As some of you know I've been working on a street battle diorama. I've run into a bump on the road though. I poured plaster of paris directly onto plywood to create my street. As I was sanding it, the entire slab poped off. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I might be able to to re-attach it or, if I have to repour it, how do I properly secure it to the plywood? All comments, questions and suggestions are more than welcome. Edit: Thanks guys I've made up my mind on what I''m going to do.
Hammer rows of short nails into the wood (but leave the heads sticking out 1/8" or so) and re-pour. That will provide something for the plaster to mold around and grip onto. Using plaster just seems like a bad idea though - the shrinking and expanding of the wood due to humidity changes (not to mention any flexing of the board) will make the plaster crack. It just won't last very long. If you must do it that way I would primer the entire board with something waterproof to minimize the effects of humidity. If I were you I would find something other than plaster. Certain kinds of roof shingles could make a good road, or this: http://www.hobbylinc.com/model_train_roads
It's probably too late, but something else that might work would be putting down a layer of chicken wire across the board...you can use a staple gun to fasten parts of the chicken wire to the board so it stays on nice and tight. That would effectively do the same thing that MMM suggested, which is giving the plaster something to hold on to.
thanks! I was concidering doing that but, I've decided not to use plaster of paris after all, it's too heavy, and brittle for what I want to do. Besides I'm planing on entering it into my local fair under the recycled art section so, plaster of paris dosn't count as a recycleable item. I've decided to use cardboard with sandpaper glued ontop of the cardboad. It has a similar asphalt effect.
