I know that a lot of you paint the area you are going to scenic before adding ground cover. My question is, what color are you using. I was in Home Depot today and did not see what I thought would be a good color to use, one color I saw was a very light tan called " Arizona" What color are you using and where did you get it from?
On the club layout we do scenery in several layers.
-
scenery base with plaster or joint compound
-
paint (tan)
-
sand/dirt
-
grass/ground cover
-
bushes, trees etc.
Here’s a section that shows some pieces in several different stages:
The light tan you’ve selected will probably work well; go for any colour that closely matches your dirt colour, and use real sand or dirt for any open areas where dirt should show through, even as a base under grass and ground cover.
I use Dutch Boy ‘potting soil’ latex for my scenery base. All plaster/foam gets covered with this before I add ground cover. It works fine for Midwest farm areas. I am sure it would be fine for North Eastern US scenes as well. I bought mine from Menards, but Walmart and Home Depot will carry matching colors.
Jim
I use any brown or light brown that looks nice. While the paint is still wet I sprinkle on fine ground foam. Then I work up from there.
As you can see in the photo below, the ground is very plain. I will come back later and add the green grass and smaller bushes and weeds. The ground foam I used here is blended turf.
As others have said a tan or a light brown should work fine. Mine is Pittsburg, spiced vinegar. I sprinkle my first layer of scenic material right onto the wet paint. I have seen a video where they spread some straight white glue over the wet paint and mix it in with a paint brush before adding the material. Think I will try this next time as I have thinned my paint a little and it doesn’t hold quite as well as I would like.
If you use read dirt, be sure to run a magnet over it to get the metal out of it. I am amazed at the amount of stuff I pickup on a magnet when I do it. A good strong magnet will save you a lot of problems later, keeping the metal fragments out of your locos motors.
Good luck,
Richard
I use a lot of Woodland Scenics Fine Turf and Coarse Turf, Light, Medium and Dark Green, as ground cover.
So, beforehand, I paint my plywood base with a green color called Festival Moss, from Pratt & Lambert, which you can buy at Ace Hardware.
Rich
Woodman, you can bring anything that is the color you want to HD and they can scan it to match the color.
From what I have read, your base should be void of colour, thus using a very dark colour is best. But because it is just a hobby it is nothing I would worry about too much. But if you haven’t bought paint yet, start with a very dark colour. I bought a 4 LTR. can of chocolate Brown at Walmart for $15.00. Makes me hungry every time I go in there.
Brent
My question to you would be, where is your model RR located (whether freelance or prototype).
I took some photos of the ground of my prototype - easy for me because its nearby - and went to the paint store and chose a paint color mix. BTW when I say ground Imean just that - I took photos of sections of bare earth.
I agree with Steamnut – your answer may vary depending on the location you are modeling. Dirt here in New England looks significantly different from dirt in Arizona.
But FWIW, I use Glidden interior latex in a Ground Nutmeg shade from Home Depot (brown with just a little red cast to it).
If you are building a large layout, it makes sense to spend the extra dollars to buy a specific color so you can get a match when you need more. But a gallon of latex paint will cover a lot of “ground”. I check the mis-mixed paint section any time I’m at a big box or paint store. I can usually find a gallon of flat latex with an appropriate tint for cheap, never more than 5 bucks. Many experts recommend thinning it, so a gallon really goes a long way.