Plaster Cloth pricing

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I’ve seen some discussion on the cost of plaster cloth. One suggestion is to use the medical plaster cloth, buying it by the case as a less expensive way to go. Others have said they use the generics from Michael’s.

I must be missing something cause I looked online the other day to check it out and, while I didn’t do an exhaustive search, I didn’t find any savings. The cheapest I found the medical wrap (Johnson&Johnson, case) was $.59 a square foot. I found just as good a price for Woodland scenics cloth at an online hobby shop. The “generic” at Michael’s was $1.00 a square foot.

So either my math is way off (certainly not impossible [(-D]) or I’m missing something. Anybody else actually price out plaster cloth?

Tilden

2

Check out this site. I have never used this product. It may be what you are looking for. They do not give the size of the cloth, just weight,

/www.instaoffice.com/search.asp?txt=Plaster+Gauze&mfgID=0

3

I just go buy mine from Micheals. Geez, if you spend forever always trying to find stuff cheaper, you’ll never get anything done. Besides, by the time you add shipping and all, it’s probably cheaper from a local Micheals store anyway.

4

Ebay has auction ending soon works out to 10cents a foot, many online places at 40cents a foot, buy $100.00 worth and free shipping.

5

Hobby Lobby has a generic brand (i don’t recall the name of it right off hand) but it gives you more and is less expensive (about $1.50 cheaper) then the Woodland scenic’s brand…It should be located where the celluclay, paper mache, and clay molding products are located within the store…chuck

6

Believe it or not, medical plaster cloth “expires”. Check with a medical supply house or your local hospital or vet. They might give it to you for free.

7

Before you buy large quantities try a roll to se how it reacts when wet. Woodland Scenics is so thin it’s almost impossible to handle wet. I had to lay it in position & then spray it. The brand I bought in the craft store was MUCH easier to work with & contained much more plaster material. Jerry

8

Another way to go is with “factory seconds” for the medical plaster gauze - material that for one reason or another the company can’t sell for medical use, but is completely usable for model railroading.

-George

9

Has anyone tried the fiberglass type medical cloth? I bet It’d be some tough stuff for scenery. Might be hard to geet scenic materials to stick to it though.[?]