Someone suggested using paper mache to make cetain scenery like tunnels, buildings ground effects etc. Anyone got any experiance with this or know anything about it? thanks!
Josh
instead of plain old paper mache, try celluclay. You can buy it in bags at micheals and its like paper mache but in a powder form. Add a little plaster for faster drying. When it dries its light as a feather and hard as a rock and takes paint very well.
Most railroad hobby shops will carry Sculptamold, a paper mache/plaster mix. I use it for all my scenery [over blue foam]. Much lighter than plaster. More working time. I add acrylic colors to it for rocky areas. Great stuff.
I use latex paint over blue or pink foam. Sprinkle in ground foam while wet. Makes it very easy to plant trees. Also a lot less mess
I made up a batch of “goop” whose ingredients were in a recent issue or MR. I have it in a airtight container where it is supposed to last for several years. Spreads over foam real nice
Ground Goop
1 part Vermiculite
1 part Celluclay
1 part earth color latex paint
3/4ths part Elmers white glue
Add water to make mixture moist and spread able.
Once the latex paint is dry use an artist’s spatula to spread an 1/8th inch layer on layout. Limit the area covered to two square feet.
Add small amount of liquid Lysol to prevent mold in stored container.
According to my French dictionary (t is originally from France) it is papier-mache which translated is literaally chewed paper. So sharpen your molars. I made some in grade school when I was 7. We just tore up the paper and added water and library paste and stirred like crazy. It was fun!
Decades ago, I saw a layout in San Antonio on which the scenery, including mountains, was entirely made of paper mache. I wondered what would happen if someone put down a burning cigarette and forgot about it.
Bear
And you want to know this, why? Maybe he’s trying out the bomb that Lt. Dunbar made in Stalag 17. [:)]
paper mache
elmers glue 50%
water 50%
chopped paper to thicken mixture.
lysol to prevent molding, use right away ,3 days to dry hard.
mike
I used the stuff many, many years ago in a cost cutting method to build mountains and rolling hills-what could be cheaper than using newspapers that were laying around? It seemed to work okay at the time, but when I went to remove it during one rennovation phase, I cussed every minute I was trying to get it out. It was as hard as a rock which is good, but is also held to the base like-excuse the metaphor-glue. I needed a heavy hammer and a collection of very sharp wood chisels to even begin removing it, and a good electric sander to attempt to fini***he job(I still have paper chips glued to my trainboard and covered by ballast and other ground cover materials). Bottom line-its a good, inexpensive material to use, but be very, very sure you will not want to change the scenery at any near future point (even a lifetime is too short of a period). Good Luck.
I wouldn’t use it. Too messy. I helped out last year on redoing the scenery on a public display layout and the consultant suggested using paper mache. The last and only time I had any experience of it was in primary (Grade school in the US) school about 18 years ago. What I remembered about it was that it was sticky and messy. I didn’t try to convince him of finding some other way of doing it as he seemed pretty determined he knew what he was doing.
All we used it for was to cover a small strip of rubber foam that had been jammed down between the side of the original model and the new base it now sits on. Basically all we done was use paper mache in place of strips of plaster cloth or plaster soaked paper towels. The strip was no wider than three inches in places. After four days the paper mache was still soaking wet. We tore it all out and done it another way. I can’t recall how.
Up till that time I had never heard or read of using paper mache for scenery.
I would not reccomend it. [V]
Adrian
New Zealand
I would stay away from it!! It’s messy! i have done many modeling projects in school, and it seemed like every time, that stuff is what we used! When i get to doing senery I will most likely use foam,… and probably plaster coverd paper towels soaked in a plaster mixture of a skelital frame that will be as messy as I get! lol!.. Im not sure yet but I might go all foam!
One if our friends from “down under” mentioned using ‘foam’ as a scenery building material I’ve heard of this, but know nothing about it. Would like to try it. What is it? Where can it be purchased? Thanks for your help. Bill[:)]
Bill, it is called extruded polystiren. It is ether pink or blue in color and from 1 to 4 inches thick. It is pretty dense and it can be carved, glued and stacked, painted etc. It comes in 4x8 or 2x8 sheets but it is not cheep. I live in CA and I had a hard time finding it. Look in the bigger hardware stores, but you do not want the kind with the foil backing on one side, wrong stuff. Rod
Just curious, what layout did you see in SA?
In response to the complaints about it being messy, Celluclay is not! Its like goop, it doesnt drip, doesnt splatter, and if you drop it on something, you can pick it back up! if you let it dry though you will have to chisel it off. To apply the celluclay, i just smear it on with my hand, then give it rock texture with toothpicks and a finger. I also use some rock molds for outcroppings.
Here are a copule examples of Celluclay mountains:
http://www.samrarail.org/modular/images/DCP_0021_JPG.jpg
http://www.samrarail.org/modular/images/DCP_0022_JPG.jpg
http://www.samrarail.org/modular/images/DCP_0031_JPG.jpg
1 cup flour in 2 cups cold H2O, mix till smooth, bring to boil 4 cups H2O, pour in your flour mix, simmer for 2-3 minutes,cool til warm…your paste is now ready. Rip your newspaper into strips…form your chicken wire or form into desired shape…LET THE FUN BEGIN! Dip the strips into the paste remove excess paste by sliding strip between fingers slap em on…let dry 1 day, then apply next layer… usually 2-3 layers does the job. I just finished up a big tunnel mountain…time to paint and apply scenery. I like it! messy yes but cheap.
Nick
Bill, foam is a wonderful mountain building material. I like the two inch think stuff. I have been finding it near construction sites and along the highway. Talk to the workers who will give you the scraps. Broken chunks are fine for mountains. It is used here around foundations.
I would avoid paper mache’ at all costs. I haven’t actually used it for scenery, as my layout is still being planned and enough people have told me that if I use it they will make me wear it [B)]. I did use it extensively in High school spanish class when we made pinatas. I remember that even though the paper mache was thin, it was still very heavy im comparision to its size. Paper mache has its use but i don’t think model railroading is one of them. use Hydrocal, Sculptamold, or foam instead.
Right paper mache is heavy. Thats why celluclay is so great. A full-size (4X3) module like the ones I showed in the pictures weighs roughly 40 pounds. I use foam underneath the celluclay.
I used paper mache on a mountian over chicken wire and it worked well it gives it a bumpy more ground like look im happy with it[;)]