Here with Sheldon and AEP528 using different methods to achieve the same goal.
To me both systems have merit. Is one better than the other? That depends on the modeller as I see it. Go the way you prefer. Both layouts will be good.
David
Agreed, 2x4âs or 5/4 lumber, plywood and homasote here. The around walls sections are toggle bolted to the basement walls. I can climb on it without hesitation.
The overall fragile nature of foam is what concerns me. I work in construction, and there are actually only a few places where we use it in the types of work we do.
Sheldon
Thank you all, this was an enlightening discussion. Guess i need to do some thinking about what my preference will be!
I have some train magazines stored in the fancy cardboard boxes from software instruction manuals for 8" disks! The program was called âMAS90â. In fact it wasnât that long ago that I finally disposed of a Xerox PC we had since 1979! Green screen monitor, 8" disk drive, enormous keyboard with seriously clunky keys, 64 pin cables and a daisy wheel printer that was the size of a microwave! 
commodore 64 baby!!! 
and Atari video games!!
Chuck
Those Commodore 64s were the best! Built-in Basic language, color displays, and best of all â cheap!
The factory where I worked was scheduled for the installation of an IBM System 36. I was innocently walking through the front office one day when someone said âHey, Tomâs got a computer at home. Let him install it it.â What I had was a Commodore Vic 20.
Wow! Talk about threadjacking.
36 or 360?
There are many legacy Visual Basic apps out there still running everyday. New staff that have to support them often need to learn the language. Hey, we just learned that the Social Security Administration still uses COBOL.
360
Of all the programming languages I learned as a programmer, COBOL was the only one that I avoided.
Rich
We originally got a 360 and later upgraded to a 36. I did learn COBOL in the late 70s. Maybe I could go to work for SSA! 
Those little libraries are great! I donate my books there as well as find interesting books to read. Thereâs one in my neighborhood and I make a point to spot them on my travels to pick up a novel for rainy days.
I like to buy old âhow toâ model railroad books, going back to the 1930s. A couple show you how to remove the inside rail from tinplate Lionel track and move it to the outside rail, how to hold down ballast with âwater glassâ, using roofing tiles to represent ballast, making your own third rail pick-ups with parts from the auto parts store, and making a tank farm using toy rolling pins from the âfive and dimeâ store - also a good place to buy toy cars to use as vehicles on your layout. I donât think anyone does any of these today, so I think itâs fair to call that information âobsoleteâ. But the books are still fun to read!
Zip texturing is taking powdered tempura paint, and sprinkling it over white plaster after soaking the plaster with a spray of water. The water dissolves the powdered paint. You can do various colors, but it is flat - it is painted plaster with no texture.
Linn Westcott said he created the method in an emergency where he had friends coming over to see his layout, and had just made a hill that was still white plaster, so he quickly sprayed it with water and sifted on some brown and green powdered paint. He expected to finish it later, but decided it looked pretty good as is. However, even some later articles in MR and Kalmbach books have said it was no longer done, as newer products that provide texture (like static grass) look much better.
Well that is not an accurate description of Zip Texturing as it was taught to me and used at the Severna Park Model Railroad club and on a number of layouts I have seen first hand.
The paint does not dissolve at all. The powder sticks but retains is power texture.
We are talking about 1/87 scale here right? How much height and texture does grass have? The cut height on my lawn mower is set at 3". So a lawn in the suburban neighborhood, or the manicured downtown square, I am modeling would have a âheightâ or âtextureâ of 0.034".
Sure, there are desired effects that require more texture, but since your comment shows you have never seen the process correctly done, how about just giving it a rest.
In my opinion, a great many modeling techniques in this hobby use exaggerated oversized detail rather than just ignoring things you would not be able to see at the theoretical viewing distance.
To each their own.
Sheldon
And why are we suddenly revisiting this three months later?
Because you went off on a tangent from the discussion topic about âold booksâ and mentioned sawdust texturing, then blasted stix when he answered that he thought there were better ancient techniques.
Then acted confused about why there are multiple posts ârevisitingâ zip texturingâŚ
Actually I said this:
In my opinion, as stated again above, many of todayâs scenery methods are course and out of scale for the typical 300â or more scale viewing distance of our models.
Thatâs my personal opinion, some agree, others donât. I mentioned cheap dyed sawdust as NOT being an acceptable method.
wjstix brought up zip texturing and dyed saw dust - I just disagreed with him about zip texturing and agreed about the saw dust.
That was in FebruaryâŚ
âobsoleteâ is more opinion than fact in many cases, I was very happy to leave it at that - two different opinions.
wjstix brought up zip texturing and just canât let it go - not me. I let the whole thread go months ago. Might be time to let the forum go like a few others have, and like I did for quite a while last year.