Home Ponderosa North Model Rail News Tips & Tricks Rail Calendar Arizona Rail Links Members Layouts Photo Gallery In Memory Of

Tips & Tricks January 26, 2008 Scenery in a tube By John Staehle You may have seen this technique or even tried it but I have discovered other uses for carpenter’s gap filler, “Polycrylic” waterproof sealer and other common home improvement products that are available in the home repair section of most hardware stores and The Home Depot. The tube type acrylic sealers, gap fillers and caulking are all used on my HO RR and 1/35th scale military dioramas (I have both hobbies to look forward to). The caulking is best used when thinned with water and acrylic craft paint (cheap) are mixed all together to make a batter of sorts that is the consistency of pancake batter. This can be applied to carved insulation foam, ceiling tile, and when thinned more to brown wrapping paper to make scenery. I also now use florists foam to represent the contours of landscape. Applied with an old paint brush the substance take on the appearance of plain soil or rock. Apply a second thinner coat and sprinkle with ground cover; sand, pebbles, grass, etc. Allow to dry for about 12 hours and the clean-up is easy as well. Polycrylic sealer used to coat wood is best for water. Applied in thin layers over plain sandy bottom creeks the effect is very convincing. The same application over caulking colored in water tones is effective as well. The waterfall effect can be accomplished with amazing results when the base of a water fall is carved from foam and the layering as described above is used. Further detailing can be accomplished by using white caulking to represent waves on a lake or seacoast and white-water on a river. I have been building models of every variety in military, aircraft and RR scales since the 1960’s and have found that any acrylic based product is by far the only way to model anything related to scenery as the ease of mixing the elements, application and safe handling are all part of the plans. [ Home ] [ Ponderosa North Model Railroad Club ] [ Model Rail News] [ Arizona Rail Calendar ] [Tips & Tricks] [ E-mail the webmaster ]