HOW TO CREATE A STONE RETAINING WALL
EXPERT MODELLERS SHOW YOU HOW
George Dent builds a bespoke retaining wall for his layout, using textured plastic sheet, foamboard and a little imagination…
George’s initial plan for an idyllic, rural layout theme has given way to a much grittier, inductrial subject.
PHOTOGRAPHY: GEORGE DENT
As progress on my current ‘OO’ gauge layout project continues, a significant scenic feature was completed recently, in the form of a set of stone retaining walls.
The walls line a shallow cutting, in which a colliery line runs below a series of bridges. The restricted headroom and curved nature of the colliery line are designed to create an interesting visual addition to the overall scene. Having covered the construction of the bridges in previous issues (MR316/7), here we’ll focus on how the sections of retaining wall were created.
Visual consistency would be key to getting the scene looking right, so the use of Wills textured plastic sheet was essential, as the same material features on the adjacent bridge piers, as well as the station platform and overbridge at the other end of this 4ft long baseboard. However, fixing sheets of coarse stone to the sides of the cutting wouldn’t be enough – they would have to be raked at a realistic angle to suggest that they really were supporting the earth behind them.