Hydroclay looks impressive

[Anonymous]

FJ & G, Hydrocal is manufactured by Woodland Scenics. You should be able to get it from your local hobby shop. Mine sells it in half-gallon milk carton-type containers. I've never used it, and our local club uses joint compound for most of the scenery. We also use the Woodland Scenics plaster cloth for large landscape features, such as mountains or riverbeds.

We use the extruded foam insulation board (blue or pink) as a base, cutting it and shaping it as needed for hills, rises, etc., Then cover it with a layer of joint compound. We don't work the joint compound too much with tools, since the marks from the knife will be covered with ground cover, etc.

As a side note, I wonder if modeler's clay would work as well as the clay Eric gets from his yard?

[FJ and G]

DeSchane,

Agree. We have become so accustomed to rock molds that little did we realize that these rocks can actually be carved by hand. What an art. And he must have had a lot of fun in the process too.

[Anonymous]

FJ and G, I was very impressed with Eric's Hydroclay, also. However, I think Eric is an artist when it comes to carving stone faces. I have asked MR to ask Eric to submit an article on the process he uses to get such great rock work. Hopefully this will happen. I mail order my hydrocal from an online distributor. I found a great website for plaster and the tools and other equipment used and the many uses for the various types of plasters at www.plastermaster.com The website will direct you as to where to find a local outlet.

[FJ and G]

In Dec03 MR is feature on Utah Belt. The Hydroclay is impressive. Eric basically mixed 50% clay (found outside‚ with 50% hydrocal. The clay can be used to color the mixture. Also, it doesn't set as fast so it can more readily be carved. It is about as strong as plaster. Eric uses traditional hydrocal elsewhere on the layout's surface. The hydrocal, he said, is less expensive than plaster but Eric didn't say where you can purchase hydrocal. I couldn't find it at Home Depot.

The article didn't mention that he used hydroclay castings so I'm assuming that he carved that entire rock structure by hand. Am I correct in this assumption?