Chicken wire and bed sheets?

I understand what your planning. I wonder how manageable or unmanageable the plaster soaked sheet will be? That's the beauty of smaller pieces of material in spite of there having to be so much handling...one is able to deal with it in small chunks and adjust as you go.

Just thoughts obviously.

Good luck

bob

Old bed sheets are what I use over a mesh of sliced up interwoven brown paper bags.  I just tack down sliced up old sheets to fit an area with a bit of hot glue and use an old brush to paint & spread on the plaster (hydrocal) as a fairly thick glop.  Not had any problems...  Wouldn't worry about the C-wire as support, but might be careful about moisture leaking through initially. 

I recommend you check out alternative to chicken wire for terrain forming.  Back when I started model railroading in the 50's chicken wire or window screen was what we used for mountains.  But since then other techniques have evolved that offer better control over contours, ease of making changes, and with far less mess. To learn more see the posts on the OGR scenery and structures forum, or look at any of the several scenery "how to" books.

Ed Rappe

I agree with Ed on this, particularly on the "making changes" aspect; hence my use of the interwoven paper.  I have to cut a good chunk out of the one end of my scenery to "plant" a previously unplanned structure into a slope.  If there was wire in there, this would be a messy proposition.  One might also wonder about electrical issue as well, or not......

On the old DSMR layout, we used chicken wire plus Hydrocal-soaked paper towels. The chicken wire acted as re-bar for the plaster.  However, it seemed that 50% of the Hydrocal wound up on the floor.  

We finally started with a sheet of plastic draped over whatever formers were in place, followed by chicken wire and then the towels.

Seems to me, cut up sheets would be better than paper towels.  And I have the scars to be able to say that you should avoid chicken wire.

ChipR

I too have used chicken wire, and it worked well.  (I use conventional control though, and some say that there is an issue with remote control and chicken wire).  But once I was on to the cardboard strips I never went back.

yup, C wire out along with the hen house.

Thanks for discussion

Phil

I get my High Desert hills and buttes ready-made from Home Depot.  They're sculptured shells made from fiberglass and weigh between 2 and 4 pounds each.

They're perfect for simulating the geological terrain of my High Desert environment.

No mess, no tools, no work!

I just plop 'em down wherever I like on my layout, then scatter rocks, gravel, and sand around 'em!

BAD ORDER

I think you will find these rock features in the irrigation dept. as I have 2 covering my drip distribution systems

HEY ALAN,

You'll find them in Home Depot's plumbing dept. 

They're called "Valve Covers" or "Valve Box Covers", and they're landscaping ornaments for covering the "unsightly" valves of your sprinkler system.

They're available in 4 sizes and 2 flavors: Granite and Sandstone.

Prices range from about $30 to $80 according to size.

I have 9 of 'em on my layout in all 4 sizes and both colors. 

That's all...

BAD ORDER  ($3975 due at signing)

One of my favorite things about model railroading is YOUR free ability to build your railroad any way YOU like it, no matter your ability, period. Some people prefer prefab everything, some prefer scratch-build everything, I enjoy both. For me its about creating prototype scenes and operations that are realistic, so prefab scenery appears like a naked girl in a church meeting to me. Just my thoughts. ncng

 Another shot of my valve covers.  (3 sizes and 2 rock colors shown)

 Bad Order  (Will pick up my new American Strat today)

Those HD "rocks" are a great idea.  I've seen them in the store and it never crossed my mind to use them.  Any idea how hard it would be to cut those pre fab rocks, to add a tunnel?

Here you go.

http://www.homedepot.com/s/rock%2520cover?NCNI-5

HEY SINCLAIR,

They're not "rocks".

They're thin shells of molded fiberglass, about 1/32" thick, and can be cut with a pair of shears.

For making a tunnel, I would suggest this one: 

(I temporarily removed it from my layout to see how it would look as a possible tunnel in another corner, but since my real desert environment has no tunnels, I discarded the idea.)

BAD ORDER

I would not use used chicken wire.

MY APOLOGIES TO SINCLAIR: 

I was in error when I said the valve cover material was 1/32" thick and could be cut with a pair of shears.

NO WAY!

It's more like 1/8" thick and would require a power jigsaw to cut your tunnel openings.

(I bought another valve cover today (on the left), and noticed how truly stout it is!...I've never cut any of my 9 covers before.) 

Sorry for the misinformation,

bad order

But the short of it is that they are cuttable, which is what I needed to know.  Thanks, BOH!

They're cuttable, because they're not real granite or sandstone!

bad order harry

Well, I have seen some of these things that were cast concrete, which I wouldn't call cuttable for use.  And I have seen plaster and chicken wire ones.  And now this thread has gone full circle...

Very well then!

Bad Order Hal

US Army, 1960-62