Shale Cut 1
If you look at places where deep rock cuts and tunnels have been cut into areas with shale bedrock, you will often see that as the cut gets deeper, and as you approach the tunnel portal, the rock surface seems to become more nearly vertical, and generally cleaner looking, with less difference in weathering from one bed to the next. By the time you reach the tunnel or the deepest point in the cut, it can seem like a simple planar surface with a few horizontal lines scribed in it.
There’s a reason for this: As the builders dug deeper into the shale they encountered rock that hasn’t been exposed to as much weathering as the near-surface rocks have been.
The Shale Cut pieces allow you to model this realistically and easily in any scale. Shale Cut 1 is ideal for scales from HO up to G, measuring 24 inches by 6 inches tall, allowing plenty of room as you go deep into large scale cuts. There’s a lip around the edge to help blend into surrounding scenery, but the overall relief of the cut surface is quite low—about half an inch.
Have you ever looked at a rail line cut into sedimentary rocks as the line approaches a tunnel? Often, the cut gets progressively deeper and the rock surfaces get progressively smoother as you approach the tunnel. There’s a good reason for that—the builders were cutting deeper and deeper as they progressed into the hillside, encountering fresher and less weathered rock the deeper they went. Of course, they didn’t remove any more than they had to, so the cut looked more and more like a slit trench as it got deeper. Eventually, the builders got to the point where the cut was so deep that it made more sense to start tunneling.
Shale Cut 1 is perfect for this situation, showing the transition from a deep cut in relatively fresh rock to the much more textured surfaces found in weathered rock. You can easily blend it into a scene with any of our other Rubber Rock models.
If you look at places where deep rock cuts and tunnels have been cut into areas with shale bedrock, you will often see that as the cut gets deeper, and as you approach the tunnel portal, the rock surface seems to become more nearly vertical, and generally cleaner looking, with less difference in weathering from one bed to the next. By the time you reach the tunnel or the deepest point in the cut, it can seem like a simple planar surface with a few horizontal lines scribed in it.
There’s a reason for this: As the builders dug deeper into the shale they encountered rock that hasn’t been exposed to as much weathering as the near-surface rocks have been.
The Shale Cut pieces allow you to model this realistically and easily in any scale. Shale Cut 1 is ideal for scales from HO up to G, measuring 24 inches by 6 inches tall, allowing plenty of room as you go deep into large scale cuts. There’s a lip around the edge to help blend into surrounding scenery, but the overall relief of the cut surface is quite low—about half an inch.
Have you ever looked at a rail line cut into sedimentary rocks as the line approaches a tunnel? Often, the cut gets progressively deeper and the rock surfaces get progressively smoother as you approach the tunnel. There’s a good reason for that—the builders were cutting deeper and deeper as they progressed into the hillside, encountering fresher and less weathered rock the deeper they went. Of course, they didn’t remove any more than they had to, so the cut looked more and more like a slit trench as it got deeper. Eventually, the builders got to the point where the cut was so deep that it made more sense to start tunneling.
Shale Cut 1 is perfect for this situation, showing the transition from a deep cut in relatively fresh rock to the much more textured surfaces found in weathered rock. You can easily blend it into a scene with any of our other Rubber Rock models.
If you look at places where deep rock cuts and tunnels have been cut into areas with shale bedrock, you will often see that as the cut gets deeper, and as you approach the tunnel portal, the rock surface seems to become more nearly vertical, and generally cleaner looking, with less difference in weathering from one bed to the next. By the time you reach the tunnel or the deepest point in the cut, it can seem like a simple planar surface with a few horizontal lines scribed in it.
There’s a reason for this: As the builders dug deeper into the shale they encountered rock that hasn’t been exposed to as much weathering as the near-surface rocks have been.
The Shale Cut pieces allow you to model this realistically and easily in any scale. Shale Cut 1 is ideal for scales from HO up to G, measuring 24 inches by 6 inches tall, allowing plenty of room as you go deep into large scale cuts. There’s a lip around the edge to help blend into surrounding scenery, but the overall relief of the cut surface is quite low—about half an inch.
Have you ever looked at a rail line cut into sedimentary rocks as the line approaches a tunnel? Often, the cut gets progressively deeper and the rock surfaces get progressively smoother as you approach the tunnel. There’s a good reason for that—the builders were cutting deeper and deeper as they progressed into the hillside, encountering fresher and less weathered rock the deeper they went. Of course, they didn’t remove any more than they had to, so the cut looked more and more like a slit trench as it got deeper. Eventually, the builders got to the point where the cut was so deep that it made more sense to start tunneling.
Shale Cut 1 is perfect for this situation, showing the transition from a deep cut in relatively fresh rock to the much more textured surfaces found in weathered rock. You can easily blend it into a scene with any of our other Rubber Rock models.