Here’s a reply from Lou on his last post (which is here).

“As far as the mold release, I had the very same issue when originally painting the gesso onto the resin. After my second attempt, I called Joel Bragdon. Here are the steps.

#1 Do not use vaseline. I originally used magic bullet mold release.

#2 From 2 years ago when I used the mold release, this time I used none, which means chances are there was more than enough on the molds from 2 years ago.

#3 I did not use the recommended spraying of Laquer in to molds. I went directly into the mold with resin. Once the resin was somewhat ready to remove, I remove it and never backed it with the foam product only because I already had a very good substrate. I hot glue them directly to the mountain and feathered the edges.

Here’s the trick. Go to the hardware store and pick up TSP (tri-sodium phosphate). It’s a powder for prepping walls. Mix with warm water and scrub the resin. Wait to dry and scrub it again. Make sure you allow to dry and rinse between phases. Once completely dry, mix 1/2 part gesso and 1/2 part Kilz2 latex primer. Paint the mountain.

Once the mountain is completely painted, wait about 20 minutes and go back with a dry brush to eliminate some of the buildup of gesso in the crevices while its still wet. This will keep the crevices real sharp and eliminate buildup. WAIT UNTIL COMPLETELY DRY UNTIL YOU ATTEMPT TO MOVE ON. Have other projects going at the same time as to get your impatience back to the mountain too early Hope this helps.

Lou”

“Hi Al

A few photos of the weathering progress on the 2 stall HO scale engine house.

A little more dirt and grime to be added and finally the interior and exterior lighting.

Brian”

(Brian’s last post is here)

More great advice from Lou. And I love seeing any progress pics – but Brian’s make me particularly envious.

That’s all this time. Please do keep ’em coming.

Heading off to ebay? Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

Best

Al