Looking for a low maintenance scenic material

Yeah, always a bummer when you hang a query out there and get crickets chirping.

 

I also wanted a simple clean base to cover my train table. Specifically one that would add depth and character without clutter and would allow cleaning with a duster or small vacuum.

 

My "great idea" was the Rustoleum Countertop Restorations product in the desert sand finish. For an actual kitchen counter top you would apply a sand colored adhesive base coat (looks like sand colored paint) then heavily sprinkle on these small chips in different sizes and shades. After that scrape off the excess, sand with a special sanding block and apply a thick clear coat. My plan was to stop after the scrape. No sanding and no clear coat. Then to spice it up a little a light spray with Floquil Tuscan Red and Reefer Yellow. Very quick and very easy except for the spray paint fumes. To me the results are very pleasing. Just what I wanted. A desert rail yard look.

 

The down side is the price. $250 for the kit at Lowes for 50 square feet. I scored though by finding a kit without the clear coat on eBay for $50. Also you can by the basecoat separately on line and find the chips on eBay.

 

If you have any interest I'll send some pictures. Otherwise good hunting.

 

Scott

It is the clear coat that gives that Rustoleum Countertop Restoration product its whip-off characteristic.  Without doing the sanding and that top-coat, I think it will really be no different than model terrain any other way, which frankly isn't that difficult to maintain.  I use a paint/sand mixture similar to it on alot of my desert southwest areas and it does get dusty, but vaccums (shop vac) very easily once every three to six months. 

Wow Lee, I'm a little surprised anyone out there was aware of that product as a landscape option. But yes, if you really want "wipe off" ability then the clear coat sure will give you that. Heck, you prepare food on it if you wanted to.

I would use traditional plaster wrap that you can get at hobby shops or craft stores and coat it with sculpamold or plaster.  Be sure to smooth the sculpamold as much as possible. Then seal it with an undercoat and paint with the same kind of paint you would use in a kitchen or bathroom.  The color is you choice.  Since you are not adding any ground cover, you should be able to clean it just as you would a kitchen or bathroom wall.

This is the easiest and absolute best scenic material  

 

http://www.truescene.com/

 

Its fiber based,  paint can be mixed with it to get color you want , and if you don't like the way it looks wet it and take it up and do it over

 

Her is Bill's demo video

Well, believe it or not, I used it to restore a countertop a few years ago.  I never looked at it as a landscape option but I guess you could . . Good stuff although expensive and the top coat took ages to really harden.  But we had time when we were restoring that counter to let it do that well and it turned out nicely.  

If you're still out there Lee, here's what it looks like on my layout. Wouldn't wipe it with a wet towel but should clean easily with a small vac or blow the dust off with compressed air. A little sparse now but much nicer than bare wood. Glad your kitchen counter turned out well.

 

 

I used Lifelike Mountain Paper over a foam insulation base. It's not "wipe-able," I used it because it can be easily brushed or dusted off, and helps keep the lightweight mountain removable.

 

 

Thanks to everyone for your replies.

 

The Rustoleum Counter top Restoration product looks like it makes nice counter tops, but probably a little pricey at least for my train layout and I think it might be difficult to make mountains using the product.

 

The plaster wrap and sculptamold suggestion from Brewman1973 sounds more like what I would like to do on the layout.

 

I'm guessing a critical component is what to use to coat the plaster wrap. I was looking through some old scenery topics I've copied off the forum, and it sounds like there are a number of products that might work:

 

plaster

sculptamold

structo-lite

drywall mud

 

And I'm sure there might be other materials as well. I'm not very familiar with the various products. Can anyone list pros and cons of the various materials? You could use my earlier qualities as a starting point for pro and con discussions. Thanks.

 

No matter what you use, there will be DUST.  The battle wages on.

for hills you could try brown paper bags soaked or covered with elmers glue and put over wrinkled newspaper or latice strips. then you could paint the surface colors      quebesh         

Unless it's a smooth surface, you won't be able to wipe it off with a damp cloth. Using  a vacuum has been the traditional method for cleaning one's layout scenery. That is ever easier than using a cloth. I don't see the issue.

Thanks for the additional info.

 

Bob Severin - true, just looking for an easier way to fight the battle.

 

DennisB - not everything is an issue. Looking at easy low care methods of scenery, kind of a 3D version of flat traditional layouts. If using a vacuum works just as well or better, that is OK. Smooth is a desired quality mentioned in my original post.