It's been a few months since I was here (hello again everyone) and I'm not sure where to put this post, but I think this forum will be right....Been workin on this project for the past 5 weeks now.

Got a little free time this evening to do some more work on the background. Went to Home Depot and bought some more GE Silicone #1, a gallon of Drylok, and a masonary brush (short stiff bristles) and got back to work on the background tonight.

In the picture I have the four main pieces cut out, trimmed and shaped. I still have three more smaller pieces to make to go across the top.



These pics show a bit better how the masonary brush helps to get the thick Drylok paint down deep into the crevices to show the texture better. Roughing the foam with a drywall scraper leaves a real nice realistic rock surface look.




This is just the first base coat to see if anymore shaping needs to be done. Next will be a 2nd coat and then some shading with some earth tones to create some more depth and 3D looks.

Got a little bit of time to work on it some more today between rods. Just have one more piece to finish building and then shaping then I can coat the 2nd section with Drylok. But was able to get the 2nd coat of Drylok on the 1st section earlier in the week and now did some of the shading paint work on the first section.

The shading I am doing is using a darker Grey in the lowest spots on the "rocks", then going over that as well as some of the medium raised surfaces with a medium earth tone brown. Then going over the most raised portions with white to give the whole surface some more depth/3D look. The method I'm using is dry brushing to get the desired look.

The start of dry brushing the deeper areas that are to be shaded. The one deep crevasse here is just dry brushed with some darker Grey at this point...


Here it is after the darker Grey, Earth tone brown and white shading is all done on it...


And the complete first sections two pieces which make up the left 1/3 side of the tank all completed...


Decided to get a tad more done before I called it a night. I now have the rest of the background carved out and shaped but still have to mount the smaller piece and get it all in line across the top (trimmed down). Then it'll be time to finish the first coat of Drylok over the rest of the bare foam, then a 2nd coat, then shading like on the first sections....



Also started working on the first of the side pieces. Doing the sides in thin 1" foam board so it does not take up anymore tank space than need be. Decided to also build in some small caves into the side board. The larger cave with have a small divider in it so that it will hide the intake for the canister filter behind one side of the divider, while still providing a hiding cave for some fish. Above that is a smaller ledge supported by a rock shaped post to give it strength and provide another "home" for fish...