Re: [SGII], [DSII] Can't see the forest for the....

>What sort of ratio do you use with spackle?  I have taken to spackling
the 
>hills before I paint & flock them. It adds a comfortable amount of
weight 
>to the hill and that way it can be made out of white styrofoam
(beadboard) 
>instead of extruded polystyrene (it's a bit cheaper).	 once you get
the 
>wallboard mud on the styrofoam, you can put all sorts of cool textures 
>into it before it dries, scratch wheel ruts into roads formed by
dragging 
>a 1" ruler along the surface etc. The textures that you can acheive are

>really great too.  Anything from the rocky terrain of Mordor to the
smooth 
>surfaces of a frozen comet.  I have been known to cast rocks from
plaster 
>and embed them in a hillside.

I am pretty unscientific with my mixing. For the first coat I get the 
mixture pretty runny, so I can just paint on a layer with a cheap brush 
that will seep into all the nooks and crannies. I would guess it is 
something like one part water to one part spackle with enough black
paint 
to make the mixture primer grey. For the thicker texture making mix I
use 
one part water, one part glue and one part spackle with some beach sand
and 
whatever color craft paint needed. It holds up to abuse well - I have a
5 
year old nephew who plays with the hills and rock formation terrain when
he 
comes over and he has not even chipped the things yet.

Ndege