Mile Hi Ceramics, 77 Lipan St. , not far from Caboose.
Ultracal 30 is a strong plater that make excellent rock molds, because it doesn’t shrink at all. Dries fast, too. Bought an 80# bag for $25, I think.
In the past I’ve used discarded aluminum window screen and covered it with either plaster, homemade plaster cloth, or home made papier mache. All three of these methods worked well. Nowadays I would use foam (If I could ever find it in California).
I had this same problem at first also. Try using more water/less ultracal in your mix. I use 2 cups water per 3.5 cups ultracal. Works great for dipping the cloth in. When I do my second coat (the smoothing coat) I use 2 cups water with 5 cups ultracal. I spread this on with my fingers and let dry for 15-30 minutes. At this point it is thicker than modeling clay and I can smooth it out really nicely. I have heard that hydracal works better for the second layer but I am happy with the Ultracal.
Thanks–I’ll give it a try following your formula!
Also, do small batches and experiment with it. I have found that it is sensitive to temperature, humidity, water purity, elevation, etc, etc. My formula may not work for yours but it should get you close.
I don’t think plaster cloth is too expensive, I guess it just depends. The paper towel method works good, and I was planning on trying some scrap screen that is stapled into place, but plaster cloth suits me.
-beegle55
I’ve already gone through 75lbs of Ultracal. Total cost: about $35. If that had been plaster cloth from WS I would easily have spent over $300 by now (i’m guessing at this) and ultracal is far more durable. For a smaller layout I would consider plaster cloth because it is less messy but for a large area it just isn’t reasonable.
WS plaster cloth is about 15 bucks a square yard at the prices I see with double coverage.
I use Hydrocal on screent, but I LOVE The plaster cloth and use if for the small areas where ‘neatness’ counts.
Joe
I have bought some woodland scenics plaster cloth and I thought it was more expensive than that. I have heard that you can get other brands from craft stores though at much lower costs. I never did alot of research on it though. Which were you refereing to costing $15?
I figure I have done about 8 sq yards total so far. Even at $15 per sq yard it would have cost $120.
But you are right, ultracal and hydracal are messy. There are many parts of my ballast that will need to be redone when I get the plaster done.
El Capitan,
Reading from the WS package label 10 sq ft = 8.79 at Hobbytown. about a buck or two cheaper in some places. If you use double coverage, you get to about 18 a yard. They recommend 50% so the cost is from say 12 - 15 a square yard.
Hydrocal is pretty cheap at the Caboose. I buy 10 lbs for about 7 bucks or so. Does 3-4 yards.
Joe
You guys made some good points about the plaster cloth. It takes large amounts of layering to get a deep enough texture to be acceptable for some projects, and large areas would require many sheets. I made the price statement thinking self centeredly (is centeredly a word?) based upon what I use plaster cloth for, which is touching up and texturing small areas. Sorry to cause any confusion…
-beegle55
El Capitan,
By the way, your layout is neat looking, so I went to your website and found it empty, someone stole your pictures! We want pictures, we want pictures! [8D]
JD
Man joe-daddy, I see alot of that nowadays, and I’m a victim!! I’m ready to ditch the website I have now and find something else…
No confusion. My point was if you are doing small amounts of area, the cloth is the way to go. The smallest bag of Ultrcal that I can get around here is 50 lbs. If I were doing a small layout I would go with the cloth because what would I do with 48 lbs of leftover ultracal?
There are 2 “sub albums” on the site. One labeled “layout” and the other labeled “rolling stock” There isn’t much there yet but there will be. Much of my layout is covered in sheets right now to protect it from the plaster. When that comes off I will post more pics. Should be a week. There are some pics of my first attempt at a mountain. The plaster, paint and base sand is done so far. The rock castings still need paint and the detail scenery still needs to be done but the base is there. Check it out.
Duh,
I found the pic directories, I was concentrating on the bigger buttons across the middle.
Nice look, Cannot wait for the next edition!
Joe
I wanted to follow-up to this older post of mine. A few folks suggested using those used drier sheets dipped in plaster. I have tried this approach and it seems to be working well. I bought a 10 lb. bucket of plaster for about $5 and have been having my wife place the used drier sheets in a bag. This is much less expensive than buying the plaster cloth.
R T Poteet recomends the tried and true and it works! Using strips of corrugated cardboard provides total flexibility in creating land forms and I’ve found bolstering hills w/ crumpled newspapers unnecessary. The cardboard strips, if properly done, (I hot glue mine) are amply strong to hold the Hydrocal strips. My deviation from the original is to use old bed sheets torn into strips. I mix a thinned batch of Hydrocal in a plastic dishwashing tup and then soak the bedsheet strips and apply. Once the first layer sets you can just keep adding until you reach the desired strength. Since I use old replaced household sheets the cost is only the Hydrocal. If you lack my foresight in squirling away sheets, St Vincent de Paul or other thrift stores wouls probably work.
I carve my foam into mountain ranges, then cover the foam with Durham’s water putty many times untill a nice texture soon appears and the foam balls vanish.
I’ve also dunked paper towels in the soupy water putty when I mix it real thin for this purpose, but have not been pleased with the result. Putty directly over the foam seems to do the trick. I purchase it at Home Depot.
These mountains are for a new layout I’m building. They are carved, and soon ready to be painted with the water putty.
Castle Canyon Scenic Railroad below…
All the methods work pretty well. It’s more the artist than the medium.
I’ve used the hardshell method with paper, tape and cardboard strips. The hot glued strip method work best IMO. For neatness I’ll cover the cardboard grid with a single sheet of newspaper, then give it a misting of water to make it settle down on the grid. I usually only apply one layer of shell, add any rock castings, and then cover it with scultamold, blending in around the castings.
I’ve also used plaster cloth over cardboard grid. I find it isn’t quite as strong but generous overlapping is effective. Again, covered with scultamold, which adds quite a bit of strength. I purchased two boxes(36 rolls a box?) of the 4 inch plaster cloth from an art supply house. Very cheap and they were having a special and paid for postage. Couldn’t say no.
On top of the scultamold, paint, stains, sawdust, dirt, ground foam, gravel, whatever you need or like.