Curious what you guys use on foam

[ryan_wilkerson]

I'm almost finished carving the landscape of a couple FreeMo-N modules and I'm looking for ideas on the best product(s) to use for covering the foam insulation before putting down dirt, ground cover, trees, etc. It's been over a year since I started on my first module so I've forgotten what I used. So what have you used, would you recommend it and why? If you've had a bad experience with some products, I'm interested in that too so I can avoid it.

Also, I prefer that it be readily available from a local hobby shop, Home Depot, etc.

Thanks in advance!
-Ryan

[Chris333]

I patch and smooth some areas with sculptamold, but other than that all I do is paint the foam with latex or acrylic craft paint.

[casmmr]

After smoothing the foam to the shape I want, I go over it with a water thinned spackle (use a water based spackle).  I put it on using a paint brush that is throw away or will be after this use.  I then stain the rock areas and use an earth colored latex paint for the dirt or non rock areas.  Get the earth paint in the missed matched paint from Home Depot/Lowes or whatever your favorite paint store is.  Usually a good buy and as long as the color is close to earth, who cares what it is called.  Foam goes on top of the paint while it is still wet for the first layer.  Other layers are added using thinned white glue.  An ice pick will allow you to plant trees wherever you want them.  Have fun and enjoy your world.  Craig

[Scottl]

As long as there are no linear cracks or gaps, I just paint it.  It encourages natural roughness.l

[Jmwilson]

I use the light weight spackle to fill cracks I don't want then paint the whole thing with cheap flat white latex paint, then start the staining and ground cover.

[davefoxx]

Lightweight spackling for me, too.  It's pre-mixed, so I don't have to deal with mixing plaster, cleaning buckets, or disposing of excess.  It can go on thick, if necessary, and will not crack like joint compound.  Finally, lightweight spackling dries to the consistency of foam , so it can be easily carved if you make changes or further refinements in your scenic forms.

Hope this helps,
DFF

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Drywall compound, but I think I'm going to go over to lightweight spackle.

[ryan_wilkerson]

You guys are great. I post a question right before I head to bed and I wake up to a pile of good responses! Sounds like the consensus is spackling so I'll start there. Thanks for the tip on the mis-mixed paint...I'll take a look to see what they have.

[jpec]

I rough it up with a drywall edge smoothing tool (Surform) and cover any hideous gaps with lightweight spackle...the rest gets taken care of by paint, ground cover or foliage...

Jeff

[nkalanaga]

Mine is on a permanent layout, so flexibility and weight aren't issues, but I didn't cover the cracks, joints, etc with anything special.  If the hole goes all the way through it got a piece of masking tape on the bottom, but other than that, ground cover filled the rough spots. 

If I thought it might show, such as on steep banks, a coat of more-or-less dirt colored paint was used, but my scenery is thick enough in most places that it doesn't need anything.  Elmer's glue and dirt for the flat areas, plaster castings and latex construction adhesive for rock faces, and piles of rocks for talus slopes.

Obviously that won't work on a module, because it would be hard to lift, and would crack when moved...

[R L Smith]

I no longer use the paint as the first 'layer' of adhesive. The ground foam can soak it up and turn from green to brown. Just let the paint dry thoroughly and use the thinned white glue as your initial and subsequent layers of adhesive as casmmr noted above.

[Wlal13again]

Light coat of Sculptamold about the consistency of white glue on the surface then paint..

[Viperjim1]

I use thinned out sparkle with a paint brush also and as far as carving and contours and such I use a wood sculpting rasp set at Harbor Frieght for about 6.00 and it had 7 diff shapes and sizes and then I use the thinned sparkle and then paint a base coat green for grassy areas and tarnish brown for dirt areas and then lay my 1st layer of landscape material on at this point , saves on glue . And then layers and spray glue reduction from spray bottle it's that quick .

[mcjaco]

Modutrak uses lightweight spackle. 

[jimmo]

Lightweight spackle! I keep a separate supply of out-of-the-can consistency for patching and filling. For covering the carved foam I use a thinned and pre-tinted base scenery color. For my layout it's a Southern California sandstone yellow ochre (Woodland Scenics) applied with a 2" brush. Larger areas can be covered using a wider brush. I just haven't needed one yet since my layout sections are only 12" to 16" deep.