i started my n scale logging layout and need help in how to make my mountains. Should i do plaster or styrofoam???
I assume that you have not yet worked with either material.
First of all, there is no best practice, each method is OK when you achieve the results you want to have. Up until now, I have worked with plaster of paris on wire mesh, carving rock strata out of the plaster. For my coming layout, I will not use plaster anymore, because it is too wet, too heavy and too messy to deal with in a small apartment, I will definitively go for extruded foam board, although is is slightly more expensive.
Hi from Belgium,
Since many years I use the old cardstock lattice whith plaster paper dowels to create the hardshell.
It’s work well but messy, everybody can follow you in the house because of your white steps!
The lattice could be framed with styrofoam or you can use a full styrofoam base carved to look like rocks. Sanding styrofoam produce a lot of dust which adhere to everything and is hard to vaccum.
If you model Colorado use rubber molds to make the rocks, it’s easier, and paint them whith wash of water soluble paints like acrylics.
All in all these methods work fine but they are messy and they produce too much dust for my taste.
I am now making a try to the “Mister Howard Zane” method www.zanestrains.com .
He use a lattice of cardstock hot hotglued, framed whith wood or styrofoam, covered whith rosin paper also hotglued, painted whith full strengh standard white glue.
Plaster rocks molds are added like usuals.
Its a strong and lightweight construction but very clean to construct.
I am in the way to construct a small hill whith this method which seem simple to work whith it.
Marc
I used crumpled up newspaper covered it with plaster of paris i soaked kraft paper towel in it laid it over the newspaper then finished the details with spakiling compound, this worked for me, and it’s not heavy at all.best of all it was cheap and not to messy.
I used both - foam to build up the mountains & hills, and plaster soaked paper towels to cover them over. In areas of exposed rock, I used either WS rock molds or home-made foil molds.
Overall, I think that plaster takes color washes better - particularly for exposed rocks.
Using this method, you can build up mountains and hills with about anything. I used foam because I had a lot on hand from various packaging material that I saved. Crumpled up newspaper works good for small hills.
I cut a hole in the plywood top of my HO layout, to give me access to the end of the dogbone N scale,that is under a hill, but that required “duck under with old knees” for rerailment. I happened to have a Styrofoam cello case, that I cut to make a hollow mountain (hill). One could build any size “lift-out mountain”, from stacked and stained layers of Strofoam insulation ( cut and glued into arcs of reducing size). I covered the "hill’ with Fall foliage deciduous trees. Bob Hahn 