I am absolutely useless at choosing colours for anything. I went in to Walmart and my eyes glazed over at all the colours available. So chocolate brown looked good ( never buy paint when you’re hungry ) And so I got the cheapest paint they had. I’ve been slopping it on everywhere. Eventually it will be covered by lots of foliage and other interesting stuff. I think as long as it is dark you’re fine, but I yield to others expertise on this matter.[:)]
Brent
I guess I’ll have to take your thread title at face value in the absence of any text in the box below it. [:)]
You don’t really have to paint it at all. Many do, using a cheap (mistake blending) tan colour or greyish tan from the “oops!” section at the local hardware store, and while it is drying, that is the time to do a first light sprinkle of a suitable base of ground foam. That layer of paint does serve to act as a sort of ‘dirt’ if you have bare spots here and there. If you intent to cover the plywood thoroughly, then you could save the paint step and just use wood glue or matte medium (Mod Podge is an example available at the crafts paints section at Wal Mart.
Your question suggests that you are unsure of the actual colour. As I said, tan or grey, or a blend perhaps, but either one should be very light…lighter than you are comfortable with when you look at it in the store. The chances are very good that something that seems right in the store will be much too dark once you paint it on the layout surface. At least, so was my own experience, and I have read such warnings all along in how-to threads and guides.
-Crandell
crandal thank you for information
OH - OH! I guess I had better go back to Walmart. I must have missed that chapter on lighter colours.[:-^]
Brent
As Crandell mentioned it really isn’t necessary to paint your plywood but some feel if you happen to get a bare spot then the brown or earth tones will make it less noticeable which in fact is true.I start off with a medium tan color latex paint and use burnt sienna, burnt umber, raw umber etc.from Licquitexx or any other acrylic paint you can get at a craft store and use them for tinting colors…Not all dirt is created equal nor is it all the same color. I am just starting to experiment with Lou Sassi’s Ground Goop ad I tint it with latex paint in the same manner. I have also tinted hydrocal and Sculptamold the same way. I can’t recall ever mixing it straight white .
the easiest way is to paint the wood as close to the ground cover as possible and as you paint the wood apply your ground cover before the paint dries this will act as glue and you can touch up other arewas and blend when the paint is dry and this will also save on scenic cement and other binding agents. this is what i have done in the past and works well. and also go to any paint store and look at the clearance shelf and they can also tint itfor you, hope this helps.
I bought a gallon of dirt brown interior flat latex at Walmart with the idea of painting a lot of blindingly-white plaster scenery, but soon discovered that it took a lot of effort (and paint) to get decent coverage. I then dumped some of the paint into a plastic pail, and added an equal amount of water to create a wash. This was quickly and easily applied to the plaster, soaking in almost as fast as it was applied. When I reached areas where there was bare plywood showing, I just kept slopping it on. While it didn’t cover like unthinned paint, it added enough colour to tone down the unpainted plywood.
Here’s some of the plaster areas after colouring:
When it came time to add some ground cover, I applied it in multiple layers, along with ballast if there was track in the same vicinity, sprayed the area with wet water and added plenty of dilute (50/50) white glue.
Here’s an area where some of the dirt brown plaster is still visible (site of a future orchard), with ground cover and weeds nearer the track:
Other areas were covered completely, with none of the plaster visible:
Much of the area which was bare plywood was eventually covered with structures or roads (the reason the plywood was t
thank you wayne for the information on paint for ground cover and your layout looks great thank you walter
What color is the dirt UNDER the natural ground cover in the area that you’re modeling?
Light sandy soil? Light tan or ‘off yellow.’
Red clay? Dusty rose if dry, darker if it sticks to your boots.
Forest loam? Brown. Chocolate brown if it’s been raining.
The cinders around an old steam loco terminal? Grey to almost black.
The one thing I would NOT recommend using is any shade of green. Too uniform.
Chuck (Modeling the cedar forest of Central Japan in September, 1964)
This is a very tough question as each one of us views a model railroad differently, and what may be correct for one would be considered ludicres to the next guy or gal. I generally stay in the Sothern California area and I use a medium brown that actually looks darker when first applied.but whith the added sand/grout mix and vegitation comes out quite nice. The club I recently joned uses Ceramcoat Trail Tan for its base which in my opinion is as close to perfect as I can get. I painted some wood and had it matched at Lowes and now use latex paint.
Apply the paint and add the ground cover to the wet paint for the best effect, in my opinion. Play sand actually works great even though it seem to rough.
Wayne seems to have it ironed out pretty well to.
Heres some picks for reference.
The base paint color was the same for the entire module but I did mix in different colored grout to differentiate between the dry river bed and the other bare soil surfaces.
This is from a future Hint and Tip from the British www.mremag.com which may be of help to you. I would then use any earth tone paint from the “oops” pile at your local hardware as Crandell suggested earlier…
From Mark Frizell
The long standing tradition is to paint your scenery base an earth tone color. When I applied textures, I kept finding light colored areas where the cover did not actually cover well. I would go back time after time, adding until the lightest spots disappeared. I saw a layout under construction and noticed that the scenery base was painted black. I asked and had it explained to me how it hides those annoying light or white coloured spots with a very logical reason.
Black is not a color but rather the absence of all color. It is also the least noticed ‘color’ to the human eye. If there is something you do not want people to see, you would paint it black which is why theatre props are painted black. Props that are supposed to ‘stand out’ or seem larger are usually painted a brighter color so they stand out against objects around them.
Bringing this philosophy to model railways, we highlight rock outcroppings with light colors to make them standout, so painting things black could hide them. I tried it on my own layout and was surprised at how well the ground cover worked. If I looked closely, I could see bare spots, but they were not anywhere near as noticeable as areas painted with earth colours.
Hope this helps,
Regard
What I have been using is some latex paint called Light Sandy Brown. Then while still wet I sprinkled some real dirt from my backyard that has been sifted.
All that green mat will be completely covered when I’m done with scenery.
Before:
After:
I used a color call “Covered Wagon”, by Olimpics Paints. You can find it at Lowe’s.
Make’s a great earth tone.