John-NYBWI've found that to be true when applying Sculptamold over foam board but it dries much faster when applied over plywood.
My experience was with foam
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
BigDaddy I mix cheap craft paint in with the Scultptamold. Withor without the paint, my experience is it can take days to dry.
I mix cheap craft paint in with the Scultptamold. Withor without the paint, my experience is it can take days to dry.
I've found that to be true when applying Sculptamold over foam board but it dries much faster when applied over plywood. I'm guessing the wood is porous enough that it sucks up a lot of the moisture.
Whenever I'm applying any kind of ground cover, I always paint the surface with either latex or acrylic paint and then sprinkle on the base layer, usually a fine earth tone, while the paint is still wet. This gives subsequent layers something to grip and prevents ponding.
Sorry to read about your problems. I've done similar with using craft paint or HD paint in their "oops area." That serves as a glue for helping the ground foam stick to the layout. Of course you need to spray wetwater or something similar to keep the ground form moving.
thanosazlinI found that if i use methods I've seen online where I am supposed to apply earth tone latex paint, then white elmers glue while the paint is still dry, THEN apply different colors of fine turf, that the Sculptamold tends to become slightly mushy and wet
Not sure what you mean by "while the paint is still dry"? I'm thinking you either mean "while the paint is still wet" or "after the paint is dry"?
Anyway, I've found if you use regular paint over set plaster or whatever you're using, you can sprinkle the grass material right over that and a fair amount of it will stick in the drying paint. Then you can spray on some matte medium or white glue (mixed with a little alcohol or detergent as a wetting agent) and add a little more grass on top of that. Later after it's all dried, you could spray another coating to make sure it's all sealed in place.
I use plastercloth, generally over foam scraps where I have uneven terrain. I coat that with a skim coat of Gypsolite which gives me rough rather than a smooth surface. I usually squirt some cheap craft paint into the Gypsolite before spreading it, and mix it very thin. Then I use a green craft paint wash and paint a camouflage pattern after the Gypsolite dries.
Once it's all dry, I apply dilute white glue with a squeeze bottle and an old paint brush and sprinkle on the turf.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Any area formed with Amaco Sculptamold gets a skim coat of joint componud to smooth everything out.
This removes all the little "bumpy face" effect of Sculptamold where the fine ground cover will go.
Then everything gets painted green with flat interior latex paint.
Then the initial covering of fine ground foam is applied.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
The usual procedure for adding ground foam, regardless of the surface on which it will be applied, is to paint the surface a suitable colour.
My layout's terrain was done mostly using Durabond patching plaster over aluminum window screen, but when I attempted to paint it using flat interior latex paint, in a "dirt" colour, it was extremely difficult to spread the paint, and at the rate of coverage I was getting, it was plain that I would need several more gallons of paint.
Instead, as an experiment, I half-filled a plastic 10 or 12oz. container with the paint, then topped it up with a similar amount of water. It went on easily, soaking almost immediately into the surface of the plaster. It wasn't as opaque as the unthinned paint, but is was certainly dirt-like enough to act as a base for grass and weeds...
For a fairly steep slope like this, I used a 2" brush to apply unthinned white glue over the tinted plaster, then sprinkled various colours of ground foam onto the glue.
Here's the same locale showing some of the ground cover in place...
I don't remember if I let it dry, or simply continued on, adding more ground foam (which wouldn't be in contact with the white glue, as it was already completely covered by the first application). I then used a good-quality sprayer to mist the entire area with "wet" water, then applied diluted white glue, using a dropper bottle like this one...
On less-steep terrain, I apply the ground foam to the landforms dry, layering various colours and sizes of ground foam as look suitable to my eye. Next, I use the sprayer to thoroughly wet the entire area, then apply the diluted white glue, again using the dropper bottle
Depending on the depth of the ground foam, this may take overnight or longer to fully dry.
If you wish, this process can be repeated to fill-in bare spots or to add static grass, but my plan was to use some foam-covered lichen "bushes", with homemade trees dominating the scene...
Wayne
I used latex house paint over both Sculptmold and extruded foam. As mentioned above, I just sprinkled the first layer of ground foam right on the wet paint. (More layers were added later for texture and color). I have seen some posts that said the ground foam absorbed the paint and turned the color of the paint. I did not have this problem, it may be that they diluted their paint more and it was just wetter.
When Sculptamold was used for rock faces, I used india ink/alchol washes to get the color I wanted. Where I wanted to add bushes, vines or small patches of grass to the rocks I just used white glue, a blob for bushes and vines and not thinner than 50/50 for the finer foam..
Good luck,
Richard
I made my hills with Sculptamold overlay (over plaster cloth or other) and added a coat of earth tone latex paint when dry. Literally years later I mustered the courage to add the scenery. I used Elmers white glue in various strengths, generally dribbling it on and speading it with a brush before adding fine turf as the first component. The glue just brushed on as expected, without disturbing the paint or Sculptamold.
Bottom line, this tends to support Henry's idea cited above that your Sculptamold / paint may not have been dry. If it feels cool, it is still drying.
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
i would think once your latex paint dries, it would be impervious to elmers glue.
If I were using latex paint, I would apply the ground foam directly on the wet paint. If I needed more foam, a spray of isopropyl, then the ground foam then a spray of dilute white glue, after the initial application dried.
I've also used acrylic washes with tinted sculptamold. That guarantees the scuptamold get wet again, but those surfaces were rock castings and there was no need for me to touch the scuptamold, so drying time was never an issue.
Full strength white glue is useful for ballast on the sides of cork roadbed or using real dirt for ground cover. I think it's overkill for ground foam on a flat area.
I have some hills built out of Sculptamold only, just plain white Sculptamold. I'm new to laying fine turf so I made a small 3ft by 3ft layout to test out techniques. I found that if i use methods I've seen online where I am supposed to apply earth tone latex paint, then white elmers glue while the paint is still dry, THEN apply different colors of fine turf, that the Sculptamold tends to become slightly mushy and wet :( and the elmers glue doesn't flow smoothly over the top of the latex paint.. i did NOT dilute the latex paint maybe that was my issue, maybe i should have dipped my latex paint brush in water as i was spreading the earth tone latex paint. my test turn out pretty ok i was just worried about the Sculptamold becoming wet again from the paint and glue ? Any other techniques for laying fine turn on sculptamold ? I finished it all off with some WS's scenic cement in a spray bottle.