Styro Foam Hills?

[Anonymous]

I have decided to make a layout with hills made of styro foam. I am also planning on making a tunnle through it by carving some of it out under it. What is the best plaster to use on styro foam? How do you get a derailed car out from inside a tunnle like this? Please keep in mind that I am 13 and don't have much funding. THANKS!

[Anonymous]

hello, person. Being a fellow 13 year old I know what you mean. In a styrofoam mountain I cut it out so a square was angled on the edges and can be pushed in or pulled out from an attached tree stump. As for plaster I use plaster of paris. I get it at lowes (25 lb. for 10$). Although you shouldn't have derailments. A good article about both was published in modelrailroader. (banish derailments and the layout they just built. I forget its name.)

Hoped it helped.

[Sperandeo]

Hello "Styro Foam,'

Plaster is pretty cheap so eliminating it isn't going to save you a lot, but you don't really need plaster over Styrofoam scenery. If you can carve and shape your hills into smooth-enough contours, all you need to do is paint them with a thick coat of earth-colored latex paint. Then you can use more paint and thinned white glue to attach real dirt and/or ground foam for texture and color. You might still want to use plaster for rock outcroppings, but there's no need to cover all the foam with plaster.

The removeable hilltop suggested by the last poster is one way to allow access inside the tunnel. Another, if the tunnel is near the edge of the layout, is just to leave a "window" in the side of the tunnel where you can reach in. If you want to keep the train out of sight you can cover your access window with a flap or door made of Foam Core or thin wood, and only open it up when you need to reach in.

Good luck with your layout,

Andy

Andy Sperandeo
MODEL RAILROADER Magazine

[Anonymous]

Thanks! Plaster of paris? I think I heard in another thread that that type of plaster sets too quickly, ever had this problem? I suppose that with styro foam it doesn't matter mush since the shape is already there and there not much you nead too do with it. Thanks for the help, for that price I will have to get it!

[Anonymous]

Never thought about just painting it! I've had problems in the past painting styro foam, it turns out looking very bumpy, but then again I don't think I was using that thick of paint. It sounds like the best thing for derailments is a hole cut in the side and have a patch for it. This will also help with my idea of putting small LEDs inside the tunnle.

[Anonymous]

Never thought about just painting it! I've had problems in the past painting styro foam, it turns out looking very bumpy, but then again I don't think I was using that thick of paint. It sounds like the best thing for derailments is a hole cut in the side and have a patch for it. This will also help with my idea of putting small LEDs inside the tunnle.

PS Name here is Nick

PPS You work for "MODEL RAILROADER", I LOVE THAT MAGAZINE!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Hello!

I'v used Plaster of Paris for scenery projects, ranging from hardshell scenery to rock molds. While not as dense as Hydrocal, it does set quickly, but also takes color well. I've generally been pleased with it.

If you're looking for a product to fill holes in extruded foam board or to build up a contour, try Sculptamold. You can order it from Walthers at www.walthers.com or try your local hobby shop. It will run about $6 or so a bag, if I recall, but a little goes a long way.

As for extruded foam board, check around at home construction sites. Most builders use the 2" variety for insulation. Make sure to ask the supervisor or the person in charge on the job site, and they might give you some for free.

Paul Schmidt
Contributing Editor
Trains.com

[Anonymous]

Hi: If you use "rerailer" track inside of your tunnel you will reduce your chances of derailments. It is out of sight and is a great help in keeping your cars on-track.

[Anonymous]

I see you have already received several replies, so you probably have the information you need, but I want to let you in on my scenery methods, which were developed while I was a poor high schooler, and which I still believe to be superior to any other methods now that I am over 30.

I use papier mache, but I use it as part of home-brewed mixture. Get yourself a bag og this stuff called "Cellu-clay", which should be available at any hobby or art/craft store, and use it as the foundational material, to which you add a variety of admixtures. You just mix the Celluclay with water, and then start stirring in things like real dirt, acrylic paints, scoopable kitty litter, and joint compound, to create a paste with the right color and texture. Use a plastic spoon as a trowel, and you'll soon learn how to use the scoop of the spoon as a reservior to hold the "plaster" mixture, while applying and "carving" with the edges and bottom.

I mix all these components (about half of the mixture is the Celluclay) in a single plastic party cup, and work that one batch in, sculpting as I go (for smooth hillsides, it's easy to just smooth out a layer about 1/8" deep over the carved foam substrate), covering about one square foot at a time. What you end up with is a finished plaster that is colored like real dirt throughout, is somewhat flexible (it won't crack or chip), and is lightweight, and also which can be easily cut. This means that you can do as someone else suggested, making the top of your mountain removeable, by plastering right over the whole thing and then slicing through it later; that way, your scenery will match up perfectly.

My goal when plastering is to create a model earth surface that looks like what the ground would look like without any plants at all, and this method achieves that. Then, when I add "plants", it looks that much more real. I hope this helps.

BTW, all the materials I mentioned are far cheaper than their equivalent in conventional plasters.

[Anonymous]

I forgot to mention one other thing: if you're REALLY strapped for cash, and you can gain access to a kitchen blender which you can use for this purpose, you can substitute newspaper for the Celluclay. I did this in high school, spending the time it took to tear old newspapers into thin strips, then tearing the strips into small segments (no more than 1/2 inch square), and placing a load of the torn newspaper with some water into the blender. However, you won't get as uniform a color as you would with the Celluclay, since the inks printed on the newsprint remain. Still, you can't beat free, can you?

[Anonymous]

I made my hills with stryofoam and as far as derailments, just pick up the hill, there is no reason to have to attache it. I used the hydrocal to make outcroppings and it is still light enough to pick up. I bought the flat insulation boards at Lowe's about $6 for a big pack.
I then did the paint trick over the strofoam after carving it out. Then used the ground foam. Turned out looking pretty good.
One thing to be careful of, I tried using spray acrylic paint on the inside of the tunnel and it tried to melt the stryofoam. Used light coats of the spray paint and it took on a rough textured look.
Mark

[douginut]

Andy,
Perhaps this reply is a little out of place here but to see young modellers participating here makes my heart sing...
My first "Adult" train was a birthday present at 13, now a grandfather. there were people hanging around "Benty's Hobbies" on Belmont Ave, under the "L" that answered that same question for me in 1960.

Thanks to Them,
Thanks to MR.
Doug Polhamius

[Anonymous]

I also have a question about using styrofoam board for a layout. I'm going to build an N scale version of MR's San Jose Central, and would like to use styrofoam for the layout base instead of plywood. How does one go about framing the stuff? I was thinking of using 1X4s and gluing the styro to the top of that, but I don't think that would be very sturdy. Would Pelle Soeborg's idea work on a 2'X4" layout?

[Anonymous]

I also have a question about using styrofoam board for a layout. I'm going to build an N scale version of MR's San Jose Central, and would like to use styrofoam for the layout base instead of plywood. How does one go about framing the stuff? I was thinking of using 1X4s and gluing the styro to the top of that, but I don't think that would be very sturdy. Would Pelle Soeborg's idea work on a 2'X4' layout?

[Anonymous]

Sound alot like what I'm looking for! How far does some of this go. I see that it costs $7 for 1 pound, but how much does 1 pound make? Do you have to use a under frame such as chicken wire, or is it strong enough to just kinda form it with your hands?

If I did end up still using stryfoam does anybody know where I can get BIG blocks of the stuff?

THANKS ALOT!

[Anonymous]

I cannot say for sure how much a 1-pound bag will cover, but I do know that it covers a lot more than you originally guess it will. As I said, I mix about 50-50 Celluclay with other admixtures; if you used the Celluclay alone it would only cover half as much.

As for the underframe, yes you need something, and I prefer something solid. The Celluclay mixture is just a thick paste when you apply it. Either use Styrofoam or EPS board which you have carved, or what I prefer to to use expanding foam sealer. I get this stuff called Great Stuff, and it's around $4 a can, and it has a long straw for a nozzle. You spray it wherever you want a hill to grow, and it expands a lot. You can, of course, carve it back like regular EPS board once it has cured, but the cool thing is that all the random shapes you get out of it can start to suggest interesting landforms; a sculpted-in-place coating of my Celluclay mixture can transform those yellow bulges into boulders and cliffsides. The expanding foam needs something to adhere to, so for that I might use chicken wire, or else cardboard, or if you're not going too high with it, you can just build it up from your tabletop (if you've built your layout that way). You could probably mix foam boards and expanding foam, using the boards for the low slopes and the Great stuff for the terrain "features", but I'd make sure to do a chemical compatibility test first (the Great Stuff might disolve the foam board). Great Stuff is easy to find at hardware stores; it is used for insulating wall cavities, such as around doors and windows.

I think you can get big sheets of styrofoam (or EPS) at hardware stores as well.

[snowey]

always use water-based products on foam.