Need to make a hill and a road for my layout so I took some floral styrafoam and carved the basic hill shape that I needed. I then began to take hot glue and news paper to fill in around the hill. After that I took plaster strips and covered the hill and newspaper. Once that was completed, I then mixed a bowl of plaster to fill in some low areas where the road will be and started the process of connecting the roads together. The road that runs thru the city is one way traffic.
I've not seen wadded-up news paper / plaster for a long time, Ray. It's good to see someone using an old, tried and tested method again. I'll be interested to see what you have after you get it stained and some scenery around it.
Looking good Ray, that's the same technique I use. Though I use Sculptamold instead of plaster for the final coat because it's more flexible and doesn't crack if hit.
Well I have a huge bag of plaster (joint compound technically) that was left over from a project here at the house and i like the results that I am getting. Thankfully the hill and road are not going to be hit unless the layout has to be moved. Just using what I have on hand and work reliably.
Can't argue price...just keep each layer thin because rock mud starts to shrink around 1/4" thick, been there, got the "T-Shirt".
You know, I used to just slather it on, figure it would crack, then slather on a second coat to hide the cracks. And then maybe apply a third, skim coat. I used foamboard rather than newspapers on my last layout, as the newspapers on the previous one seemed to attract a few intrepid mice that lived for a few years in my mountains after burrowing out a space. But then they also found spaces in the foamboard to make their nests. I have a great respect for mud, as my summer earnings slinging it financed some of my college education. If it cracks, just fill in the cracks with a second coat. I learned that the more I "slinged" the mud, the better it worked and looked on those endless interior hallways!
