I was wondering what kind if scenery landscape materials you prefer. I have seen the Foam board meathed, and I think it is good, but then there is the hard shell. Thanks in advance.
Double post!
trainobsessed
You can eliminate your duplicate post by selecting the ‘more’ tab on the upper right of the post and then choosing ‘delete’. It will ask for an explanation so just say it is a duplicate post.
Dave
Sorry, I think it is a problem with my Gmail, as I have it emailed straight to me.
My preference is to let benchwork, control systems, scenery materials, coupling and uncoupling decisions, and similar decisions be driven by the type of operations and style of layout I am attempting to build. All the popular alternatives work, but most are better in some situations than others. Re-read this last point before somebody gets on their high horse insisting their method is the best for everybody else all the time.
Stacked foam boards lends itself very well to relatively flat terrain, and layout areas that are fairly dense with track and structures. To use stacked foam for more rugged areas is certainly possible, but requries significantly more work to achieve equivalent results. Where track and structures are not dense, nearly every square inch of foam needs carving to get the varied terrain of real nature. Carving all that foam is a thankless task to me, although many get very good results doing it.
Hard shell is at it’s best in rugged terrain, covering fair-sized portions of the layout. Hard shell is naturally not flat. Using plaster cloth instead of dipping paper towels does produce a somewhat smoother finish than traditional hard shell. Just as rugged terrain is achievable with foam, flat terrain is achievable with hard shell - it just takes extra effort.
None of the methods is mess-free. Carving foam produces flummers with great static cling. Plaster produces drips. And so on.
Hard shell is much thinner than foam. This makes access to the underside and hidden trackage much easier. Foam is much lighter than most shell materials. Weight becomes an issue if the layout must be moved or be portable. Ho
Fred’s comments are dead on. What you should do is look at as many different ways of doing things as you can and decide for yourself the method you would like to use. I have used a lot of different methods on my current layout. More because I wanted to try something new more than anything else.
There are downsides and upsides to everything we do. You just have to decide on which ones you want to deal with. Be wary of advice that says “this way or my way is the only way to do it”
Below I have used both foam, and cotton dipped in goup over cardboard weave in a relatively small area. I am happy with the result. It is close enough to a scene I saw in the Canadian Rockies.
Before.
After.
Brent
I have used screen wire, covered with 4" 2-ply paper towels dipped in thinned Hydrocal, to which molds holding thicker hydrocal B-11 (or equivalent) are placed after misting the towels with water to assure adhesion of the plaster in the molds, to good effect where tracks run behind the scenery (in tunnels, for instance). The screen wire can easily be bent to provide canyons and ridges. Drips on the layout from the dipped paper towels can be avoided by waiting until excess water has dripped into the container of Hydrocal before moving into position on the screen wire. Coloring should be done with acrylic paints placed with a brush, as they will soak into the Hydrocal a very short way, and can easily cover chipped spots.
I have used the pink foam, also great stuff in the can, but most of my hills and mountains were made by rolling up newspaper into various size balls, baseball size to golf ball size. I would then use hot melt glue to put them in place. I then covered them with fabric softener sheets dipped in a plaster mixture. It worked great, just as good as plaster cloth and much cheaper. The best fabric softener sheets were used ones, new ones worked as well buy they were a little stiff when first placed in the plaster mixture.
Would hardshell be good if I have extremely heavy real rocks, lots of huge old growth trees etc? Or would foam be better?
Also, what instead of having the foam solid all the way through, what if you have it foam on the out side, 3 ish inches thick, and all the rest hollw, wouldn’t that work?
Also, which method is more expensive?
Foam is more expensive. Last time I looked at Home Depot it was something like $24.95 / 2ft x 8ft sheet @ 2inches thick. (DowCorning)
I prefer to use a combination but that’s just my way of doing things
Cho Cho Willie
what type of foam board is better, the extruded, or the expanded beads?
Extruded is better for carving and surface areas. However if you have some beaded you can use that as filler underneath, where it won’t get carved. Carving it causes more of a mess than the extruded. Most folks use a sharp knife or hot knife (have good ventilation) for best, less messy results.
If you can find foam at a construction site, they will usually let you have it free. Though you don’t get full sheets to make a base, smaller pieces are fine for making mountains and small piles, etc.
Good luck,
Richard
what if you used the foam, and cut it into 3 inch strips, and layer them. That would save lots of money, wouldn’t it?
hi,
good morning, layers are always used. More important however is you are taking lots of steps at the very same time. You never showed us your trackplan, you do not seem to be aware about the roadbed and subroadbed you will need.
Bottom line is here: do not go to fast. I repeat the words of Fwright: it all depends on the situation. If you have lots of grades (and vertical easements) the Cookie Cutter method with L-girders works great. A wooden frame and subroadbed with merely hardshell scenery, strong enough to hold anything. Of course you might cover flat areas with foam at the very same time.
It is time you really show us your plans, not with words only.
Smile
Paul
I simply prefer the foam method, as I intend to move the layout sometime in the future.
The EXTRUDED foam is what you want, NOt teh Beaded foam board.
The rigid foam can hold rocks too.
You can also go with wadded up newspaperas and cut up peices of old bedsheets dipped in plaster or paris {the really cheap way}.
You can use a combination if you wish, or go hardshell. It’s really your call.
But if you intend to move the layout, Iwould go extruded foam for weight saving.
Using foamboard as your base is more expensive, compared to hardshell. I’ve used both, and I use the cardboard web covered with plaster cloth. And, either way will accept rock plaster castings. I pour the plaster in the mold, when it sets to the point that when you flex the mold, the plaster cracks, I wet the surface I’m going to attach it to, then press the mold in place, bending it so that the rock takes the shape of the surface on the back side of the mold. I use t-pins to hold the mold in place. When the plaster has completely set, I carefully peel the mold off. If you have a limited number of molds, turn them in different directions so the scenery doesn’t look like “cartoon backdrops” (If you watch old cartoons, and the characters are running, you’ll notice that the background is the same from scene to scene). When you’ve added all of your rocks, blend them together with plaster, or patching compound.
I have used both methods but am more comfortable with the plaster. The plaster makes “planting” trees more difficult and there may be more bits of white plaster as a result the drilling a hole for the tree. With the foam, there are several tools that one needs including a foam cutter and files. There is a lot of foam on the layout so you need to vacuum as you go. The “goo” mixture that Lou Sassi the "tree group use is great.[tup]
All good suggestions but the one I never understood is putting plaster cloths over foam. Using the right techniques foam looks every bit as realistic as moulded plaster rocks and avoids the mess and weight.
I use cardboard strips with casting plaster gauze laid over it. Then rock molds and sculptimold.[I]