Hello all I have been working hard on my layout, have all the risers and inclines glued in and started to get the platforms for the town all set. I picked up a little plaster guaze to cover the risers in my tunels before I paint and cover them up. While I was working on this, my wife (the art major) said to me "Why not just use paper mache? It will work just as well and cost a fraction as much..." I have done lots of reading on this, and not seen paper mache mentioned anywhere, except as a finish coat where aditional detail was wanted. Is there a reason not to use paper mache? or is it just a macho thing? Thank you for your insight. Yolev
Typically paper mache will mold since it is normally done using flour with newspaper. Even with using a plaster as substitute for the flour there is then the weight factor. Something similar is using paper towels dipped in thinset plaster. Keeps the overall weight down on that benchwork. And a roll of paper towels and bag of plaster is cheaper than all that casting material. Build up with lightweight foam then use the plaster soaked paper towels.
Disgusting, but true. I used plaster over fiberglass screen Durham's Rock Hard Putty over screen and sometimes masking tape. I am unable to lift my 4x6 table without help and it is not because of physical infirmity. It is as heavy as a well fed hog.
I use plastercloth and cover it with hydrocal. Foam is on the bottom. I haven't used paper mache since the 1960's. Stay cool and run steam....
There is a cost to the time involved. I love the plaster cloth! I don't even wet it before. I lay it dry and wet it with a spray bottle. It is so much simpler its worth it to me. On the other hand, keeping a wife is cheaper than not keeping one (don't ask how I know this) so maybe papier machier is the way to go for YOU>
Instead of paper mache you can do hardshell with plaster and strips of paper towels or even an old bedding sheet. As others have said paper mache will mold and attracts micro scopic bugs. Silverfish are actually larger than microscopic. It also just degrades over time because of the acid in the paper, eventually turning to dust. This happens fairly quickly.
I used a sort of mutant papier-mache, or modified "glueshell," to blend contours on my Area 53 module: Chunks of paper covered in (full-strength) white glue, stuck down to create the contour, then covered with an overall layer of white glue to fuse the concoction to the underlaying terrain. It worked pretty well, actually:
