I have finished making my N scale Slaughterhouse. I have three pens with cows in them. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make N scale cow patties to put in the pens?
How about Elmer’s glue mixed with brown food coloring? And a variety of medium brown and dark brown portions would help accentuate the “fresh” from the “drier” batches.
Tom
I haven’t spent near enough time styding cow patties as I should have (that’s probably true of many others out there). That said, it seems maybe Elmer’s would dry kind of shiny. And it would seem a cow patty would be not-shiny. I guess Dull-cote would solve that problem, though.
An N-scale cow patty is gonna be kind small–about 1/32".
An interesting question, for sure.
Ed
Tiny drops of white glue, painted a brownish dark green when dried.
I do not have any white glue. I have the Elmers wood glue which is a light yellow. I also have numerous acrylic paints. I can mix them to get the correct colors and apply with the tip of a pin. Does anyone have any suggestions on the approprite aroma to go with cow patties?
In pens as crowded as they are at a slaughter house, a cow patty wouldn’t stay in its original form long. Those pens become mixed rapidly. I presume there is some regulation on cleanliness, but even a freshly bedded pen, the cows walking around would quickly mix the patties and the bedding. I think for a pen, I’d use a fine ground foam of sawdust color and dab a few spots with a darker color, brown or greenish black. Since the cows are usually on the move, they seldom drop a complete patty, it’s usually spread as they walk.
Good luck,
Richard
Seriously??? If you want to go all-out then stop off at a farm and get the “real stuff”…
Would not work. Out of scale.
Thisi is definately a crappy topic.
I meant for the desired aroma…[+o(]
Small dots of olive green acrylic paint for fresh.
Small dots of brown for aged.
Cow patties are basically oderless, maybe large piles of manure smell.
Harold
I’ve done considerable stomping in cow pastures near Cleveland (Texas) and can say the color varies from a rich brown/black to light brown and anywhere in between. For my HO layout, I set out drops of flat black and brown with the brush tipped back and forth in each, and then touching the ground. I would do the same for N, but only smaller drops.
BTW, in a pasture, if the “pie” is left alone, very soon it sprouts weeds/grasses from the pile, which will totally cover it very soon. They are easily spotted in the pasture as “lumps” of heavy vegetation.
Horse hockey!
In N scale manure piles aren’t exactly going to to be noticeable, now one will really notice will they?
Perhaps model piled up manure as if the stalls had been cleared out.
If someone is telling you they’re going to notice that there’s no cow manure pilesbehind the cows they’re piling some manure on you!
Unless of course you’ve got that breed of cow! [(-D][swg][:-^]
Definitely way way down on my list of things to do.
I do hope to have a layout that is so finished that one of the only things left to do is put cow patties down.
Why not use the real stuff? … Go to the barn yard and pick it up from the ground. You need only a tiny amount of it to be N scale. The odor won’t be noticable being so small. … [:-^]
This is spot on.
I’ve never been to a slaughter house but I have been to my share of feed lots. The cows aren’t so much standing on solid ground as 6-8 inches of the rankest mud you will ever smell in your life. Cows make other by-products besides pies…
I’m guessing you never spent much time at a dairy farm. It’s not the worst manure smell, but it’s far from pleasant. [:D]
I have the cow patties, thanks for all the tips. I am now working on a manure pile to sit just outside of the pens. Should be ready tomorrow. I will get a front end loader to sit next the maure pile at the next train show.
Try coffee ground’s.
Most of the other suggestion’s here … “Stink”.
Actually coffee grounds covered in some glue to make some spots look “runny” would be pretty good dress it with earthtone paints and done, or sawdust would be good because you could dye it and do some green to represent the grass that might have gotten scooped up with the manure. Good luck!
I think you should go out and collect some real patties. Cut them in little pieces and then inhale.