Building and detailing a mountain

[ngauger]

Did you edit that, or did I just overlook it??

So you stick the skewers down through all the layers of foam? And how long do you let the glue dry before proceeding with the painting and all? Reason for all the questions is that I will be needing to glue some faom to foam on my layout too. Of course, not nearly as much height as yours! On the Elmers, I have found it takes forever to dry when glueing two non-water absorbing pieces together. But I see that the skewers would hold everything in place while the glue dries, even if it takes a few days.

Yup - i edited the 2 posts

Right away on the skewers - they hold everything together - so no need to wait for it to dry... The only thing I waited for was the water based paint - i wanted to make sure none of the oil based paint would bleded through and ruin the foam

[ngauger]

Did you edit that, or did I just overlook it??

So you stick the skewers down through all the layers of foam? And how long do you let the glue dry before proceeding with the painting and all? Reason for all the questions is that I will be needing to glue some faom to foam on my layout too. Of course, not nearly as much height as yours! On the Elmers, I have found it takes forever to dry when glueing two non-water absorbing pieces together. But I see that the skewers would hold everything in place while the glue dries, even if it takes a few days.

Yup - i edited the 2 posts

Right away on the skewers - they hold everything together - so no need to wait for it to dry... The only thing I waited for was the water based paint - i wanted to make sure none of the oil based paint would bleded through and ruin the foam

On something "small" you could use screwes alone to hold everyhting together - only reason i had to overkill was it's over a foot tall

[ngauger]

yeah - the skewers are over a foot long so they go down through all the layers - about every 2"

[nachoman]

I like the skewer idea. Your mountain looks great - perfect for your layout. The speckled paint is a good effect that I may experiment with myself.

[Catt]

Most informative sir.Now if I could just get you to repost this on the NARA forum,which by the way turned 5 on the 14th. :mrgreen:

[MasonJar]

So you stick the skewers down through all the layers of foam? And how long do you let the glue dry before proceeding with the painting and all? Reason for all the questions is that I will be needing to glue some faom to foam on my layout too. Of course, not nearly as much height as yours! On the Elmers, I have found it takes forever to dry when glueing two non-water absorbing pieces together. But I see that the skewers would hold everything in place while the glue dries, even if it takes a few days.

Gary,

White or yellow (PVC) glue requires air to cure (dry). Once the edges are dry, it takes a very long time - if ever - for the centre to cure.

You might want to try the polyurethane glues ("Gorilla") that cure in the presence of moisture. Normally it would draw moisture from the air or porous material like wood. When gluing foam together, you can lightly mist one piece before putting them together. This little bit of water allows the glue to cure, and if the outside dries first, it doesn't matter.

The glue does foam a bit, so the skewers and weights are a good idea to maintain alignment. But the glue will cure, and then is carvable much like the foam itself.

An alternative is to use caulking - a latex, paintable one is best.

Andrew