Hi Guys-- I couldn't resist this story because "paul 2" brought up the subject of plaster.
About 50-years ago at our old O-scale layout of the Eastbay Model Engineers Society in Oakland, CA, there was a guy that started coming around on Friday nights and he really wanted to help out and become a member. So we welcomed him aboard and told him that the trolley boys were currently doing a big scenery project involving "plaster" and could definitely use some help!
He says, "I got some plaster at home".. "I'll bring it down next Friday night"..
OK-Great.. Now what we used to do in them days was to take poster paint powder and mix it right in with the plaster. Then it was all colored and ready to apply!
Mr. "New Member" arrives with a big container of his plaster and we get him a bucket and send him over to the 'deep sink' next to our coke machine to start mixing it up!
Well, maybe the stuff was from France or something else. After all, it WAS 'Plaster of Paris' and maybe it was too old. Our guy added the poster paint powder and some water and started mixing ! Voila-- he suddenly could NOT remove the mixing stick from the bucket !! I have not forgotten that choice episode in my life. It was hilarious !!
Cheers.
KRK