02-28-2009, 07:43 PM
Most of the weight of cement is in the aggregates and sand that is mixed with the cement to make concrete. I remember seeing articles in the modeling mags back in the 1980's about mixing cement with shredded paper to make a hard shell for scenery. I think the mixture called for 2 parts of shredded newspaper to one part cement mixed with water to about the consistency of paper mache. It seems to me that a friend of mine tried it on a layout and found that it was quite a bit lighter than the usual hydrocal material that was popular at the time. He also found that if he wasn't careful about using only black and white newsprint and accidently got some collored paper in from an advertising supplement that he got some rather brightly colored scenery base!