I have used this product in various store bought molds, but have also built my own. The material sets up well (albeit a little faster than I would like) and is very easy to paint and carve when cured.

I have tried other plasters to save money, but Hydrocal is so much lighter and mixes so much more easily that now I spend the money for a quality product. I use it for rocks, loading docks, railroad crossings, sidewalks, anything that can be poured or molded. NOTE: It does not adhere to foam insulation. You need to cover foam with plaster cloth first.

because I currently live in a rented home, I know the day will eventually come that I will want to buy a place and move so my platform from start to (someday) finish :) has to be easily disassembled and relatively light weight to move around. I started my entire platform with foam to get my general shape and structure, and then I use the lightweight hydrocal to create all my rock molds and cliffs, etc for my scenery. It is lightweight indeed. It's also very easy to work with and dries fast (I can fill a mold and come back an hour later to remove it but I put it somewhere to finish curing over night before painting it so it is thoroughly dry). It is especially handy when you use the plaster cloth to cover your foam first, then attached your castings to a layer of plaster. If you use the plaster cloth to fill gaps around castings it's easy to notice when you've finished and it's dry that there might be a spot or two that you can see the cloth fibers; just mix a little hydrocal and put it over those little spots and done. You can also use the scenic glue that woodland scenics has, but most of the time I'll use the hydrocal because it works just as good as an adhesive when you wet the back of a casting and the place on your layout that you're trying to adhere to. While they don't break easily, it's easy enough that you can break off pieces of your castings if you only need a small piece or a small rock. It sets up fast so be careful how much you mix at once time (it only has like a 5 minute working time before it starts to set up). This is a great product, I use it all the time!