I have been looking for reasonably priced hydrrocal in my area. Came across USG no. 1 casting plaster. USG lists it as being “the industry’s premier casting plaster for fabricating figurines, plaques and lamp bases”. Any experiences?
Despite what many hobbyists assume, there isn’t anything magical about Hydrocal for building scenery that makes it more suitable than any other setting-type plaster. I use USG casting plaster for all my scenery base and rocks, and have been doing so for nearly 30 years.
All the plaster here is USG “20 minute” casting plaster.
The casting plaster works just great. I don’t think it works any better or worse than hydrocal for our purposes, so it all comes down to price. I just bought a 50# bag of white hydrocal for about 20 dollars. So compared to that little two quart box we all know and love, I could throw 90% of this away and still be ahead.
Have fun,
Philip
No experience with the USG stuff, however, through these forums I learned about other products, which led me to using Durabond. It’s a powder drywall compound mix or patching plaster, can be bought at any hardware or big box store, works great for molds or painting over plaster cloth, can be poured thick and does not crack and accepts paint washes pretty nice. It can be mixed thicker (dryer) and used in molds or mixed thin (wetter) and brushed into cracks and gaps of casting pieces to fill in gaps and blend them together. It’s very carvable after initial setup and becomes quite hard when completely dry. I got a 25 pound bag and I think it was around $15. It comes in different setting times, indicated by a number (in minutes) after the Durabond name. I save all the little pieces that break off edges and out of the molds for future use as talus where needed.
Food for thought; havve fun!
Duane
Around here - mid Michigan - I have never found a source for hydrocal in bulk. The LHS carries it in small bags but I won’t pay the price. So, I have been using plaster of paris for pouring rock castings which seems to work. I guess it all depends on what you are used to and what is available.