Outdoor buildings?

[Sir Simon]

I have noticed that buildings can be made of other material rather than wood.

Do you know when one could buy like a 'building mold' so I could pour plaster or hard stuff and make my buildings survive the weather, which wood tends to suffer in the Texas heat.

Thank you

Simon

[Anonymous]

Concrete backer board at home depot or lowes works well. Remember to wear safty goggles and mask when cutting with a circular saw.

Pressure treated 3/4 ply works also. Where in Texas are you?

Toad

[g. gage]

Hi Simon, I've been using Hardie backer board for building bases for many years. I'm now making models of concrete tilt up buildings with the same materal. Will post pix when finished.

Have fun, Rob

[altterrain]

Plaster like hydrocal will not hold up outdoors. There is a building system called Jigstones that uses molds and cement based products for stone and brick buildings. There are many fine examples here - Modeling Projects .

Other ways of building include using hardibacker board - http://www.grblogs.com/index.php/2006/12/06/a-modern-factory?blog=25

Foam insulation board is used in many ways including -

 Direct carving it a hot wire foam cutter - http://users.stratuswave.net/~wd8jik/foamcutter/foamcutter.htm#

a station I made for a nephew -

carved vinyl concrete patcher over foam board like Jim Strong's European style houses -

or plastic veneer panels over foam -

http://www.grblogs.com/index.php/2008/03/26/silver-spring-station?blog=25

 

Lots of way to make buildings!

-Brian 

[kstrong]

In terms of pre-formed walls and such, no. There is a company called "Precision Products" that makes vacuum-formed plastic sheets, which are typically used as veneer for buildings. http://www.appliedimaginationinc.com/precision_products/ Here's a station I built using the sheets. The basic frame is a tile underlayment called "Fiberock." The Precision Products sheets also work well for mold forms, by pouring material against the backside of the sheets. They're not 100% the same, but from more than a few feet away, the effect is quite pleasing. Here's a bridge abutment that I did using a mold formed from these sheets: BTW, do not use plaster outdoors. It doesn't react well with water--or more to the point, it reacts quite easily with water and quickly goes away. Many folks use vinyl patching concrete. It's very durable, has a fairly fine grain, and can be carved for various effects. The bridge abutment above is regular concrete. Here's a building made from the vinyl concrete: Later, K

[rpc7271]

To all of you people complaining about plaster outside particulary hydrocal there is a product made by US Gypsum called TufStone that I have been using for years. It does contain SOME hydrocal along with other ingrediants including fibreglass fibers and polymers for added strength. It is listed as an indoor plaster but I am using it outdoors. I have PAINTED bridge abutments, piers, station platforms etc. that have been outside for over 5 years without any problems.  

[altterrain]

How do you use it? Where the pictures?

-Brian 

[Culcreuch]

 I used Precision Board from Rainbow Ridge for these buildings.  They will stay out all year.

Ian