Today was a better day, overall.
I started by completing the fitting of the large rock casting which required removal of some plaster wrap and a slight modification of some cardboard stripping. That is the nice thing about cardboard and plaster wrapping, it is very easy to change! Below is the area during this modification.
Next I applied four pieces of plaster wrapping to close the hole in the picture above.Since I got my delivery from Dick Blick today which contained the 1/4" and 1/2" masking tape I decided to make a couple more bottle trees while I was waiting for the plaster wrapping to set. The tree on the left used 1/4" masking tape and the tree on the right used the 1/2". I think the 1/2" looks a little better but both are acceptable.
I then viewed Frary's video on installing rock castings (on loan from Steve) one more time before going into train room to install my first rock casting. I mixed up my first batch of gypsolite, whetted the plaster wrapping and applied a coat to the area where the rock casting would go. I then whetted the casting and applied the gypsolite which starting setting up almost immediately! Frary said I had at least an hour to work this stuff! In addition I didn't have enough gypsolite mixed so I quickly mixed up more, scraped off the already too hard gypsolite, whetted the casting with a paper towel soaking in water and applied another coat of gypsolite. I then placed the casting on the layout and started the process of blending it into the surrounding scenery base.
I then viewed Frary's video on installing rock castings (on loan from Steve) one more time before going into train room to install my first rock casting. I mixed up my first batch of gypsolite, whetted the plaster wrapping and applied a coat to the area where the rock casting would go. I then whetted the casting and applied the gypsolite which starting setting up almost immediately! Frary said I had at least an hour to work this stuff! In addition I didn't have enough gypsolite mixed so I quickly mixed up more, scraped off the already too hard gypsolite, whetted the casting with a paper towel soaking in water and applied another coat of gypsolite. I then placed the casting on the layout and started the process of blending it into the surrounding scenery base.About three more gypsolite mixings and plenty of wet brushes and I think I have something that is acceptable. I did however use over 2.5 pounds of gypsolite for this one area! So I need to find a low cost high quantity source, which I think I have. The trick with this stuff seems to be plenty of water. In fact I don't think you can have too much water. If it starts to setup just dip your brush in water and keep working. Once I figured this out things went better.
There is a picture of the installed rock casting on the website at
Tomorrow I hope to install another casting over top of the east portal and blend everything into the scenery base. This stuff is not too bad to work with and after a couple more days experience I should be able to get the results I want. (Note to self, probably should not have started this process in the most viewable section of the layout.)
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