I am familiar with the styrofoam method of making mountains , landforms etc. But I have an application where I wish to try crumpled newspaper covered with a layer of plastercloth and then a light go over with plaster. A friend says the newspaper will start to smell or go moldy over time if not removed because of the water application prior to putting on the plaster cloth. I look forward to previous experiences and suggestions.
What you are describing is hard-shell scenery. It used to be really common until everyone got all foamy. Most people would pull the newspaper out from underneath in the areas they could do so. You can also do the cardboard weave method to create a structure and plaster over that. And… People used to just use plaster soaked paper towels rather than expensive pre made products.
As already stated, newspaper was once a very common method. It can get musty, as your friend noted. It can even attract critters and in a few instances possibly also be a fire hazard. If that is the only possible way it can be done, there's no reason to not give it a try. Although I would agree about the idea of removing as much as possible after the shell has hardened.
When I was a kid I built some hills on one of my N scale layouts using interwoven cardboard strips covered with strips of newspaper dipped in wet plaster. My mom told me to mix a few drops of bleach into the plaster mix. Of course there was a bit of a bleach smell but that went away after awhile and also adding scenery. I don't recall ever getting any moldy smell and I think I had that layout for about 3 or 4 years. Thanks for bringing back another memory that I had forgotten about.
If the news paper is dipped in plaster, there should be no problem. But if it is used primarily to build up form for a plaster shell, then it could be an issue.
If for whatever reason foam won't work for you and you want to do the plaster method I'd strongly suggest using the cardboard lattice method instead of wadding up newspaper to make the sub-structure. It's not that much work and I think you have more control over the shape of your mountains. Here's an example of a small mountain I did years ago and it's still holding up great. (backing removed for internal viewing) External view Brian
I have used "hard shell" method in past when I was trying to be the beginner version of John Allen. Crumpled newspaper, INDUSTRIAL GRADE paper towels (the brown kind, not the white kitchen ones) soaked in Hydrocal, a type of plaster that uses water to bond chemically. Need to use lots of water. Hydrocal does not take color well, cover with a bit of ordinary plaster of Paris- but be sure to wet hardened Hydrocal well when adding, so setting of the top plaster does not "steal" water molecules from Hydrocal and weaken it. After all done, take newspaper out. This was built in 1970. I am now modeling "sea level" scenes, don't use hard-shell scenery now.
I crumple newspaper for rolling hills, add two layers of plaster cloth to form the terrain, and finish smooth with Sculptamold. Some terrain has been in place for six years with no smell or critters. Caveat...the room was built as part of a new house 8 years ago, including central heat/air, and continuous pest control. So my experience may not be typical of an older house basement, attic, or garage, or a separate building. These photos show after plaster cloth before Sculptamold, then the finished scene..
In my youth I built several scenes, half Nativity, using metal window screen, fence wire and being on a farm we had feed bags to soak in plaster. I also had a tiny table saw to cut my scale lumber. This was long before I got into trains.
I went with crumpled newpaper / green paiters tape and plaster gauze Turned out well considering I haven't touched the layout in about 12 months
That's the nice thing about a model railroad. It can just sit and wait, and be there any time you feel like it again.
