I started placing some plaster cloth over my pink insulation hills last night and was surprised how quickly that I exhausted that first roll. Are there some good inexpensive alternatives to the plaster cloth? I have heard of folks using paper towels dipped in plaster. How does that option work?
Hard shell scenery was a method used in the hobby. The method was using Hydrocal thinned and dipping paper towels in the solution then placed on either a screen or cardboard forms,I have used it and it works great.
Paper towels work. Some people use those heavier blue shop towels. I hear you can get plaster cloth a lot cheaper at a medical supply store.
I wq just thinking about this the other day. A few years back I bought a hundred pound bag of plaster for about $14 I think, I still have some. I used it with a roll of that brown paper towel one finds in commercial restrooms. Works great,but messy a lot of cleanup and dripping and a danger of plugged sinks and all that. I usually keep a 5 gal. bucket of water handy so I don’t plug up the sink. Also you need to cover up anything underneath the layout. With the plaster cloth thing I watch for sales on the stuff and buy them. Sometimes you can find it in the craft stores for cheaper. I use one layer of that with a layer of sculptamold over that for strength and controllability. Sculptamold has a much slower setting time and works very nicely with a pallete knife. The white glue and red rosin paper looks good too but I haaven’t tried it yet.
Anyway I guess the bottom line is you can trade cheap and messy for more expensive and controllable.
I’ve used paper towels as well as old Bounce sheets my wife saves for me. Both work well.
- Scenic Express makes their own version that I believe is cheaper
- make it yourself. All it is is gauze with plaster.
I agree with you, that roll runs out mighty quick. I’m going to have to eat my own advice, but right now I don’t have any more hills to make for quite a while. 
If you like the plaster/gauze rolls, I’d suggest you try either a medical supply store, or an art store. The rolls are bigger and cheaper in the long run. I assume you’re using the WS plaster cloth–which can REALLY get expensive in the long run. I picked up a roll at a medical supply store here in town that cost initially $20, but turned out to have at least four times the cloth of the WS. And art supply stores usually carry the same thing in large bulk rolls.
Tom
I use industrial paper towels dipped in ultracal for the first layer. Then just hydracal for the finish layer. Do not buy woodland scenics hydracal though. Check the internet for a building supply company in your area that has it. I get 100 lb bags for under 50 bucks.
It’s not necessary to use industrial paper towels. Some cheaper towels will rip after putting them in the plaster but cheaper towels will not affect the final strength of the scenery.
All good suggestions BUT. you don’t have to put anything over the foam. Carve the foam to shape, including complex rock formations, and paint, either with latex paint of desired color, or with ground goop to add texture. Much easier, faster, cheaper and I think it looks better.
Go to a fabric store. They always have bins of leftover pieces off bolt. Some cheaper fabrics have cheaper piece prices. Can be real cheap… like .47 to .97 for a half yard. Stay away from the more expensive fabrics.
Then get a box ($3-4 at ACMoore) of plaster of paris. Mix the two. Voila! JUst dont mix the stuff in your sink. ANd wash your hands and everythin else in a bucket to be emptied outside. Plaster will set up in your drain! Calling a plumber, and having new pipes put in will be very EXPENSIVE plaster cloth, regardless of which type you use!!!
If you want grasses and bushes and such and want to try the oft-mentioned faux fur method look for that while you are at the fabric store. Even off the bolt you dont need a lot, maybe 1/4 yd.
I am using wadded up aluminum screen wire with hydrocal painted directly onto the wire. Nice ‘rough’ mountain effect when wadded up, smooth and graceful if you don’t.
I really like the effect of the plaster on the wire and it is really strong but very light. I use drywall screws to hold the plaster in place on 1/2 foam support then remove the screws after the plaster sets up to hold the screen in place. I use latex silicone caulk to secure those pieces of plaster that may ‘pop’ loose. Easy, fast and some mess, blue tape your track first.
My [2c]
Joe
Agreed.
I just finished ground foaming my first slope, which was carved foam with NO plaster whatsoever, and it looks great!
Hi Art,
At the Denver train show last month, I saw alot of paint on foam, much of it carved, that looks like painted foam, not replicas of mountains, or even simpler terrain. Sometimes it can be made to look pretty authentic, but I think more often than not, there’s “plaster on them thar hills”.
What is the composition of ground goop?
I’ll also take issue with easier, faster and cheaper. Pink foam is very expensive if you have to purchase it like I do at HD or Lowes. And cleaning foam flummers is more of a pain to me than cleaning up a few spots of plaster.
Certainly just my opine and my [2c], your milage differs.
Joe
I am an old mossback; hardshell scenery and zip-texturing were just being introduced by Linn Westcott about the time I was getting interested in model railroading and, I will own up, that it is the only technique I have ever used for my layouts.
Over the years I have read the articles about these here newfangled scenery techniques but I have never tried any of them. I would probably have given this foam method a try when I began construction of my last/latest layout six years ago but I couldn’t find any of the stuff so I went to the old tried and true Hydrocal® and wadded newspaper method. Circumstances recently required my tossing that layout but I’m in the process of designing a new one although other projects are going to delay its construction for a few years. IF - and my experience indicates that that is a pretty big “IF” - I may just try this foam technique on my new/next layout.
To construct my hardshell I simply tape a webbing of masking tape to the underside of my platform grid and then (loosely) pile crumpled newspaper up until I have a fair approximation of what I want for my scenery. I then moisten the newspaper using a squirt bottle and then dip my (industrial strength) paper towels in a sloppy Hydrocal® mixture and drape them over the newspaper form. I build up my shell to approximately an eighth of an inch. Mistakes are impossible with this method; if I don’t like something I simply cut out the shell at that location, reform the newspaper underneath, and reshell that location. Piece of cake! When I’m done I remove the masking tape and pull the newspaper out through the bottom.
Unfortunately, Hydrocal®, as has been alluded to, is sold in rather heavy bags (100#) and that is just a little beyond my physical abilities so I have several plastic buckets and I break it down into more managable weights.&
Instead of plaster have you concidered glueshell? Several articles listed on MR’s index, also recent article in RMC, it uses red construction paper, but articles say paper towels, etc will work. Much less mess from what I hear.
Good luck,
Instead of paper towell, try Used Dryer Sheets. Combined with plaster, they can make a strong web. Not sure if any scent drives critters away. Use any brand. You may find other useful items in the Dollar Store.
Thats what I was about to say.
I use glueshell through most of my layout. A gallon of Elmers white glue can be had for $13. Combine that with shredded news paper (which most people have already) and you can cover about 60 sq ft. Pretty effective.
Please allow me to diverge slightly…
I have been struggling with Ultracal recently. It isn’t supposed to be substantially different from Hyrodcal, but for some reason, when my industrial paper towels soaked in Ultracal dry, the “plaster” flakes off and the shell has no strength. Never had this problem with Hydrocal.
Suggestions?
Midnight, your mention of Ultracal is the second time I have seen it mentioned. I buy my hydrocal in the 5 lb bags at Caboose. (may be 10, I can’t remember). What is Ultracal and where do you buy it in Denver?
Thanks,
As long as you are using foam in the first place…I have to agree with Art Hill regarding the use of and the carving of just the foam.
At least for my eye, I get the results I’m looking for and I feel it is an easy (though messy with “foam dust” ) and good looking end product method.
I’ll give you that I’m not doing mountains here on the CCRY and that painted foam, looks just like painted foam…The key is to also use your normal layering of ground covers on that paint, just as you would atop plaster and paint.
I have also been successful in carving rock outcroppings then just painting and giving washes to simulate the Greenstone.
As for a plaster on top of foam: I do that too, but very limited with a light weight drywall mud, just enough to blend some edges or seams of the foam.
Hope this helps.