Hydrocal question


P

PMac

New Member
I've noticed there are several types of Hydrocal available. Which type of Hydrocal do you recommend for hard shell scenery? Hard rock, liquid stone, etc?
 
Instead of messing with the powder and mixing, I would recommend you just buy a bucket of wall plaster mud. If you need to thin it, just add water.
 
I vote for quick set dry wall compound in the bag form, Its cheap about 7 bucks for a bag that last awhile. You can get them in different set times. You can do numerous jobs of some products by woodland scenics, from making roads,rock molds,hills,mountains, and etc
 
Will hot mud, drywall compound cure hard enough to be the base shell to add rock molds and other scenic items to?
Thanks for your suggestions.
 
I prefer hydrocal. I is not a pourus as drywall mud and when dry is a lot stronger and harder. I have tried both and have been using hydrocal for over 20 years. When using it for rock castings it can't be beat. The only problem is finding it. I have been getting it a building supply center out of town. Hydrocal is a gypsum plaster often used for decorative work.
 
Hydrocal is the way to go. The drywall stuff works okay but when you wet it, it turns back to mush. Hydrocal is way harder for the hard shell over a cardboard form and hardens in a lot less time and shows finer detail when doing rock molds. It is a US Gypsum product and can be hard to find. I used to be able to get it in 100 LB bags for 20 bucks but I now get it from THE PLASTER GUY for 26 bucks shipped for 25 LB. That goes a long way as the stuff has a shelf life
 
Well, "hot" mud is hydrocal. Try to sand it, not going to do much. It is, get ready for it, hard as a rock :)

This is not the mix of topping and taping joint compound. This is not the soft stuff like plaster of paris

They make it in 15, 30, 90 minute bags, It is a chemical reaction, not a drying type of plaster. If you want a small box of it, you can get Fix All. Same stuff.

Buzz.
 
If you do decide to buy plaster in larger quantities ( 50 lb bags) , which makes them very affordable compared to products in milk cartons sold by companies like woodland scenics, store the material in airtight containers unless you live in the desert. Potters plaster, hydrocal, and plasters like structo lite suck moisture out of the air and will be unusable in a fairly short period of time. I prefer cat food containers with screw top lids for plaster. They're easy to manage and keep stuff nice and dry.
 
To your question about hydrocal. I use the white hydrocal, when I'm in the Houston area I will pick up a 100 pound bag of U.S. Gypsum Hydrocal for about $32 dollars. This is the best for rubber molded rocks. Then after the hydrocal rocks are put on the mountain side, I will tie, so to speak, the rocks together with the other hydrocal rocks by using drywall plaster (as in sheetrock plaster). As long as you come back after and paint your rocks (mountains) with an earth color or a gray type color, then the final rock color, be it a stain or an earth color, should all blend together and you can't tell the hydrocal from the drywall plaster and your rocks are good and solid. Hydrocal makes for finer detail and has a dry p.s.i. of 5000lbs.
 
Which ever route you choose, you might consider adding a ground color to the mix. If you should scratch or chip the dried material it will stand out as a white mark. I plan to buy a gallon of earth tone paint when I start my scenery and mix it to my drywall mud before spreading it.
 
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