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In Part 3 of this mini-series, Gerry Leone struggles to figure out the best way to build his undulating roadway. Follow along to see how he works out a solution that incorporates stacked foam insulation board, Sculptamold, and plaster cloth.
A way to cut foam, with that WS hot wire cutter is to create a cardboard guide that you tape to each side of the foam – think of a triangle. Then, when you use the hot wire cutter, you just follow the taper of the triangle down (same on both sides of the foam) and you’ll get your foam cut at whatever angle your “triangle” is at. I’ve used this to cut WS foam risers when I wanted a different angle than the stock one. And, if you want to super elevate a curve that goes uphill or downhill and uses the WS risers, it is easy to do that by raising the outside triangle a bit.
Hope this makes sense.
Gerry I really enjoy these short series of how to videos. I was a guy who would never do scenery until I hooked up with a couple fellow NMRA members. Now it is one the things I really like. All because two members made the time to show others some how to techniques. One thing that should be mentioned is that the dots of plaster on the plaster cloth need to be “activated” to get a good shell. There should be no dots visible when done. Think of a doctor applying a plaster cast. He rubs his hands along the cloth creating a smooth layer before the next layer repeating the process. For the modeler, a cheap chip brush of appropriate size to brush over the cloth after it is applied works well. As president of our club I have run into this problem refurbishing old scenery that had plaster cloth that was just applied with the dots still showing. The result after several years is a return to a brittle cloth. A second layer is usually a good idea and if you need more strength an application of your sculptamold/celuclay with glue makes for a very strong shell when dry. Just throw the chip brush away, by the time you’re finished it’ll be trash.
Gerry…always enjoy your perspectives on construction and have learned a lot over time but may I nitpick just a tiny bit:… have to wonder why you do not cover your laid track and roadbed with some newspaper or tape when painting, scenicing, placing still water logged Woodland Scenics plaster cloth or in this case using the Sculptamold. Not sure what the real advantage is to using the gloved hand to mix the Scuptamold when a small drywall blade would spread mix and spread it just as easily and efficiently. You must just like playing in the mud.. LOL Your wife must be a saint to let you use a jig saw in your house on the carpet to cut the foam pieces. And it always surprises me in several of your videos to see you lay tools or discarded video prop items directly on portions of your nicely finished layout sections and move on to the next thing. Anyway, Im a big fan of your instructional videos but just had a few questions and observations…keep up the great work. Very helpful to many over all.
I am really enjoying this series Gerry. It is certainly coming together nicely. I can’t wait to see a train roll over the bridge on the finished scene. I am looking for a way to include a bridge and a magnorail car animation system on my next layout.
Awesome, Thank you this helps.
Looks great Gerry, it’s really taking shape. Hot wire foam cutters are the only way to cut foam, that’s the way to go. One of these days I’m going to try your knife blade in my saber saw (jig saw as some call it) to cut the large pieces.
Did you consider using sections of Woodland Scenics starter inclines to make the transitions between the levels of pink foam? As you lay down the plaster gauze you can use your fingers to smooth the surface of the gauze to eliminate the tiny holes in the sheets. In addition, I also fold the foam sheets double before dunking in the water. This creates a double thickness of the gauze in a single step. With this method I’ve never found a need to later apply a coat of plaster.
Nice look starting out. Great idea to hot wire cut the foam to shape. I’ve usually use the foam file and vacuum cleaner.
I started out with the hard shell method, but when leaning over an losing my balance the hard shell isn’t very structural, so some of it came out and put in foam cut to shape in its place. Other places I left the hard shell and sprayed “Great Stuff” foam to help reinforce the hard shell.
Gerry, I noticed you were cutting the foam using a hot wire tool. This causes emissions from the foam that I have learned are dangerous. Do you/did you use a respirator?
Very helpful series Gerry, thanks for your thoughtful and practical approach. Look forward to seeing your road building technique.
I have used both methods of building up scenery, plaster cloth/paper towels over card board strips and foam board. Both systems have created excellent results for me. It just depends on the type typography you are modeling on determining the method to be used. Rolling hills, the plaster/paper towels work well. If you have cliffs, I like to use foam with hydrocal covering the foam and rock molds or carved rock covering the hard shell. The card interlaced strips I find can be difficult to keep the sub form I want to create. In some cases I used up waded up newspapers as a form and pulled newsprint after the hard shell has dried. Trying different ways in constructing layout many times gives better results then sticking to some old fashion system.
Thanks for all your comments, folks! You guys are completely right about foam and fumes, and I should have mentioned to either wear a respirator when cutting it with a hot wire, or do it outside or in an extremely well ventilated area. But again, the foam’s not messy to cut when you use a ground-down blade in a jigsaw. Absolutely zero dust or particles.
Wendell — great comment. If you don’t like the way stuff is turning out with foam and Sculptamold, it’s easy to rip it out and start over. You’ll lose a little bit of time and money, but gain a lot of experience!
Nicely done Gerry. I too have noticed a putrid smell when using a wire cutter on foam, so a ventilating fan is a must for me. I’ve used Sculptamold and the plaster cloth and like both equally. You’ve made quite a scene so far and I look forward to the final details making it all come together!
Fumes can be a real problem. More than once I took the foam outside to cut. This was especially true when I had to cut large amounts of the stuff. I would make rough estimates of how the cuts would go and mark them with a Sharpie and then make the cuts out in the garage. It was a little cold but you could at least breathe ??. Smaller cuts inside were not bad, but I ran a fan.
I have never used foam as a scenery base, only cardboard strips and Plaster soaked towels; or, the plaster impregnated gauze as the scenery base. Although easy enough to cut and shape the foam (with a hot wire cutter), It seems like more work to use the cut and fill method you used to fill in your end of your peninsula. I know that the foam scenery base is very popular now; however, I’m going to stick with cardboard strips and plaster dipped towels/plaster impregnated cloth, method! I know that the end of a peninsula is a difficult area to scenic.
I have stayed away from foam as it seems so messy to clean-up and the dust blows around so easily! My comments here aren’t meant to anger anyone, just commenting on what I’ve seen and what I think. As is always the case there are many ways to “Skin a Cat”!
Very interesting. First, I’m sort of glad to know that I am not the only one who forgets to put masking tape or other cover on my mainline when installing Sculptamold or other scenery 🙂 Secone, not all corn fields are level. You could paint a nice cornfield on the backdrop (or use a photo mural) then use the nice corn plants from Bluford to fill in the foreground and draw the eye. That also makes in more affordable to use the plastic con plants if they are only used in the forground. I like the little winding road and underpass. Looks like it will be a nice scene.
I have used exactly the same methods as Gerry did. One thing he didn’t mention was that if you don’t like what you have it’s so easy to rip up and replace. The amount of money isn’t all that much to get a “do over “
Very well done, Gerry!
I am wondering about the fumes from the hot wire. Are they dangerous?
It is a shame, Gerry, that you choose to ignore that fabled engineer of country roads, Mr. Thaddeus Washboard, in designing the road surface. Despite the cuts and curves, it still looks like a two-lane freeway. Maybe later you’ll get the inspiration to un-even the surface.