Yep, Sean I actually started that thread. The book, however, mentions that the actual cast a coat product is going to be reissued under a different brand sometime soon, but fails to give any other info on it.
While there are some great substitutes out there I understand that cast a coat was the best and worked really well and with little fuss.
I myself have Mr surfacer, embossing powder, Citadel texture paint, Tamiya texture paint, rustoleum, find RR sand, and I am sure at least one or two more, but still haven't found the perfect solution that both looks to scale and is easy to get and KEEP on the model. So I am hopeful that whoever is doing the cast a coat remake gets it out soon. Cheers.