Big White Plaster Mountain

[deemery]

Inspired by the new Frary video, I tackled the back corner where some topography goes. I've taken a lot of photos and will go back and do a more comprehensive build, but I wanted to get these out. Basically, there's styrofoam, rough shaped and then painted with Zinzer primer (to provide better adhesion. Then I covered the painted styrofoam with nylon self-stick wallboard tape, allowing me to adjust the contours and providing a really sturdy underlayment. 2 layers of plaster wrap followed, and that gets us to this point, where I'm test-fitting rock castings:

Test-fitting rock castings

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Then I grouted the castings into shape with sculptamold*:

Castings in place, but it's hard to see...

bwmbeforespray.jpg (112.86 KiB) Viewed 458 times

A spray of ink and water brings out a lot more relief:

Alcohol and ink brings out the details

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You can see that I used two different kinds of plaster for the castings. I prefer the Woodland Scenics Lightweight Hydrocal, which is the hard stuff at the base. The other castings are done with conventional plaster of paris.

There's white paper taped over the photo backdrops, by the way...

dave

* AC Moores carries Sculptamold, a great use for a 50% off craft coupon.

[Zephyrus52246]

Funny, I was just watching Dave F.'s new video about this. Why put the plaster wrap over the styrofoam? Seems (to me) like a waste of product, the foam should be strong enough to support the scenery. Does the tape make it easier to contour?

Jeff

[deemery]

Funny, I was just watching Dave F.'s new video about this. Why put the plaster wrap over the styrofoam? Seems (to me) like a waste of product, the foam should be strong enough to support the scenery. Does the tape make it easier to contour?

Jeff

I wasn't really happy with the contours, and of course styrofoam is a "take away" approach, so it's harder to put stuff back. The wallboard tape allowed me to recontour some parts, as well as adding a lot of strength. And I happened to have some in the garage

dave