Mountains out of paper towels and plaster

[Anonymous]

Plaster cloth is very expensive at $8.99 per roll, so my dad and I tried another method, paper towels doubled and dipped in a very thin plaster mixture. It works well, lookes just as plaster cloth, and is cheap.[;)]

[steveblackledge]

If you can do it cheaper in any way at all do it, i am a skinflint who does not like paying through the nose for stuff. If i can find a cheap alternative that work's the same i'll use it

[dwRavenstar]

Next time you're gassing the car grab a handful of those blue towels they put out. Stronger than paper towels and they're FREE!!

[Wheeler1]

Add liquid colors like grays and browns it really helps when you nick it, you don't see the white or blue paper towel

[twhite]

It's a good technique, but make sure you have a lot of underlying support. I used paper towels and Hydrocal on my first layout and it worked pretty well. I know the WS plaster cloth is pretty expensive, but you can also get it in larger rolls and quite a bit cheaper at both art stores and hospital supply stores. Ravenstore's right about those blue industrial paper towels, they're about three times as strong as Bounty, or whatever commercial brand you're using. And the plus about paper towels and plaster is that it goes on quickly. But as I said at first, make SURE you've got a good support system underneath, especially if you're building Rio Grande mountains--they're BIG! [:P]
Tom[:D][:D]

[Jetrock]

Using paper towels is an old technique but still a good one--the use of plaster cloth came about by people who wanted a little simpler technique but paper towels definitely win for cheapness! One note about the paper towels: Use the cheao store brand rather than brand name, or use the blue "shop towel" kind you can get at hardware stores. They tend to be thin and strong, good for "hardshell" mountains.

[grandeman]

Uh oh. I just found this thread. I think I may have created a little 10 year old forum monster today. [:D] He's been posting while I've been wiring that %^$#& Consolidation.

He's a man after my own heart though. Paper towels are cheaper by far. The tips about coloring the towels are great. Wish I'd thought of that a couple of months ago!

[AggroJones]

If you want a cheap, non-toxic solution to making scenic forms, try glueshell. A gallon of Elmer's white glue cost $11at Home Depot. I use shreaded news paper soaked diluted white glue. Once dried, its sealed with several layers of laytex paint. I used 1.5 gallons to terrrain my 74 sq feet of layout. (So now I have a half gallon of white glue left for use on whatever)

[tommyr]

I have recently tried the following & got good results.( cheap too) A web of corrugated cardboard covered with cheesecloth hot glued to it. Then a thinned coat of hydrocal brushed on. You can then build up the plaster for rock carving. Finally a coat of earth coloured latex to hold ground foam. Works for me.[:D][:D]

[Anonymous]

I built a layout for a friend of mine last year on a shoe string budget that wanted a mountain with tunnels, so I used wooden dowels for support, window screen as a frame, paper towels dipped in plaster to cover the whole thing with and finished it off with earth tone spray paints. It turned out really nice-in spite of the fact that I was the one that did the work...

trainluver1

[trainboyH16-44]

I use paper toels soaked in hydrocal, and put on a shaped mesh screen, with Sculptamold detailing. it works really well for me. I have never found the strength a problem, though.
Matthew Hicks

[ARTHILL]

My first three kayouts were plater on towel over window screen. I will try the plater cloth over wadded newspaper this time, but I plan to use some real rocks for cliffs and I think I will be back to plater and screen before I'm done. I do like to carve the plater(just before its dry). It makes nice Mississippi river bluffs.

[Andrew Falconer]

I was originally going to layer blue shop towels dipped in hydrocal directly over the extruded polystyrene scenery. 

If it works then I will glue some black plastic screen to the flat and contoured extruded polystyrene.

The plastic screen will then be covered with blue shop towels dipped in hydrocal.

I hope that works.

Andrew

[loathar]

A better substitute for paper towels are those drier fabric softener sheets. They don't get all soggy and rip like paper towels do.

[Dustin]

A better substitute for paper towels are those drier fabric softener sheets. They don't get all soggy and rip like paper towels do.

Before or after use? 

 

[on30francisco]

This is the way I've been doing it for over 35 years! We never had premade plaster cloth like Woodland Scenics currently markets and I'm glad we didn't. Although convenient it is waaaay more costly than using paper towels dipped in plaster. I've also used papier mache in the past with good results.

[tomikawaTT]

Let's hear it for re-inventing the wheel!

Industrial-grade paper towels dipped in Hydrocal over balled-up newspaper was the original Linn Westcott formula for hard-shell scenery.  I first used the technique in 1965.

Will I use it today?  The jury is still out, but leaning toward something I can stick wires (and plastic tree trunks) into without using a drill.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[electrolove]

I made a experiment that works really good.

I built a scenery base with cardboard strips and added masking tape over the whole area.

Then I used some newspapers and cutted them no bigger then 2 by 2". I filled a bottle with varm water and let them lay there for 24 hours. Then a used a food mixer and made some nice paper mache.



I took away most of the water and mixed it with the glue that we use for wallpapers. I don't know what it's called in english. It took a couple of days to dry but it looks nice and seems to be very strong.

I painted the surface a tan color after it's dry.

The nice thing with this is the price, or lack of it. Newspapers are free, so are water. And a bag of wallpaper glue (the sort you mix with water) will last a very long time.

[loathar]

A better substitute for paper towels are those drier fabric softener sheets. They don't get all soggy and rip like paper towels do.

Before or after use? 

 

Depends on whether or not you want your mountain to smell like a fresh Spring meadow.

[cacole]

Even cheaper than paper towels is old newspapers torn into strips.

 

[R. T. POTEET]

Plaster cloth is very expensive at $8.99 per roll, so my dad and I tried another method, paper towels doubled and dipped in a very thin plaster mixture. It works well, lookes just as plaster cloth, and is cheap.

What you have discovered is called 'Hardshell'; it - and what is referred to as 'zip texturing' - was not invented by but was popularized by the late Linn Westcott, editor of Model Railroader magazine. I first read about this in the mid-60s and the club I joined in Taxachusetts was doing their new construction using it. I have used it on all six of my N Scale layouts. Although it is just a little on the messy side, at the same time it is cheap, light, strong, and can be altered with a minimum of disruption to the layout. It is the only scenery that works for this country boy.

It is worth noting that if you intend on doing extensive hardshelling of your layout you may want to go to a janitorial supply house and buy yourself a nine-pack of industrial strength single-fold - or double-fold, it really doesn't matter - paper towels; unbleached - these are light brown - are just a little bit cheaper than the bleached variety. These industrial strength paper towels are the kind you find in dispensers in public rest rooms; these dispensers can also be purchased and are not really very expensive and are very convenient.

[BigRusty]

A word of caution. If there is track going under the hill be sure to build a tunnel liner over it first. I use corrugated cardboard. Run your widest consist through it to be sure of the clearances.

[Anonymous]

Huh, I tried that, but it didn't hold. Does it require more time to dry than plaster cloth? I'm in the same boat as you, plaster cloth is really expensive!!!!