Has anyone used True Scene Fusion Fiber? What are your thoughts, good or bad?
I’ve used a bit of it, and I’m planning to use it around my tannery complex once I’ve got the buildings and “pavement” done.
I have a situation where a few pieces of pink foam base didn’t come out quite even. So, I needed a “ramp” to get a siding from one section to another, about a quarter-inch or so. I decided to try Fusion Fiber for it. It worked pretty well, although I didn’t get the slope right. But, I can just wet it down and push it around until I’m happy with it.
I think it will work well for the tannery, because most of it is on a liftoff section. It seems like it will be a pretty good material for bridging the gap where the liftoff meets the fixed section of the layout.
I came across the Fusion Fiber booth at the Amherst West Springfield show last January, and spoke with Bill for a while about his product. One thing he mentioned was that you could apply static grass directly to wet Fusion Fiber, without waiting for it to dry.
MR did a review in the July 2012 issue. Here is a link: http://mrr.trains.com/news-and-reviews/product-reviews/staff-reviews/2012/07/true-scene-modeling-fusion-fiber.
Here is a link to the Truescene website, http://www.truescene.com/. You will find there a 15 minute video showing the product being used.
I’ve used it extensively on a club layout when it was being sold under a different name as a roll-on textured wall covering.
The package I purchased indicated that it is finely ground fibers mixed with a dry adhesive. I never tried it straight out of the bag, but mixed it with some cheap acrylic craft paint, plaster, white glue, and water. I slopped it on rather thick to form some hills. It took over a week to dry, even in the Arizona desert climate.
How does Fusion Fiber compare to Sculptamold?
There’s no comparison. Fusion Fiber is a mix of fine linen or nylon fibers and a dry adhesive that is similar to wallpaper paste which, by itself, is nothing like plaster for carving or casting because it does not dry hard.
Sculptamold is mostly plaster for sculpting, as the name implies.
there is no nylon. Its a mix of natural fibers, cellulose, with adhesive. The scenery base once dry is not brittle like sculptomold and will not crack or chip. It can not be carved.
Second…Once completely dry it can be rehydrated. This makes for no waste, as any in pail if it drys can be used again…
For proper mixing make sure there is no residual water and it sticks to trowel when lifting vertical. Most people add too much water the first time and don’t add glue. Use as directed. Adding palster eliminates th eability of fusionfiber to be rehydrated and ground covers will not hold as well. Long drying time means you can add ground covers directly to wet fusion fiber mist lightly and let dry… You might be suprised by the detail and layers of ground cover you can use, including static grass.
it should look like this
layered foam ground covers without extra glue along with small stones embeded. glue in fusionfiber wicks up from bottom. This scene is 4 yrs old…No greying
BTW, if apply fusionfiber, and let it dry without ground covers , you can come back and mist it again and add them later…
After drying you can use weathering powders then mist. Good for smaller scales where texture needs to be lighter. Here is weathering powder portion. the portion of photo below campers shows bare tinted fusionfiber that was allowed to dry followed by weathering powders. Not as sharp as hydracal, or plaster rock molds, but works in combination, further from foreground or small mounds. Not recomended for large foreground rocks etc. it doesn’t work in molds