Covering Foam With Sculptamold

[BCR751]

I want to cover my Styrofoam scenery base with something to seal it for painting.  I've heard Sculptamold is good for doing this.  I don't want to "slather" it on, just cover it enough to seal it.  What consistency should I try for to get this done?  I've never use Sculptamold before so thought I'd better ask the question

Doug

[davefoxx]

You don't need to seal your foam scenery base; it will take paint fine.

DFF

[Dave V]

You can make it pretty runny of that's what you want to do.  If you're using it to fill gaps, then something of a mashed-potato consistency works better.

[GaryHinshaw]

Some further useful tips here:

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=34753.0

P.S. I'm moving this from the Layout Engineering board because it's a thread about technique, not a specific layout build.

[BCR751]

Somehow I knew you would

[Mark W]

You don't need to seal your foam scenery base; it will take paint fine.

DFF

Exactly. 

/thread

[loyalton]

Just make sure Sculptamold is thoroughly dry before doing anything more, like planting trees. A skim coat will obviously dry relatively quickly.

[GaryHinshaw]

Somehow I knew you would

Quoting from the Layout Engineering sticky:

The purpose of this forum is to give members an opportunity to post a running thread about the design, construction and operation of their layouts.  If you'd like to post news of your progress, please create a thread using the name of your layout, and feel free to post away within that thread.  Conversations about other topics are best posted in other forums, so they don't clutter up this section.

Thank you for cooperation.

[jagged ben]

(Seems like it belongs in 'Weather, Detailing, and Scratchbuilding', which already hosts a number of other multi-scale scenery related threads.)

[peteski]

(Seems like it belongs in 'Weather, Detailing, and Scratchbuilding', which already hosts a number of other multi-scale scenery related threads.)

You too?  Backseat moderating?  I thought that was exclusively my task. 

[arbomambo]

Hello...
although you don't have to use sculptamold over foam...it really depends on the ground cover that's going to go over it. If you're adding grasses, and/or field, I wouldn't worry, just paint the foam a latex earth color first.
But, for my 'bare' rock on this mesa, I definitely wanted a smoother texture in the rock faces and slope before adding talus...I mixed my latex color (diluted) with the sculptamold, then applied. With the sculptamold, I was able to carve a little more relief than with just the bare foam.
Bruce

[tom mann]

Wow @arbomambo that is pretty epic!  I assume you practiced making that in mashed potatoes before you moved on to foam

I would cover up everything in scupltamold first.  If you let it dry a bit, you can smooth it out with your hand, but it'll allow you create some nice variations even on flat areas.

[BCR751]

First of all, to Moderator Gary, that was posted "tongue-in-cheek.  I wasn't being critical.  Sorry if I gave the wrong impression.

Now, back to the topic at hand.  The reason for my question is that I read in Dave Frary's scenery book that bare foam absorbs paint and it would take forever to dry, hence the reason for covering with sculptamold.  For the majority of the scenery base, a thin coating mixed with my basic earth color mainly to just cover the ground, so to speak.  These areas will receive grass, weeds, and tree cover.   I would obviously want to put it on thicker if any carving or shaping is required.  So, I guess for the majority of the foam scenery base, I should try for a pretty "runny" consistency and put it on smooth? 

And a question for "arbomambo" :  How did you get the talus to stick on the slopes?  Did you just stick it in the sculptamold when it was wet or did you glue it on after the stuff had set?

 I've never worked with this stuff before so if these are dumb questions, I apologise in advance.

Doug

[peteski]

Wow @arbomambo that is pretty epic!  I assume you practiced making that in mashed potatoes before you moved on to foam

You're dating yourself  !  I didn't know you were *THAT* old! 
I've heard that arbomambo put N scale aliens behind that mountain....

BTW, I still have a can of each if you want 

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[arbomambo]

"And a question for "arbomambo" :  How did you get the talus to stick on the slopes?  Did you just stick it in the sculptamold when it was wet or did you glue it on after the stuff had set?"

Actually, it was easy...I use scenic cement from Woodlands scenics...I've made my own white glue solution using Elmers, and artists matte medium...but Scenic Cement is foolproof, dries completely flat, and has a little 'flex' to it...
I tilted the mesa until the slope was horizontal, them applied the dry talus...soaked liberally with 'wet' water (50 % isopropyl alcohol), then misted the entire thing, liberally with Scenic Cement...dries firm and hard overnight...one almost has to really try to chip the talus off after the glue is dry.
Bruce