Reviews : Woodland Lightweight Hydrocal

because I currently live in a rented home, I know the day will eventually come that I will want to buy a place and move so my platform from start to (someday) finish :) has to be easily disassembled and relatively light weight to move around. I started my entire platform with foam to get my general shape and structure, and then I use the lightweight hydrocal to create all my rock molds and cliffs, etc for my scenery. It is lightweight indeed. It's also very easy to work with and dries fast (I can fill a mold and come back an hour later to remove it but I put it somewhere to finish curing over night before painting it so it is thoroughly dry). It is especially handy when you use the plaster cloth to cover your foam first, then attached your castings to a layer of plaster. If you use the plaster cloth to fill gaps around castings it's easy to notice when you've finished and it's dry that there might be a spot or two that you can see the cloth fibers; just mix a little hydrocal and put it over those little spots and done. You can also use the scenic glue that woodland scenics has, but most of the time I'll use the hydrocal because it works just as good as an adhesive when you wet the back of a casting and the place on your layout that you're trying to adhere to. While they don't break easily, it's easy enough that you can break off pieces of your castings if you only need a small piece or a small rock. It sets up fast so be careful how much you mix at once time (it only has like a 5 minute working time before it starts to set up). This is a great product, I use it all the time!

Lightweight Hydrocal plaster is great stuff for molding your own rocks and brick walls saving a lot of time and money while making custom pieces. Very easy to mix and pour. Gives off a little heat while curing. I carve or sand mine if needed before it is fully cured. Easy to attach to existing terrain with a hot glue gun. But I have found through experience that you will need to seal the back of the rock sections with something like an acrylic glue, white glue of Mod Podge so that you seal the surface and the hot glue holds.

I used this on a layout I am modifying. IT WILL NOT STICK TO WOOD. IT WILL NOT STICK TO BUILDER STYROFOAM SHEET. A note from Woodland Scenic said it was designed to be used with other Woodland Scenic products, and will not adhere to these substrates. It was relatively easy to mix. It was easy to work into shape. It hardened well and could be sanded after it dried. It just did not adhere. It may work well for your application, but it did not work for me.

I have tried other plasters to save money, but Hydrocal is so much lighter and mixes so much more easily that now I spend the money for a quality product. I use it for rocks, loading docks, railroad crossings, sidewalks, anything that can be poured or molded. NOTE: It does not adhere to foam insulation. You need to cover foam with plaster cloth first.

This is a good product for rocks molds and I use this for building and forming mountains I build the the shape of the hill or mountain then lightly cover the area I let it set for 1 1/2 -2 hours and use my hand to mold and smooth by dipping hand in water and rubbing the surface

Great product, can be used for sculpting roads, inclines and banks, rock molds, and if you add small (Real World) Rocks and put it in a square mold you can make a great retaining Wall. only con is it sets up a little fast but other then that a great product

I'm not sure what I was using previously (20+ years ago) But the lightweight Hydrocal is amazing! I use is, not for molds or castings, but to cast directly on the layout (in really small batches) Works fantastic, love to carve it slightly green!

I have used this product in various store bought molds, but have also built my own. The material sets up well (albeit a little faster than I would like) and is very easy to paint and carve when cured.

Awsome great asset to my War on Terror diorama. 8'x8' description of activity in Iraq, Afghanistan war zone with US Military Bases and Air Strips.

This stuff is easy to use make sure you follow directions and it will last for a while, use for rock molds etc.

I use it for rock molds and feeling holds in the plaster cloth I lay on my diorama. Works great.