If the choice is between resin or plaster, I'd pick plaster nearly every time. Some folks don't like the weight, but I that doesn't bother me. I think it's easier to work with, modify, & paint. And if you ever have to get rid of an old dusty dio, you cab bash it and have instant rubble for your next dio.

resin!!!!
Plaster is okay till you break it. If you buy resin buildings , nothing beats the detail.

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resin!!!!
Plaster is okay till you break it. If you buy resin buildings , nothing beats the detail.

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Hi, thanks for your comment, plaster does break easily, I remember I bought a vignette from Add on Parts , and it was smashed to pieces, it was fixed but it would of been better if it hadn't broke. Can one get plaster that is a hard as resin? Perhaps it's fairer to say they both have pros and con, it all depends on what one is casting. Well thanks again guys, happy modelling.

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resin!!!!
Plaster is okay till you break it. If you buy resin buildings , nothing beats the detail.

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Hi, thanks for your comment, plaster does break easily, I remember I bought a vignette from Add on Parts , and it was smashed to pieces, it was fixed but it would of been better if it hadn't broke. Can one get plaster that is a hard as resin? Perhaps it's fairer to say they both have pros and con, it all depends on what one is casting. Well thanks again guys, happy modelling.

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I bought plaster buildings once, and they came shattered. Never again.

Hi, sorry I haven't replied till now, didn't realise anyone else had commented. That diorama is very nice. Hydrocal white looks interesting, and if it can survive the post office it can survive anything. I took delivery of some Alpine miniatures yesterday (great figures) and the package clearly said "fragile handle with care" and the postman just stuffed it through the letter box, and I mean stuffed it through. Anyway, I digress, Thank you all for your comments.

...the package clearly said "fragile handle with care" and the postman just stuffed it through the letter box, and I mean stuffed it through.

...offer full support to Randy's hydrocal buildings - I have built several of them. The details are crisp and they can be painted up to look great. Once painted, they can take a variety of washes ranging from scale mortar (between bricks, stones) to various weathering treatments.

Scrolling through the replies. I prefer plaster because of how well it takes paint/stain and how easy it is to pick holes and damage. Also easier to remove excess than resin. I like resin because it is lighter and stronger. But for buildings/walls/cliffs, I much prefer plaster. I have worked with it for decades in model railroads.

I've received plaster castings from Belgium, Russia and Spain over the past couple of years and only one piece was broken. Remember that masonry/adobe/stucco buildings - especially older ones or those in a war zone, naturally crack. Cracks can be authentic.

If you'd like to see plaster/ceramic models that arrived from overseas, here are links:

http://armorama.kitmaker.net/review/9497

http://armorama.kitmaker.net/review/9469

http://armorama.kitmaker.net/review/11753

http://armorama.kitmaker.net/review/11895

Hope this helps your decision making. :-)

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Hi, sorry I haven't replied till now, didn't realise anyone else had commented. That diorama is very nice. Hydrocal white looks interesting, and if it can survive the post office it can survive anything. I took delivery of some Alpine miniatures yesterday (great figures) and the package clearly said "fragile handle with care" and the postman just stuffed it through the letter box, and I mean stuffed it through. Anyway, I digress, Thank you all for your comments.

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...the package clearly said "fragile handle with care" and the postman just stuffed it through the letter box, and I mean stuffed it through.

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The fine men and women of the USPS usually handle my mail satisfactorily, but they also have some idiots. The big box arrived a few months ago. (Note the multiple FRAGILE stickers.) The little box came from Europe.

In El Paso, one crammed a "10-pound" box into a "5-pound" mailbox, literally hammering it into the space. I literally had to cut the box apart to extract it; later I challenged the mail carrier about it - he said he wasn't there that day. (I saw him leave about a minute before I got to the mail room.) We wasn't wearing his name tag and wouldn't even tell me his name. I called local USPS and they told me that was not compliant with their rules - he should have been wearing his badge and he should have told me his name.

Like I said, we gladly replace damaged castings for any reason, no questions asked. That being said I can count on one hand the amount of times I've actually had to send replacement parts in the last 5 years, and we're talking about out of thousands of kits sold.

Try one, you'll like it!

Visit our site @ www.dioramasplus.com

Randy Pepprock
Dioramas Plus