I am preparing to build some small modules, and am interested in the technique used by Ken Patterson and the Midewest Valley Modelers. They trim fake fur, airbrush it to get some realistic colours, then pour dirt over it, to achieve a very realistic field grass(August 1996 MR). As the modules will be of Canadian railroads, I will have to use some darker/browner soil (easiy found in my garden). The only problem is that when I soak the dirt with a glue/water mixture, the soil darkens, and stays dark, even after the glue has dried, thus giving the area a “freshly rained on” look, which is unrealistic. So my question is this: how can I keep the dirt from darkening, and yet still have it firmly attatched to the layout? In the article mentioned above, the dirt the author used looks the same before, and after the gluing, how come it didn’t darken? any answers are welcome!
Fake fur at:
http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/fur_grass/
I don’t pour the dirt over the fur, that doesn’t work very well. Been there done that.
Click image to enlarge
I have found that dirt isn’t a very good modeling material because it has too much clay.
Modeling the above scene can be found at:
http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/4x8/
Harold
Thanks for the advice, I just thought that dirt is such an easy thign to come by, and free of charge so if there was anyway I could use it effectively, it would be nice to know how. Still, your layout looks amazing without dirt! I’ mvery impressed. Where do you buy the fur, and how much does it generally cost?
I’m using real dirt for some spots. It darkened up too much like you say. I just looked around for some lighter dirt. If you get that real light play sand and use a real fine strainer, you get a powder like dirt. This doesn’t darken up as much. Try mixing that with some of your dirt till you get the right color.
I tried using real dirt once. Can anybody say ‘fleas’?
Yeah, but they can’t jump very far with a good coat of scenic cement on them.[:D] They don’t like microwaves either.
I use real dirt on my layout a lot because this part of Alabama has a characteristic red soil that’s almost impossible to duplicate. I just dig it up from the back yard, sift it, microwave to kill the critters [:)] and then use it on the layout. I put it down as a base cover since everything else grows out of it. I think it would make a heck of a mess if I used it on top of fake fur. My dirt will also darken up due to the soaking and glue but I’ve found a light spray coat of red primer brings it back to just about its original color.
I used real garden soil for the yard, but I screened it first with a section of panty hose, and then mixed plaster of paris in with it to make it harder. I also sterilized it with alcohol as part of the setting and drying time when I prewet it before pouring the glue mixture over it all. Makes a fairly robust surface, and the bugs, if there are any, won’t be able to surface/emerge.
[#ditto] I find different shades of dirt, let it dry thoroughly inside the house and use the above technique. We have found no critters.
The above picture, I sprinkled real dirt on ground goup. I then sprinkled areas with ground foam to vary the color. I have found that white glue does not darken as much as wood glue.
Sue
Hi, I also have used real dirt on some places on my layout, I used it in the apple orchard as you can see in the pic below.
I found a place last summer where the cattle had beed rolling and was very fine, like baby powder, I sifted it through a tea strainer to remove any rocks, and put it in the area where the orchard was to be, wet it with wet water then soaked it with a glue/water mixture, then added the trees. It looked wet like after a rain for a few months then turned back to the color it was to start with, I have seen no sign of any critters. If there were any in the dirt, they are now intomed into a perminate place. Hope to be of some help. Mike
Thanks everyone for your input, its been helpful! I’ve heard that some people have mixed the dirt with Durham’s water putty (or something like that). Does it work? and are there any other things like plaster of paris that would work, or do the same thing?
While I can’t speak to the article to which you refer, I used regular dirt from the yard on my own layout. I dried it, crushed it, sifted out any stones, and baked it at 400 deg. for a couple of hours (outside - I didn’t want to stink up the house). I crushed it further to a powder then sifted it onto the wet ground goop (1 part each of Cellu-Clay, latex paint, and vermiculite, and 1/2 part white glue). Then I sprinkled on ground foam, and let the whole mess dry. When it was hard, I misted it with a thinned (about 3:1) white glue solution, with some detergent (Dawn) added. Haven’t noticed any darkening… Here’s a pic:
