Howdy all,
I am getting ready to create some ground work for the first time using celluclay. How well does the stuff work? Will it stick right to the wood, or do i have to use white glue to get it to stay in place? Also what ore the effects? is this the ground creator of choice? I have tried plaster of paris, but it just doesn't work for me. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Herky

I would go ahead and add some white glue to the mix as an additional support/firming agent/connector. I would also make sure you do not have a smooth surface were the Cellu Clay is going to be put. You can give your surface 'bite' by drilling holes in it, putting 'grab handles' (wire bent over and put in holes) on it.
I've not had any 'lifting' problems on my two dioramas that do not have the 'bite' parts, but better safe than sorry.

Depending on how you want the surface to look this may be the only thing you need. It has nice texture and lots of options for molding and creating your own flare to it.

Thanks Slodder, basically all im am going for is to recreate a muddy, snow covered dirt road for a Panzer III M, I just want to start out small for Dio's although my closet is full of stuff to build as my skills continue to grow.

Hey Jeremy, Scott is right on everything, just one more thing to add.. Make sure you seal your base, this way your base won't warp from the moisture. I'll spray on a clear coat ( to seal ) and then a dull coat ( something to bite on )

Jeremy,

Another thing you can try is interior/exterior wall spackle with peatmoss and whatever else you wnat for texture mixed in. I used it on the base for my Sturmtiger and it worked great. It dosen't warp the wood or shrink. Plus it dries within an hour.

Celluclay is the best!

Sealhead

Well i have tried it and i really like the look so far, it has a very long sculpting time. it seems to take forever to dry though. Did i do it wrong. it has been over 8 hours and i can still shape it a little. is this right? I am glad i decided to try it, I think the outcome will be awesome.


herky

Next time...add less water. The mixture should be like thick, lumpy oatmeal.
Also, I add some earth colored acrylic paint to reduce needing to paint in every recess. PollyScale is economical enough. You can also toss in some sand, model railroad ballast, or tiny pebbles to get different ground effects. (Not the kind of ground effects car guys talk about, however) Slodder gave you great advice. (I'd never used grab handles, but ths sounds great!)
Keep your Celluclay layer as thin as possible. Anything more than maybe a quater of an inch (1 cm) should be built up with some form of styrofoam. I keep old packing material for this.

Jeremy, The 1 thing i dont like about celluclay is that it seems to take forever to dry.

well i think that Celluclay is great indeed and offers many opportunities to work it out. For quicker drying as already said u add less water make thinner coats and ...i have used a desk light for close encounters and that reduced the drying time to 1/5 of the preestimated .so check it out