I’m using plaster cloth over some areas of my scenery and I was wondering if I could go ahead and paint (latex flat) it in order to get a feel for how it’s going to cover etc. Some of the places will have rock casting and I don’t know if the rocks will stick to a painted area or if they need to be applied directly on the plaster.
Does it matter?
JaRRell
You are getting to the point where you need to find out how these things work in your situation. I assume you have the cloth in at least two layer, and offset in angle and lap? So, does it still look alot like cloth, or is it more like solid plaster? If you paint it now, and then add your ground cover, it will probably look okay, but you may have to really pour on the cover to hide the cloth texture. It might be better to re-spritz the cloth, spinkle on some polly-fila or patching plaster and then spritz it again for a textured, semi-stippled look, let that dry, lather on the paint and immediately sprinkly at least two shades of ground foam, two textures also would be good.
For the rocks, are we talking sizeable mold plaster ones, or real stones? I found that when I wanted to add plaster “rock faces” that were molded in latex molds, a dab of hydrocal on the back, and then smack it into place over …again…pre-spritzed base…let it set a few seconds, and then begin to add hydrocal around its perimeter to look like it was a real rock face exposed in surrounding soil.
I found this to be my way to success, JaRRel, so you may have to wing it a bit until you get a reliable method that suits you.
…“It might be better to re-spritz the cloth, spinkle on some polly-fila or patching plaster and then spritz it again for a textured, semi-stippled look, let that dry, lather on the paint and immediately sprinkly at least two shades of ground foam, two textures also would be good…”
Selector, I like that part.
The type cloth I have is the fast setting type, I have to work quick! I’d say 90% of it looks fine (for a first-timer) and I have those spots where the texture of the cloth shows through. So, I’ll probably have to cover with some plaster or something to get the texture I want. Thanks for the advice, I think I’ll go on without painting for now til I decide just
This is the area I’m working on…
For the first time doing it it’s not tooooo bad. I’m having a lot of fun learning on it though. Let’s see… this is my first layout and I’m 63. I figure if I’m done with it when I’m around 70, ya reckon I’ll have time to do another one… better. [:D]
JaRRell
Holy smokes! You’re really going to town on that layout!!! I love that big sweeping curve in front of you… is that about 24"? I alos like the structures you have, including that spiffy coaling tower in the distance.
If you keep this up, you may be running the 95% solution by Christmas. Being that advanced with my own layout by Christmas is merely a pipe dream at this point.
Your hills look great, and with some variation in relief here and there, some rock cuts nearer the tracks, a rock outcropping or two, and about 40 trees (or 20 trees and some pollyfibre covered in ground foam in between them) will transform the white and blue really quick. I found that, once I began to paint and pour, things went gratifyingly quickly.
I hope you have some “bushes” to make clumps to rise above the ground foam? You can add them any time, later in the winter when you have an hour or so. I took them up with tweezers, dipped them lightly in carpenter’s glue to get their “bases” sticky, and then placed them as randomly as I could. Make the odd hedgerow of them, too, just like Ma Nature does.
-Crandell
I have areas that still look like plaster cloth. Instead of painting a layer of plaster on, I wet the existing plaster cloth, then sift some dry plaster onto that. It gives it a nice texture.
Selector, I wish that curver WAS 24 inch, but it’s just a 22. If I had it to do again I’d make them as big as I possibly could. I found last night that laying plaster cloth, for me anyway, is slow work… trying to get the edges smoothed down etc., but I like it because I’m at last getting to cover that blue!
Thanks for all the tips and suggestion.
JaRRell
Thanks Marlon for the tip, I never thought of that one. It DID give it a lot of texture, didn’t it! Mine is pretty smooth right now. I’ll keep your idea in mind.
JaRRell
I like to use Scultamold over the plaster cloth. Gives a nice oatmeal like texture, No sprizting needed. It toughens up the plaster cloth quite a bit. When you use sculptamold you don’t need to worry too much about how smooth the plaster cloth overlaps are. If you use Sculptamold ,I’ve found it easier to apply with an artists knife or small putty knife . Sculptamold also gives enough thickness to “plant” trees in.
Jarrell
Boy have you come a long way there !!Looking great!
By the way I’am 64 and will probley build a coupple more layouts!!
The trick I use is simple when I get the water reday to run the cloth through I mix some RITZ dye in it ,Brown works for me,then I see how the operation is going and if I chip it I does not show white…I also use The “LITE” type of spackleing on top of the cloth,just a little bowl of water and use your hands to smear it on,drys hard an covers up the cloth showing through.
Have fun and keep up the good work!!
JIM
Jarrell, I think you should go ahead and take that one section all the way to basic completion. Lay the cloth, mold your rocks, mix your paints, and see how it all fits together, from 15 feet, from 4 feet, and from 6 inches.
If you don’t, you are proceeding under assumption, and if any of those assumptions turn out to not work the way you expect, you are committed.
We did a little section outside a U curve, then painted it, rock, drab foliage, peak foliage, dead foliage, dry dirt, moist dirt, and dusty roads. Then we grassed it and added trees too. Many grass solutions, and all the foam solutions are sort of fixed points in the color palatte. You only get a very few colors, compared to the variety you can mix up from Walmart dollar a bottle arcylics, and if the overall color balance doesn’t work the way you want, it’s easier to adjust one color in one small area than have to mask off and repaint the whole thing.
Speaking of masking, I wish we’d done more of that around the test scenery area. Chasing dried glaring white plaster out from between ties is less than fun. I was amazed at how far a brush will splatter, either with plaster or paint, and we did a lot more serious masking, with 1 and 2 inch masking tape and lots of newspaper for the main scenery effort, as a result of not using enough the first time around.
The plaster cloth went a lot faster after we started cutting 5 to 10 8 by 8 inch squares, 5 to 10 half squares, and 5 to 10 quarter squares, before laying any, it saved a lot of time over washing up, so as to avoid fouling the scissors, after laying each piece of cloth.
We mixed paint in mushroom jars, the 4" tall kind, enough for a 4x8 layout, but you need more. Mixing wet paint to match dry paint after you run out is not a fun or easy job. The mushroom jar lids are kind of a pain, I think regular threaded lids like on coffee jars would be easier to remove after breaks in the paint
I read a tip that I use when scenicking with plaster cloth. Instead of wetting it by dunking it (it’s a lot like trying to push snot into place), I cut it into strips and lay into place while dry. Then I spray it with wet water. It’s easier to tuck it into place here and there, than trying to place a sopping wet piece of plaster cloth into place. It’s a lot neater, too!
I used my version of the goop method (thinset, water, paint, and fine ground vermeculite) to cover the plaster cloth. Since I did not use foam, I used cardboard webbing, I also needed the thicker layer for tree planting. I like the results the only issue I ran into is I was eye balling the amount of paint to add to the mix and there is a slight color variation, but just slight. I do like Marlons results with sifting dry plaster on wetted cloth I intend to use this in the foreground.
If the rocks don’t stick then hot glue or use caulking to secure the casting, then you could fill in around them.
Layout is looking very nice.
I wonder why we don’t have a gallery to share our layouts more dirrectly?
The beauty of plaster cloth is that you can pretty much do anything you want with it. My entire layout is build with plaster cloth and some sections I stained, some I painted with acrylic house paint and some sections I paint with special effect acrylic house paint to simulate desert. Sorry I am so lazy these days to upload photos but go ahead and paint it, it’s perfectly ok!
If you’re worried about later castings not sticking to the painted plastercloth, you could brush on Woodland Scenics liquid stain, I would think that wouldn’t stop later additions from sticking if you wet it before applying the new plaster/mold.