I saw this picture in another post and it got me curious. I really like the scenery. So I have a question to the forum:
What would you do to get as close as possible to this look? The thing I’m most interested in is the structure and color of the dirt and grass.
I know it’s not going to help you way off in Sweden, but the natural dirt here in Arizona is that color, so I just go outside, sift dirt through a flour sifter, mix it with a little plaster and white glue, and spread it on.
There are companies here in the US that sell scenery items, and I think there are some in Germany, too, such as Faller, Busch, Kibri, and Noch, that sell “flocking” or “ground cover” that comes close to the color you’re looking for. You could always mix paint into it to change the color if necessary, too. One item I found, for example, just by quickly looking through a Walthers catalog, is Noch Flocking in Beige or Light Brown colors. The two colors could be mixed to get the desired effect.
Yes, you are lucky to live in Arizona. Do you have any layout pictures with your real dirt/plaster/glue mix?
Joe: Your plaster/tempera mix seems close to me, or what do you think?
There is a company called Arizona Rock and Mineral that produces ballast and ground cover appropriate for that region. The only link I have is http://rrscenery.com/. I’ve seen the stuff at my LHS, and it looks pretty good.
Part of the ‘appeal’ of this picture is the apparent LACK of maintenance on the sidings. The ties are nearly covered with more dirt than ballast and the weeds are growing along the rails. Even the track on the right, with exposed ties, has lots of little weeds growing inside the rails.
Real dirt on your layout will look like, well, dirt! It may not be enough to just sift it, though. There are micro-organisms that live in dirt (even plaster-eating devils!), so it is recommended that you sterilize the dirt by baking it for 20-30 minutes at 250 degrees F. Try to do this when you can ventilate your kitchen because dirt sometimes smells bad when you cook it!
I have tried using WS’s tall grass product but in N scale, it’s hard to put weeds inside the rails without causing problems with the trains. With the tall grass, I separate a small bit and cut it in half to give me a flat edge. A drop of glue where I want the weeds and stick the square end into the glue and let it set up hard. Then trim with tiny scissors for length. My problem is that I can’t trim short enough inside the rails, so there I just use the regular grass flocking material. The weeds don’t look like they stand up much, but then again, they don’t interfere with operations, either!
Darrell, returning to quiet…for now
dgwinup:
Yes I think you are right. The lack of maintenance is a cool thing in the picture. The yard looks old and used, as it should be. Thanks for the great answer.
Thanks for remainding me of them, I have seen their products on the web, looks great.
That’s not dirt by the way, its a tan ballast. In yards they use a very fine material called screenings or chat or walkway ballast that is made of pieces of rock less than an inch (less than 20 mm) in size, most are about 6-10 mm. So the key is to get very fine material of the right color. And to complicate things more, it has to be the right color in your lighting and after you glue it down.
If it were just terrain you could paint it the right color and just use a fine sand, diatomaceous earth or baking soda on it for texture, but that won’t work here because of the tracks.
One option would be to use a fine sand and “dye” it to the color you want or to mix it with powdered colors.
Assuming you find the proper material you have to paint the ties and track before you ballast. The ties should be very light grey, the rails a dark brown and dusted with the color of the ballast.
Critical spot #2 is the flangeways. You can’t put down so much material that you obstruct the flangeways.
You might want to start out with a fine sand and ballast the area with it, keeping it below the final level.Then come in and dust the final material on over the sand to build it up to the final level.
The next challenge is wetting down the fine material without blowing it away or getting big drop marks. Get a very good misting sprayer and let a fine mist of water and alcohol drift down onto the ballast then carefully add in using an eye dropper or squeeze bottle a water-glue-alcohol mix.
When the ballast is in place add assorted debris and then weeds. Use a very faded yellowish green with some green and and yellows. Add in patches of twine fibers for the higher weeds.
Good luck!
Dave H.
Ok, so it’s common that railroads use a finer ballast in the yards? I did not know that, thanks. Your answer is a very interesting one. It looks like it’s time to do some experiments to get it right. I have heard of diatomaceous earth and I actually wrote a post about it here a month or so ago. But baking soda, can that be used too? Can you please tell me more about that. Thanks again.
[quote]
QUOTE: Originally posted by dehusman
That’s not dirt by the way, its a tan ballast. In yards they use a very fine material called screenings or chat or walkway ballast that is made of pieces of rock less than an inch (less than 20 mm) in size, most are about 6-10 mm. So the key is to get very fine material of the right color. And to complicate things more, it has to be the right color in your lighting and after you glue it down.
If it were just terrain you could paint it the right color and just use a fine sand, diatomaceous earth or baking soda on it for texture, but that won’t work here because of the tracks.
One option would be to use a fine sand and “dye” it to the color you want or to mix it with powdered colors.
Assuming you find the proper material you have to paint the ties and track before you ballast. The ties should be very light grey, the rails a dark brown and dusted with the color of the ballast.
Critical spot #2 is the flangeways. You can’t put down so much material that you obstruct the flangeways.
You might want to start out with a fine sand and ballast the area with it, keeping it below the final level.Then come in and dust the final material on over the sand to build it up to the final level.
The next challenge is wetting down the fine material without blowing it away or getting big drop marks. Get a very good misting sprayer and let a fine mist of water and alcohol drift down onto the ballast then carefully add in using an eye dropper or squeeze bottle a water-glue-alcohol mix.
When the ballast is in place add
Yes it is very common to use a very fine ballast in yards and on leads where people will be walking. Walking on regular “D” ballast all day is pretty tough. Walking on finer material is much easier.
As for baking soda, I I have not used it myself. A friend tried it several years ago, but that area was redone and I don’t know how well it worked long term. I know plastic modelers use it as a filler for CA or other glues.
Dave H.