in love with the idea. And has dubbed it a guillotine door. Sounds better on a railway than dog door. But yes!! Dog door!
Thick as in thicker on the layout or thicker as is mix? Thickness of the layer should be more!! I keep reminding myself. But the more I work with it the more I realize it needs to be like 3” thick! Or more. But then it’s very heavy.. should be fine. But harder to put on. But I’m thinking 1 to 3 inches. 30mm to 70mm ish.
Instead of using your mortar tool get a pair of vinyl kitchen gloves and just place the mortar. It will go quicker giving you more time to carve your lines in.
Dear Dale and Karyn, as said before the cement based tile glue is a good alternative for increasing the grab on the foam. Even though your batch of mortar mix may have been beyond the expiration date, it could also be what the mason calls burn. Either when the surface you add the cement to sucks up the moisture from the mortar mix, when the evaporates too quickly, or when capillary action in the mix sucks the water down. Part of that can be prevented by dispersion primers, or the good old method of a sloppy mixture of Portland cement touched on with an old brush. That will form a ‘barrier’ between substructure and cement layer.
To prevent capillary action downwards, masons prefer to start their smearing on top and work downwards. Plus, another thing they to check the mix is form little balls, which they just throw on the surface. When the ball still splashes, the mixture is too wet. When the ball still puffs dust, it’s too dry. When the ball will just land and stick, almost like a ball of well mixed dough would to a tiled surface, then the mixture is perfect. It’s all about trapping the water inside the cement and sand molecules to get the best grab action.
Last but not least, look at Polytex netting. It’s the kind of netting used for outside stucco or cement stuccoed walls. It’s a durable LDPE coated glass fiber netting often used over EPS or EPF insulation. It’s easy to cut, easy to form, and truly increases the grab of the cement and foam. Don’t know if Polytex is a known brand name in the US. Maze comes in 7mm, 10mm, 15mm. Saw something similar at Home Depot a while ago, think around the bathroom waterproofing aisle. Brand name was Schluter, if I recall correctly. Although it might be that they only sell a membrane with a similar kind of coated mesh attached to the membrane. The other equivalent is the mazed drywall tape. I would choose the wider than 2” version though.
Hope this helps! Cheerio
Thanks for showing mistakes and wins on this build. We learn the how to and don't does this way. Have a great Sunday see you Tuesday.
GOD BLESS 🚂💖🚂💖🚂💖
Thanks, you too! The fun is in the doing and sharing. Running too…. But mostly building and sharing. God bless right back.
Looking good. Lessons learned with the mortar 🚂🔥🔥🔥
You got that right!
Looks fantastic
Thanks!
Steve's layout has to be one of my personal favorites of all time, and to see younger Steve working on a railroad however many years ago that was makes my heart happy
Yup. Shame it’s gone…. But large pieces survive.
Great rock treatment you have going on there!! Fabulous!!!!
Thanks!!
Beautiful!!!
Hi. Thanks again!!
Looking good. I would recommend painting the doggy door black so it looks like a tunnel even when closed
Might be worth it!!
Trials and tribulations of trying to be creative! Oy! Thanks guys for the video.
Hi Tim! Always!
The stone work is looking good!
Thanks!!
On my outdoor layout here in Carson City, I used sandstone powder color meant for stucco and mixed it straight into the concrete. That way it cures into what becomes actual synthetic sandstone with pieces of gray rocks interspersed with the tan sand color!
Going to try that. Or something similar.
I've always been in love with our red rock country and the way you have made yours is perfect. ( your "cold") sounds better but it hangs on a bit. Thanks again for your extraordinary videos! Love your railroad videos the most.
Thanks. I’m mostly over it. Karyn can’t shake it. Mostly but then it comes back. Not a cold… they think RSV. No problem. It will go away in it’s own time.
Oh yea. The video… the trick has now been color. More failures. But upcoming video. Keep one eye on the channel.
@@ToyManTelevision yes I know that it's worse than a cold! I just use that term myself. Be careful guys I ended up with pneumonia because I wouldn't admit that I was too sick to keep on working. Dumb me!
Looks great. As a long-time subscriber, I was cringing, waiting for the rock wall to fail.
Yup. Trile and eorror. Er.. I mean trial and error. If at first you don’t succeed, take your ball and go home. No wait. Try again.
I had a similar experience with "old" cement! Old hoarding habits die hard. Nice job in the end though
Thanks! Yup. Never thought cement would have a “shelf life”. But it sure does.
I really enjoy the attitude you communicate on this video (and so many of your others). The work your doing is very impressive and definitely an accomplishment and yet you make it clear that it's okay to make mistakes. You keep learning and always make it very clear that you are having fun with what you are doing. I find these videos are really enjoyable to watch from what you are accomplishing but just as much how you are enjoying doing it.
I appreciate that! More mistakes coming right up!! Stay with us.. we do figure it out!!
Lots of learning curves here. Everything is trial and error...like life itself. And your doing great! Keep up the "excellent" work. Can't wait to see the finished product. 😊
Well more problems. Fix that in the spring. But not with the mortar. With the paint… plan B up next.
Very informative. I use the pink foam indoors with a hot wire cutter. This is giving me great ideas for my future garden railway!
Glad it was helpful!
I would think that the glue attacking the foam would not matter much, since you are covering it with the mortar. It may actually make everything stronger.
You are fast approaching some very interesting segments on your garden railroad. WE are all looking forward to seeing and learning more. ;-)
Indeed. The new attempt is definitely working better.
Despite the problems it came out great! 😊👍
Thank you! 😊
I hope you complete your Garden Railroad very soon.
Oh gee. Still years away. But the building it is the fun part.
A nice little tutorial showing your mistakes and how you overcame them. Cool!
Hi again. Indeed the mistakes are in some ways the most interesting. I hate do overs. Yet that’s how everything improves.
This really came out nice! Lot’s of trial and error as so many projects encounter but that’s all good.
Mostly good. Still trial and error.
Looks Great !!!!!
Thanks mike!
Mr toy man and Mrs toy man here in Australia we use a product called Bondcrete were used in concrete work and we used in rendering basically what you were doing on your tunnel portal rockwork bond Crete is a PVA glue which is a ceiling agent and a bonding agent another words helps your mortar mix to stick to your polystyrene blocks there on your rockwork it’s an Australian invention it’s been around for years here in Australia I used it all the time I used it in for ceiling and I use especially in my model word because I build a lot of my own buildings out of timber but I don’t know if you’ve got a product there in the US yours sincerely Jeff Melbourne Australia
Hi. Er… g’day. Yup. I bought a product…. I forget the name.. much to expensive to use outside… about $2 a pound. Er… $4 per kilogram. Anyway I’m going to use it for casting cement floors and stuff. More to come with that.
Sunday morning foist and to like
Hi.
Dale: You are too modest. The stone work looks great. Looks very realistic.
Hi Ken!! And gee thanks!
Something you can add to your mix is Moose Milk or the like. Moose Milk is an cement additive that helps it stick to itself and other surfaces. As I remember it's an acrylic latex additive that helps give the mix more body. An artist friend uses it in her concrete artwork pours and sculptures.
Goin look for that! I’ve used yellow wood glue for that but expensive !!
@@ToyManTelevision most yellow wood glues are not water proof, I know Moose Milk is, some add it to stucco so it sticks better.
Interesting stuff here. And lessons learned and applied.
Outdoor coloring has got to be interesting.
Although I know there are color additives that can be added to concrete mix.
I guess that's your next step.
Tune in next week to see how Dale adds color to all that greyness
Yup. And many new problems. Sigh. Learning curve.
Looks awesome!!!
Thanks😀
Looks great.
Thanks. ❤
Great video, We have foam mountain s outback on the yard layout for 5 year's with little problem. Looks very realistic great job...
Sounds great! I love this stuff but Steve always did it. He did zoos and the Luxor hotel with like 100 other guys… but he did the huge statues of Rammesses. Anyway now I gota figure this out for myself. 😊
Thanks guys, I’m learning a lot from this and it’s giving me ideas for my railroad.
Wonderful!!!
I need to try these hopefully I can that dark granite look and get moss to grow on something like that to make like a mossy mountain
Dark granite is much easier. It’s already almost the right color and the stone is quite angular.
Thanks
Welcome!!
I used that pink foam in my hot tub cover. It doesn't absorb moisture so this should work good outside.
It’s perfect!!
Disney did use cement for those cliff faces, you can sometimes see the mixers in old pictures of the theme park under construction.
I watched them doing “Big Thunder Mountain”. Wasted like 2 hours of prime Disneyland time watching guys working on that.
Very entertaining content, I was wondering if you've ever visited the Midwest Central Railroad?
No. Where is that?
@@ToyManTelevision It is in Mount Pleasant Iowa, you should come visit during old threshers.
I see you guys have a Trumpet vine. Love it for Hummingbirds, and bees. Hate it for it's Kudzu like spreading🙄
Yup. It’s the neighbors vine. Love it!!! Love the bees!!! I’ve lost all fear of them.. they come around. Even land on me. Wasps and yellow jackets are a different story!!! But the bees, especially bumblebees are wonderful.
@@ToyManTelevision how about Hummingbird moths?
Also, can you please put a link up for the blue foam glue.
Hum. Can’t add it here.. it’s Loctite PL 300
@@ToyManTelevision That's good enough!!!
Hi , I have a question ! I know that my question , is not related to your garden rail road build ! However , I'm not sure where I can find a comment section , so I'm using this ! My question is about a locomotive that up untill today 02/05/23 , I did not know was even real , but tonight , upon closer look I found out that it is real ! My wife and I have been doing a little traveling since Friday afternoon , when we left Idaho , we went over to Vancouver WA. For a family function yesterday , then tonight we are in Salem or. , So basically we're screwing around ! And go back home on Tuesday ! know you go traveling around a lot , doing pretty much anything train related so I thought you might answer my question ? As I said , we are in Salem or. Tonite , and my wife wanted in and out burger , so we drove up Interstate 5 to kaiser Oregon ! There is an in and out burger , at a place called Kaiser street station or something like that ! Any way , outside the restaurant alongside of the freeway , is a small locomotive and tender ! It was already dark when we got there , and as usual , the line was long ! Upon closer inspection while waiting in line , I noticed that the locomotive was a 4 6 0 , manufacturer unknown ! Now i'm not sure , but with the way the light was casting shadows inside of the cab , it looked to me , like the the boiler didn't stop at the front of the cab , but actually extended into the cab , almost to the back of the cab ! If I'm not mistaken , this would make the locomotive , a deck less locomotive , since the boiler goes back so far , and there is very little room between the boiler and the sides of the cab , and there would only be a small fold down bench with no back rest on each side of the boiler and very little room inside the cab ! How can I verify what I think I saw tonite , was a deck less locomotive ? I tried looking it up , but couldn't find anything of this locomotives origin !
Hi. Nope. Lots of small locomotives were built that way. The engineer needed to squeeze in alongside the boiler. Only about 30”! The fireman same thing on the other side but then outside on the deck between the locomotive and tender to shovel coal. The “Connies” Don and I are building are of that design and I have a cab ride in one in the show on old videos. Can’t get to it without loosing the comment. I’ll see if I can find it.
What do you recommend for getting into g scale the cheapest way possible
Hum… well it depends on your interests. What’s your favorite railroad? Standard or narrow gauge?
@@ToyManTelevision narrow gauge.
The foam glue is great, but why not cover the foam with chicken wire like they do stucco. The chicken wire will act like rebar
Check on Sunday. It’s hard to use over many shapes. But the big wall uses that. And a few other places. Using cheesecloth in places but a commenter said there’s a cloth product just for doing that! Stay tuned.
Is that a dog door you're using?
Danial Smith who builds garden railroads professionally in California has fallen in love with the idea. And has dubbed it a guillotine door. Sounds better on a railway than dog door. But yes!! Dog door!
@@ToyManTelevision I've seen some of Daniels work online and he is amazing! :)
Toy man why didn’t you use a thicker cement.
Thick as in thicker on the layout or thicker as is mix? Thickness of the layer should be more!! I keep reminding myself. But the more I work with it the more I realize it needs to be like 3” thick! Or more. But then it’s very heavy.. should be fine. But harder to put on. But I’m thinking 1 to 3 inches. 30mm to 70mm ish.
Instead of using your mortar tool get a pair of vinyl kitchen gloves and just place the mortar. It will go quicker giving you more time to carve your lines in.
This works well. No matter what we need to work FAST!!