I am using combinations of Plaster Cloth, Plaster of Paris, Celluclay and Sculptamold over areas of foam (for hills and contours) and bare plywood benchwork (for flat yard and industry areas). I plan next to paint (household latex) over all surfaces with my desired dirt color. My concern is how smooth all of the the contoured and bare cloth areas need to be to look okay? i.e. - will the application of a thick coat of paint and ground foam ground cover hide all of the brush and tool strokes effectively so they dont't show? Same at joints and seams where materials are blended / feathered together. Clearly, I am trying to avoid a lot of sanding and dust cleanup along the way as well as saving time doing something I don't need to worry about. Thanks, jeff
Hi there. Yes, ground foam will cover minor irregularities. But not 1/4" cracks or gaps. Paint doesn't hide much. You might want to experiment on a small section first.
Simon
I used zip texturing over plaster cloth, this made a great base for other materials and covered every bit of the plaster cloth. Then layered on ground foam and static grass.
I usè a thin slurry of gypsolite over my plaster cloth. Gypsolite is a gritty plaster. It's gray in its container, and i mix in a bit of cheap brown craft paint to give the resulting surface a dirt-colored rough color. When it's dry, i apply a camouflage pattern with a wash of green craft paint to break up the uniformity of the brown surface. After that it's turf and ground foam, followed by static grass.
i have a small Woodland Scenics hydrocal casting mold called "Boulders" that I use to make small rocks, which I paint gray and have around to add small stone outcroppings around the layout
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
What you describe is similar to my approach. The combination of ground foam, trees, bushes, etc. hide the small seams. Large ones you can use cardboard over the gap(s) and then PoP to blend everything.
Thanks all for input. Finding classic application of plaster cloth over cardboard strips and newspaper wads best for larger hills / mountains and then different plasters to smooth details. Finding plasters generally have really annoying short working time to work slowly on details. Having best results using Celluclay for small area contouring as it can be easily feathered into flat areas of plywood benchwork and sub-roadbed as well as where it meets plaster cloth created aggresive elevation changes. Have found shaper sheet almost useless for really practical application over large areas. Probably really good for dioramas and small layout scenes as shown in videos and promotional photos but expensive and time consuming for complex mountain conturing over large area. Onward.
I am using cardboard strips to get the basic shape of the land form first, then applying plaster gauze over it. My wife found it on Amazon way cheaper than the model scenery companies.
I plan to using plaster of paris over it to smooth it out.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
I made an effort that I found very successful in painting the substrate before adding ground cover. I used two shade of brown and two of light and dark green in a camoflage pattern. Reason I did that is moisture contact on the dirt varies and it does show through.
I have some advice if you're unsure about your scenery technique -- get a small block of styrofoam (even the beaded white foam would do), or small scrap of plywood, or even just a thick piece of carboard cut from a box, paint it with a latex base coat and make a test sample of your scenery using your available scenery materials in a few square inch-wide area. This is great for testing out scenery techniques (especially static grass application -- you gotta practice your application techniques before committing it to your layout) or experimenting, since if you mess up, no damage done to your layout.
A few other observations.
Yes, plaster cloth from Amazon is going to be significantly cheaper than any you get from a hobby site. Michaels or Hobbylobby has it in a pinch. I use a slurry of plaster of paris for going over the plaster cloth but sometimes mix in some hydrocal if I need extra strength. Going to your local paint store and purchasing a quart of their inexpensive sample paints (something you would purchase when trying to decide on a final color) is a cheaper way to paint your scenery. And of course depending on what type of area you are modeling will determine the color you paint your finished area. I use a light tan first then mix in lighter amounts of a reddish brown before adding any ground cover.
A light, irregular application of a moss green acrylic craft paint can simulate ground cover itself from a distance - especially if you want to convey a moss on rocks effect.
After gluing down bushes, I spray them with a light wash of the reddish brown I use on my ground. It helps get the bushes a more uniform look and helps knock down the intensity of the ground foam coloring - something I personally find to be too jarring and unrealistic. I apply the wash a little more heavily to bushers located along gravel roads where it tends to get dirty from passing traffic.
The nice thing about scenery painting is you can usually pretty easily redo any mistakes you've made color-wise. Just try to get the desired color before applying the ground cover if at all possible.