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I have developed my scenery technique to the point now that I can't understand why anyone would ever use hardshell; I know that I certainly will never deal with its mess again. I use a foam base, although rather than use sheet foam products I prefer to use expanding foam insulation; it is much more sculptural. Over the foam, I place my home-brewed papier-mache mixture, which is primarily Cell-u-clay brand cellulose mixed with water, with joint compound thrown in. To that mixture, one can add all manner of coloring agents (I use brown and black tempera paints, since they're cheap) and real dirt or gravel for texture, even scoopable kitty litter for some interesting textural effects. I mix up on plastic cup's worth at a time, and apply it using a plastic spoon (metal spoon is better if you can part with one), troweling on a very thick mixture which I can "carve" as I place it. The smooth bottom of the spoon works to smooth out the finished surface, while the edge can be used to rough in striations on exposed rock faces. As it dries, and it takes a nice long time to dry, one can get more detailed with carving, and I have also been successful in taking real stones and setting them into the "plaster"; with some attention to detail, one can create a mosaic of natural rocks to serve as a cliff face, rather than have to sculpt or mold it all. <br /> <br />Hardshell has a setting time, not a drying time, and once it's cured it is done, aside from any dry carving you might want to do. My method results in scenery that can be re-wet and then reshaped as desired. Hardshell produces a shell that is white throughout, so when you go to place a tree, you drill a hole and leave a little unsightly powder pile. With my method, placing a tree can be done with just a knife or icepick, as you poke a hole through the soft plaster layer and into the foam beneath. The papier-mache is dirt-colored, assuming you've included the right stuff in your mixture, so any chips or cracks are not a detriment. I strive to create a realistic-looking ground surface, as though no plants grew there at all, just barren earth, and then I add regular ground foam on top of that. It takes very little of the green stuff to complete the scene, because most of the "heavy lifting" is being done by the superior plaster layer. Even in the heavily-forested northeast, there's a lot more brown in the scenery than you think, and not near as much pure green as we tend to model; by concentrating on creating a model of the bare earth, you'll discover just how much foliage is right.
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