Drywall Mud - Model Railroader Magazine

 I've been using drywall mud on dioramas and layouts for years. I think it works better than plasters because it doesn't dry in 5 mins. and you can work with it.

  Once it's dry you can paint it or use Woodland Scenics approach and spray dyes or thinned paints on it to color and stain it to simulate rock faces or outcroppings or you can mix paint [acrylics or dyes] into the mud before you apply it.

 If you want smooth, flat fields it's very easy to achieve them with drywall mud and a wooden roller, [just make sure the wife doesn't find out!! LOL], just apply a thin ,1\4 inch or so ,coat and roll it out. The results are very nice and it dries pretty fast.

  At $12 for a 5 gal. bucket you'd be hard pressed to find a better deal, and if you need time to work in your contours and shape your landscape you can't beat drywall compound, plaster will dry so fast you won't have any time to work with it.