I have finished carving mountains out of Woodland Scenics sheet foam by stacking and I now need to know if I can paint the foam or do I have to FIRST apply plaster cloth or apply scuptamold or will the paint look good just on the foam? I'm afraid if I apply plaster cloth it will eliminate my crevices in the mountains that I want.
Yes, you can paint the foam directly.
Do not use solvent based paint, it will attack the foam.
I use the cheapest flat indoor house paint that Home Depot carries to paint my scenery base, and it works fine.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
As stated; plain ole cheap latex paint right on the foam is fine.
However,depending on how smooth your carving is , it ''may'' help to cover some with a plaster. I use dry wall mud,with a wet brush. If you mess with it you could add some grain, and perhaps hide the joints.
But if you like what ya got, paint er and call it good.
If your worried about the paint, try some on a piece of scrap or on the back side were it woulded be seen, see what happens. Thats the only way to be sure.
Mud is mud. Different brands or weight; reg,light wt. ez sanding ect. For our use makes no difference.
When I started useing it I used up all the open pails I had laying around. Now I buy 1gal. buckets of what ever on the shelf. Pop the led do your thing re set the lid. No mess no waste.
You can tint it with water base paint. and skip the painting. Apply iy with a putty kinfe like tool. or your finger. Mix a small amout with water to a batter like tickness and use a brush.
If applyed to thick it will crack. Cracks can be fixed with more mud, or if your lucky they will look like they belong there.
Drying time willdepend on surrounding air, hot/dry/damp/cool
As mentioned, drywall mud applied too thickly will crack, and it has virtually no strength...applying it over extruded foam is mostly a waste of time and resources, as the first time you accidently (or purposely) lean on it, it will crack and crumble off the foam. You could likely get better results using a Stanley Surform or a hot-wire cutter or knife to shape it into the contours you want, then simply paint it with flat latex house paint.
If you still want to use a plaster-type coating, try Durabond patching plaster. It comes in several setting times - 20 minutes, one hour, and 90 minutes, I believe. It dries rock hard and is very strong - I used it for all the landforms on the main level of my layout, applying it over aluminum window screen.
These areas are quite deep, so to reach in to do any scenery work or re-rail a locomotive, I have to bend over and stretch to reach even the track, and can easily support my weight by placing my hand(s) directly on the plaster landforms...
...even the "water" is made of Durabond, applied directly atop plywood...
I first tried using extruded foam to make this ramp up the the dump-shed for this coaling tower...
...then simply painted it with dirt-coloured latex house paint.
I will be using extruded foam to create a representation of the very closely-nearby Niagara Escarpment, which is mostly shale and limestone, with some layers of clay, in various colours... it, however, will simply be carved (slash horizontally, then vertically, with the "rock face" picked off with the tip of the knife). It will get painted appropriately, but no coating of drywall mud or Durabond.
Very recently, I decided to work on that ramp to the coal dump shed, and here's the results on that painted foam...
I'll eventually build an ash- and cinder-loader structure for the tail-end of that track.
GoCartAlso, which dry wall mud would you suggest? Thanks
Over foam I think Amaco Sculptamold will work much better than drywall mud.
I do not use drywall mud for anything on a model railroad.
Another vote for sculptamold. Second choice would be one of the plasters.You better use acrylic paint on foam. Many of the spray paints will eat the foam.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Just cover it with plaster cloth, otherwize you won't be happy. Drywall mud will not work, it will crack.
rrebell Drywall mud will not work, it will crack.
I have used DWmud on 4 layouts. Only once [1] did it crack. Witch was a simple fix.
And after tearing down 3 of those layouts, I can and will say from real life experence that mud is plenty strong enuff.
I have two large areas on my layout that needs shell construction.
As expensive as this hobby is for track, turnouts, locomotives, rolling stock, Etc. I'm always looking for other ways to save a buck. My brother showed me how well dryer sheets work for plaster cloth and they're free. I also use Plus 3 easy sand 20 minute setting compound for plaster cloth as it gives you a lot of bang for the buck.
It comes in 20, 45, and 90 as Wayne has stated. I do believe they eliminated the 210. I haven't seen it for a while. You can also mix this setting plaster with paint to give it a base color in case it ever scratches it won't show.
I have not seen Dura Bond 90 for quite a while. I would imagine it's still available somewhere and it's the only plaster that is waterproof out of the inexpensive interior construction products. I'd be more prone to use it for the plaster cloth coat as it dries hard as a rock, but it's hard to shape or sand on finish coats.
TF
Track fiddlerMy brother showed me how well dryer sheets work for plaster cloth and they're free.
This is absolutely true.
A friend of mine showed me "dryer sheet hardshell" a few months ago, and I was amazed at how well it worked.
Save the used dryer sheets!