I bought a roll of woodland scenics plaster cloth and started covering my foam hillside with it. It is great stuff! Just cut it to shape, lay it in place, spray it with water, smear around the plaster so it covers w/o pinholes, and wait for it to cure. It becomes a smooth hard covering that ties all the foam layers together so they can't shift over time and get little fault lines showing through the ground cover. The upper two layers are still wet, but the small section on the lower half of the fill was done last night and is cured. So, is there a better source for this stuff other than $8 a roll at the hobby shop for woodland scenics brand? I tried a local craft store for it but couldn't seem to find any. It is cast making fabric with plaster on it already, just add water.
Hey, Go to church.Ask them to save you a paper runner from their next wedding. Go to local craft shop,& buy 25lbs. box of hydrostone(approx. $27.00), & you'll have plenty for alot cheaper than any other way.
A big tub (looks about 2 gal) of the plaster of paris stuff ran me $5... with a layer of newspaper, then a brushing of a plaster mix would save you a lot! Thats how I smoothed out the mountains on my layout (where I couldnt get the WS plastercloth to become totally smooth).
I use paper towels soaked in plaster for my hardshell - you can't beat the price! But since your modeling California, a few cracks/fault lines would look right at home !
I've done hydrocal and brown paper towels before and the plaster got all over the floor. I'm working in an apartment with carpet so unfortunately for me, traditional plastering with towels dipped in plaster is not an option.
Yes, it does get a bit messy . . . dripping plaster and carpeting is probably not a good combination. Your hills are looking great, by the way. They scream CALIFORNIA FOOTHILLS
Thanks! I'm loving this project. I think I'm more of a modeler than a runner, because I have about 1/3 of the layout actually built, and I just keep working on the hillside. I'll probably just run trains around the mainline, mess around in the yard, and stand back while taking it all in like a railfan when this thing has all its track down. Freights dodging Amtrak, yard switcher and locals dodging those, etc. It should be fun.
I found a huge sale a while back at Jerry's art-o-rama, worked out to about $2 a roll. cheeeeep and works fine. they are online.
Thanks! I'll have a look online and see if they still offer it so I can stock up. I'm thinking I need at least 10 rolls to be safe....
