So I have been following the techniques for doing a desert layout as described in Pelle Soeborg’s Scenery Techniques book. I have used a watered down glue mixture and painted that on my mountains… and then sprinkled the AZ Rock and Gravel… that works just fine… but then when I put some Woodland Scenic’s course turf on top and then seal with the Scenic Cement, it seems to make the AZ Rock and Gravel “dirt” look muddy… its like it wets the dirt and then it drys wet if that makes sense. I was loving the look until I did this… so before I go any further I want to see what im doing wrong.
Any fixative will change the tone of the base substrate. Even ballast will change its tone after it is glued. Try diluting the scenic cement with more water. For scenery fixing I usually do 3 parts water to one part white glue. Experiment with it on a piece of cardboard before applying it to the layout. Scenic cement will dry glossy unless it is diluted. White glue or matte medium is the usual scenery fixative.
Pete, thank you, I looked back at that book and I do see in some of his pictures where it is darker as he applies the cement/glue, but I thought it would lighten as it dries… so basically maybe thin my glue more than I have…and use some lighter colors that will be less dark after the glue? His pictures almost look like the sand is an off white in some areas… the hobby store I went too didnt have the colors he specified…which was ok, im not trying to totally duplicate it. I live in Arizona so I have plenty of sand here lol… I think he also had sprinkled some lighter colored “grass” in a lot of areas.
This is why I use matte medium instead of scenic cement now. The scenic cement did two things I did not care for. First what you are stating is the color change, and second is the fact that it cement to compress and tighten the ballast making it look cemented as opposed to loose like real ballast.
While the matte medium does give a slight color variation it is much less pronounced.
In my experience any cement will cause a slight darkening of scenery materials. I use a mixture of 4 parts water to 1 part matte medium, and while it does make things a little darker (although the get lighter when they’ve dried a bit), the effect is not unpleasant.
That is what I am doing to install the dirt…but I used the standard Scenic Cement when I added the greenery… I probably should use the same stuff now for the greenery applications and some lighter dirt too I think at least in some areas… I noticed that as the week went on, it has gotten lighter and lighter… maybe it really was not dry but it felt dry…
If I’m not mistaken, Scenic Cement is really just overpriced craft glue (sold commercially as “Tacky” glue). If this is the case, it’s got less water in it to help out with that initial “grab” that you don’t get with white glue. So you’d probably have to dilute that even more to get a good mixture for scenery materials. Are you using it straight or diluted?
It’s difficult to characterixe how much darker the material becomes. When it’s FULLY DRY (and yes, if you’ve really saturated things, it takes 48-72 hours to dry completely, depending on your environment), my “fixed” scenery materials are darker than the stuff when it comes from the store, but I have to place them side by side to notice the difference.
Perhaps what is happening is that you don’t have enough wetting agent (soap) in your mixture, and material from underneath is floating up to the top on your solution?
I am currently reading through this Pelle Soeborg book as well in preparation for adding ground texture and vegitation so I am familiar with the method you are using tough I have yet to progress to that point on my layout. However, I am currently ballasting my track with Arizona Rock & Mineral ballast so I can share my results regarding that phase of the scenery. I wet the ballast with 70% isoprpyl alcohol then use diluted white glue* (2 parts water, one part glue) for the bonding agent. I can report that I am VERY happy with the results of this process. I spent a lot of time selecting the “just right” ballast color for my mainline, so I was very concerned with the ballast darkening after bonding. Using this method, there is hardly any noticeable darkening. In fact, when I go back to touch up some areas with a second layer of ballast, I have to place a mark on the adjacent scenery so I can remember where to go back and re-wet/re-glue. It is almost impossible to tell the fresh ballast and the bonded ballast apart without touching. Hope this helps! Jamie
*For my white glue, I use plain old Elmer’s glue. However, be aware that there is also a product called Elmer’s School Glue or something similar (has the product name written on a black chalkboard on the bottle). This is not “true” white glue and I have heard some horror stories when it has been used by mistake. It is some other formulation that makes cleanup easier when used by little kids.