How-To With JigStones
First Impressions
When you finally get that special package from your JigStone dealer you will be a happy, happy cat! The molds are a very good quality white Silicon. They are very flexible. I thought that I would have to make a backing board with shallow sides to keep everything flat, square, and perpendicular at the edges. I was half right. You do need a flat board to place your molds upon; more of that anon. But the silicon will maintain its vertical edges even when full of several pounds of wet concrete. But the question of the day will be "WHEN CAN I GET STARTED?" If you were like me you have already purchased a quantity of concrete. Or was that Mortar? Or cement? And, of course, is Quick Drying, or Quick Setting, or just Fast Something...???The Right Stuff!
Item one: Linda Spencer, up in NY State, says that she uses a product called Thorogrip (Not Thoroset).
Item two: I actually had not bought anything ahead of time, and, so, I grabbed a product called Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty off my work bench. This was not the dumbest of moves as I have had very good experiences with the product in HO molds. It's a darned good putty too. Mix it with water and pour. The Problem is it is Not fast setting.... I left it over night to dry. I got some excellent pieces: not only the blocks, but the roof, doors, and windows. It is a big bunch cheaper than plastic resin. It cleans up in water. And I'm doing all my doors and roof sections with it! I might add that after 3 years in the Garden there has been no degradation of the Durham's Putty..... When it is SEALED! Durham's WILL grow mold and discolor in one week of this Humid North Carolina weather.
Item three: I bought a 10 lb. bucket of Quickcrete's Quickset, Product #1240. It didn't work. I cast and cast and cast. I got corn bread muffins; i.e., crumbly concrete. I tried it thick, thin, and a betwixt mix. I let it set for one, two, and twelve plus hours. Don't buy it!
Item four: The local Lumber yard sold me a 9 lb bucket of Bonsal Fast Set Cement Mix (bar code 8894600128) which promised to set in 20 minutes. I've never been able to get back to it in 20 minutes... life keeps interrupting. But at one hour and up it is Excellent. It has a exceedingly fine sand which gives an excellent detail. Pop it out of the molds and allow it to cure (just set aside) for 24 hours while you pour another set.
Doing It Right...?
OOPS! Gee, I was turning out a fine looking brick now but in 'concrete' grey. Back to the drawing board... Paint it? Dye it? Off to the local DIY (do-it-yourself) and check out a bottle of concrete colorant. Umm, one bottle good for 120-180 pounds of concrete. Which is, duh, 20 buckets of the Bonsal I'm using. Back to the lumber yard for a couple more buckets. Back to the shop for a new pour. Huzzah! Brick red bricks! The colorant also comes in 'buff' and 'brown'. The buff would seem to be good for a sandstone rock.On the Other Hand... Linda says that she prefers the concrete color. That way she paints the bricks, but leaves the concrete cracks as a 'mortar' color. However, then you gotta worry about the brick paint coming off, is what I sez.
On the third hand, said the octopus... All the red bricks do not come out the same shade. But the plain Concrete do!
Look'n At The Plans
I admit it. I was disappointed with the plans. I'm a designer in the theatre. Evidently a snooty one... I thought that the plans were just not dramatic, not Disney-esque enough. And too small. Here were plans on a 8 1/2 x 11 sheet, which if I had drawn them would have at least filled a 24 x 36 inch sheet; and I would have drawn them in 1/2 inch scale. Sort of 1:1 for G. (And, NO!, I do not wanna argue 1:29, 1:32.....1:20.3)So I started drawing some plans out to 1/2 inch scale...
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The plans from JigStones are better than ok! They step you through each physical layer of construction. They also help you to understand how all the itty-bitty pieces contribute to the whole. Ah, Zen and the Garden railroad!I'm kinda right too. It would take several many large blueprints to show a building. However, as they would be life sized (sic), you would be able to see what you are getting size-wise. Lay them out on cardboard and prop them up behind your train. It would allow you to see how much acreage you would be using up.
As a set designer I drew up a engine house that was a) able to hold more than a 0-4-0 Porter, and b) would be more American-ized. It should hold a complete Bachmann ten-wheeler and tender totally inside. The Ugly part is that it will take me about 10+ buckets of cement to mold enough pieces. And the thing will weigh in at some 100+ lbs!!!
That's not going to stop mThe first thing that I built was the "Lineside Hut" from the Starter Patterns that come from JigStone. As planned it would be 8 gft long x 9 gft wide x 11 gft to the peak of the roof. About the size of 2 fists stacked on top of one another. I added one more large casting to the length, making it cigar box size: 14 gft long x 9 gft wide and with two windows instead of one.
This will take 10 large blocks and 4 small blocks and a zillion itty-bitties. At 4 large and 4 small blocks per casting, I will have to run 3 different 'pours'. About a single day's worth, as I can do a pour at the shop at work as well as at home.
One long wall of my BIG (!one stall!) engine house will have me casting for about a week! We shall see....
Doing a Pour
I have found that actually reading the instructions will aid your initial guess-timation of water-to-concrete. I have also found that about three 8 oz plastic cups of concrete will fill ALL my molds:- 2 large walling molds
- 2 small walling molds
- 1 angle mold
- 1 arch window surround
Your basic equipment for a pour should include:
- an old plastic yogurt bucket
- a heavy duty spatula with a wooden handle
- a metal stew spoon, about 12 inches long!
- an apron
- a piece of heavy plywood – apx.. 12 x 24
- a rubber mallet
- a teaspoon
- a cheap 8 oz. container
And, of course, the concrete and colorant!
Place the molds face up on the plywood with the rubber hammer nearby. Measure 24 oz of concrete into the yogurt bucket. Fill the 8 oz cup with water, and add 2 teaspoons of color. Swirl the spoon around in the water to get it off. Pour the colored water into the concrete. Mix with the spatula and the big spoon.
Caution! It will look like there is not enough water. Wrong! Keep mixing!
Make sure to break up all the dry powder hunks of concrete into the mix. As you mix, it will turn soupy. What you want will remind you of a Dairy Queen soft Ice Cream cone. If you add water, do it one tablespoon at a time. It is very water sensitive at this point. An extra spoon full can take your mix from pancake batter to chicken soup!
Do not add more concrete! You have enough with 24 oz to fill your molds! Extra will only be thrown away! If it is too soupy, then stir for another 2-3 minutes, then pour and wait over night before trying to take the pieces out of the mold.
The Pour! Do this fast! The concrete is setting up, NOW! Using the big metal spoon start distributing the concrete into ALL the molds. Use the back of the spoon or the spatula to give a quick swipe to level the concrete. Pull one edge of the plywood off the table with one hand and tap/beat on the bottom with the rubber mallet. 30 seconds of tapping will level the concrete into each mold and start to bring bubbles to the top. The concrete that you can see now will look watery on the top.
Quickly, level things out with the spatula- some sections will be overflowing and some will need more filling. Then more tapping with the rubber mallet from the bottom. You will probably repeat this 2-3 times until you think that everything looks equal. And when no more bubbles come to the top.
You should be able to see some of the white silicon between the various molds.
Walk away from it. Go wash your bucket and tools out. But, not down the sink! Hose them down outside! Now, go away for a while!
Later...
Check by using your finger nail. If you can mark the concrete with your nail, then it is not set.When you think that it is ready, start with the big block mold. Cradle it in your hand. Use your other hand/thumb to pull the silicon away from the concrete. One side at a time around the block. Use one finger of the cradle hand to push up on the center of the block. Keep working the thumb around the block. If you can get it to work itself about a 1/4 up from the mold you are okay. Grab that sucker and pull it out!
If it cracks.... Go away for another hour! After your 2nd successful pour you will pop them little darlings out without any trepidation! Don't worry, it will come to you.
Thus Endeth the Pour
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Footnotes: Suppliers
Thorogrip Anchoring Cement
Harris Specialty Chemicals, Inc.
Carried by True Value Hardware
$9.95 / 10 lb.... $ 36.95 / 50 lb.
1-800-327-1570
Quickcrete QuickSet #1240 – DO NOT USE!
Bonsal Fast Set Cement Mix
Made in Charlotte, NC
$ 8.50 / 9 lb. bucket
Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty
4 pound can apx. $ 6
Donald Durham Co., Des Moines, Iowa