Sorry to hear about the allergies. No animals for me, and I’m developing a reaction to nuts, too.
Envirotex Lite has no particular odor at all. I read somewhere, probably here, that the original Envirotex did smell, but the newer Lite formulation does not. I timed my original pours so that I could open windows if necessary, but there was no problem with odor at all from this stuff.
Likewise, I’ve been using Bragdon Foam for rock castings. This is another 2-part liquid mix that hardens up, and I was able to work with that in a closed-up basement without ill effects or any annoying odors. For both of these products, the individual components don’t smell much at all, and I haven’t noticed any odor during or after the curing process, either.
A member of our HO scale club used the Woodland Scenics pellets a couple of years ago and the results were horrible. First, he overheated one batch and it turned dark yellow. After the water was poured it began to crack and look like the surface of a frozen lake.
I used painted plaster, with 3 coats of water-based high gloss urethane applied with a brush. Very easy to do and very durable, and no need to worry about leaks or long drying times.
I used WS Realistic Water about seven years ago when I ‘poured’ Bullard’s Bar Reservoir on my MR. I haven’t had any trouble with it, I poured it in about three 1/8" deep separate pours, allowing about 36 hours for it to ‘set’ between pourings. I will say that had I known about Environtex at the time, I would probably have used that, seeing several of the photos here. But I don’t really feel like tearing out the lake at this time.
But it works for me. However, the WS DOES have to set up a long time between pours.
