You know Rich, I had missed the "plastic wood" bit. It really is a good product to sculpt and mold with. I tested every half used home improvement product we had accumulated since the early 60s. (heck of slow way to clean the supply closet but it was well worth it; beat wasting it)
I used about a half pint of (old) laytex wood putty and a $3 cake decorating mold set from Wallyworld for a retaining wall/tunnel on my shelf layout.
I spread it thickly, like peanut butter (I love peanut butter
), on a strip of old paneling, greased the mold with vasoline and pressed.
The board and foliage slides up for easy tunnel access. It is held in place by support ribs in the back of the Lionel portals.
The bricks are over scale, might be better as cinder block, but looks ok to me. It's often more about texture than scale for me anyhow. Red gloss was used to give the brick a wet, weepy mountain feel.
I feared it cracking over time like old putty did if applied to thick, but also thought a crack or two might simply accent it. 5-6 years later, no such luck. It still looks like the day I finished it.
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