Plaster of Paris over WS Plaster Cloth

Why not use something like TrueScene or Sculptamold?  They're available in smaller quantities and they take longer to set, at least Sculptamold does for sure, than PoP.  If you already have plaster cloth in place it sounds like your structure is pretty well formed. If you're just looking for surface contour-type stuff I would try using either of those two.

- Mike

Since you already have the PoP, and plenty of it.... use it. Just work with small areas at a time, and use ice water to mix it. That will slow the drying time down a LITTLE bit. They say a table spoon of vinegar works too but never tried that. No reason to let 100 lbs of Pop go to waste.

Sculpt-a-mold is great to work with, longer setting time, but it's still not a very long time. It's much softer when dry too, so you can carve and cut away at it. I like to use it in between rock molds to blend them together. 

If you're just using it as a base ground cover, yeah, just mix it up like a pancake batter and spread it around with a brush. You can even throw in some paint in the mix if you want to make it a dirt color instead of stark white. Otherwise just paint over it later, it just saves a step to do it all at once  

Also, you can mix it more or less "runny" depending on the angle of the surface you're covering.  The more vertical the surface, then I'd mix it more to the "paste-y" end of the spectrum so it doesn't run/drip  as much when you're applying it.  

I have been using joint compound & i have never had any problems,you just need a thin coating & it is ready to use right out of the bucket,works for me.

Lancer:  It looks like you and I are on parallel paths.  I am redoing my ground base scenery and putting plaster cloth down.  I guess I will also coat it all with a thin layer of plaster to smooth out some areas.  In the past, I have used "pop" dipped in towels for the main layer over my framework and doubled up on some for larger mountains.  I had just painted over that without the overcoat with rattle can paints.  But now I am reading all the posts, current and past, on this process and it appears that the majority of modelers here coat the plaster cloth with something. Hope you can post photos of your progress. 

I use twenty minute joint compound. Not the pre mix, but the one that comes in a bag. Mix it soupy, dip paper towels in it. It takes color as good as plaster or hydrocal.

The Plaster of Paris should work fine. It's been a long time since I worked with plaster. From what I remember after the initials hard shell was complete I covered it with a skim coat of plaster. One important step I remember. Spritz water over the scenic towels before you begin. It will try to absorb all the water out of the plaster you mixed and cause it not to set right. Will have a powdery feel to it rather than a hard as a rock feel. Whenever you complete a section. Wet that area before preceding to the next batch.

 I used a plaster called Special White. A layout built in my area featured in MR used it and it was available locally. Used about 8 bags. I think any plaster will work well in this application. I think a lot of times modelers get caught up in fancy names on the bags.

 If you haven't begun yet. You may want to look at a thing called Ground Goop. It's a concoction you mix yourself. Spreads easily. You can pre color it. Won't work for rock formations and such. But seems great at hills and such. Lou Sassi who writes for MR and has written a few books came up with it. If you Google him I'm sure there's info available. I think it's main ingrediants are Sculptamold and Latex Paint. iBest part you can mix a large batch and use it as you need it. Just keep it in a sealed container.

 If you go the plaster route. It goes a lot easier with a helper and 2 bowls. My daughter who was about 10 at the time thought it was fun. While your working out of one bowl. Your helper can be cleaning and prepping the next one.

 My layout has used just about every method of making mountains ever devised. Early on I used the old wire screen over wood struts method where newspaper strips were dipped in plaster and applied. Then I began to modernize using plaster cloth over a frame of insulation foam and finally settled on the simpler plaster cloth over cardboard strips method. For top coatings I used Plaster of Paris, Sculptamold, and a product sold at the craft stores called Celluclay. All produced good results but if you are casting rocks  Plaster of Paris seemed to work best.

I would say PoP over plaster cloth would work very well.

Before I discovered Structolite, I would add white sand purchased by the bag from the hardware store to the P of P. It would still set fast, but the sand gave it the grit of Structolite, made it go a lot farther, and seemed to be stronger than the straight P of P.

Jim

I also used the Plaster Cloth on my 1st Mountain. It was a dream to work with and I am very happy with the results. After the mountain hardened I add some DAP Lightweight Joint Compound to fill in any cracks or just touch up work. DAP goes on PINK and dries White.

Home Depot at $15.00 for a Gallon Bucket Pre-Mixed and ready to use.

Your mountain is looking great.  Like you, I would have used up the plaster on hand.  Have fun!

I use spackling paste: lighter, easier to work with, and lighter, and if you buy the stuff that goes on pink and dries white, you know when to paint.  But given you have 100 lb of the PoP, go with the suggestions above.  Last time I used it (15+ years ago) I put it on very thick (peanut butter nearly) over window screen.

I've added pieces of plaster cloth wadded or at random to add detail.  Usually a second layer of plaster cloth also add strength and detail/smoothness.

Landscape detail

Lance

The PoP is working out pretty good, dont forget to post finished pictures