Best Plaster Cloth and Scenery Shell Supplies

Coverage depends on the surface area of the lattice being covered, not the footprint of the layout, since a contoured hill has considerably more surface area than its flat footprint would suggest, the same way a wrinkled sheet covers more area than a flat one of the same width. A single roll covers about 7.5 square feet, which is enough for a small hill or embankment but tight for anything larger. Overestimating slightly and buying the 2 pack is cheaper in practice than running out mid-shell, since plaster cloth works best applied while the lattice underneath and the surrounding plaster are still workable, not after a delivery delay has let everything dry and set.

Yes. The crumpled screen or cardboard strip lattice underneath determines the final contour of the hill, since the plaster cloth conforms to and locks in whatever shape the lattice already has rather than sculpting a new shape on its own. A lattice built too smoothly and evenly produces a hill that looks like a smooth pile rather than natural terrain, while a lattice with irregular bumps, small ridges and uneven slopes produces a far more convincing hardshell once the cloth and paint go over it. Spend real planning time shaping the lattice before the plaster cloth ever comes out of the package.

Coverage area is the deciding factor between the single roll and the 2 pack, since both cost roughly the same per square foot.

Once the shell has fully cured to a hard, dry surface, the usual approach is a base coat of earth-tone paint or undercoat applied over the entire shell, followed by successive dry-brushed or washed layers of darker and lighter tones to bring out texture in any rock castings or contour changes. Painting before ballast, ground foam or static grass goes on matters for the same reason undercoating plaster matters elsewhere: any thin spot or gap left in the later ground cover will show the paint underneath rather than raw white plaster, and a painted base is far less noticeable than an unpainted one in that scenario. A wash of thinned dark paint flowed into low points and crevices, wiped back off the raised areas while still wet, is a simple technique that adds convincing depth to an otherwise flat-painted shell without much extra effort. Testing the wash on a scrap piece of cured plaster cloth first is worth the few extra minutes, since the exact amount of thinning changes how far the wash travels into crevices before it dries in place.