Using real dirt, bake it first? need recipe

Dave in the Hat,

May I digress from the dirt issue… Your streets/sidewalks are outstanding! What can you tell us about them?

Thanks! My roads and sidewalks are made with plaster. I put together a “How-To”.

http://journals.fotki.com/daveinthehat/how-i-make-roads/

Thanks for the input everyone. I’m going to bake some dirt today. I simply feel more comfortable not having any chance of organisms lurking (even if there aren’t any)

Going to try 350 for about a half hour. That should be long enough. Using an old 9" pan that was donated by the master chef of the house for model railroad use. That was her only concern.

Happy Railroading.

-Greg

I read some good advice, that was if you have a substantial amount of dirt prep to do, go to your local thrift store (Goodwill, Salvation Army, St Vincent, etc.) and by a used Toaster Oven and any pans or trays you might need to do the work, most can be had for under $10 keep that in your work area and use it to bake for dirt, rocks soil etc.

Its not just to get rid of microbes or water, you want to make sure you kill any mold or fungus spores that might be in the soil, especially if your in a humid climate, add such soil to a a humid indoor location you can quite literally get giant scale 20’ high mushroom monsters sprouting up on your layout. I also prevents possible microbe or spore cross over into the stove you do your cooking in, ewww!

Also as mentioned earlier, a small toaster oven can have other uses, just a thought.

Cook it in your bar-b-que outside. Trust me - baking dirt can give off a rather odd smell that the “boss of the kitchen” would not approve of !

I only baked my dirt once, but never bothered with subsequent dirt acquisitions. I glue dirt down just like ballast by misting it with wet water, then dribbled thinned white glue on it. Being totally saturated, anything in the dirt is completely sealed by the glue.

Been on the layout for over fifteen years and nothing has taken root on its own.

Mark.

Yes - this is another Model Railroading Urban Myth!

I have soil on my layout that has been there for 10 years and my Basement Humidity level is quite high even with a good dehumidifier and haven’t had any bugs YET!

I usually use the WHITE PLAY SAND found at the Big Box stores and at $3.00 a 50 lb bag.

It is sanitized for those that JUST have to WORRY about BUGS and the like!

BOB H - Clarion, PA

I too have never baked my ‘soil’, and I have used my sifted and rather sandy garden soil for two layouts now. However, I do mix it with plaster of Paris to keep it in firm and in place, and I do wet it initially with isopropyl alcohol as a surfactant. I expect that first treatment, after it is rolled and shaped prior to gluing it and adding ground foam or tufts, doesn’t do any resident beasties a heckuva lot of good.

Crandell

You’ve never baked your dirt, but you do use isopropyl alcohol – the same stuff medical professionals use to sterilize your arm before givng you a shot – and you’ve never had any issues? Gee, I wonder why? Over the years, I have found too many things growing in too many weird places to risk it. At worst, an unnecessary precaution.

That’s just it, though…although I use the alcohol as a wetting agent prior to over-spraying with a light glue solution, it has the salutary benefit of sterilizing the soil in all respects except for the hardiest of critters and seeds. So far, not one seed has erupted on my layout…at leat, none that I have encountered. [:D]

Baking should be just fine. I’m too lazy, and I want quicker results, and when coupled with the main intent of pre-wetting…two birds with the one solution.

Crandell

Crandell

I also use the 70% ISO to prewet the scenery base!

And I agree in the - “Work SMARTER - NOT HARDER” idea!

Some seem to go to such extremes to build a Layout and wonder WHY it takes so long or is so expensive!

To each his own!

BOB H - Clarion, PA

I make it even easier by not using real dirt.

Hi,

I’m from England and i am just in the process of building a OO/HO layout for my daughter and because i am living on a pension i use the cheapest method i can which means using natural materials. i have natural soil from a number of locations on a stove top then sieved. I also use dried shredded leaves as ground cover natural twigs and beach sand (the sand from the dunes as far from the sea as possible to minimize the risk of salt) I also use the contents of dried tea bags water filter medium potting compost and natural ash from a preserved railroad.

On my own N gauge which is an old west layout I have used sand from various locations in south west Colorado my town area has sand from Buckskin Joe wild west town sandbanks in the river is sand from near but not on sand dunes national park and dried sagebrush. also for various colors of sand i add a few drops of food coloring to very fine sand and by varying the amount of food color there is an unlimited range of sand shades.

Using these methods i have not come across any problems and i usually paint the area to be covered with a white PVA glue sprinkle on the various pre-prepared natural products let it dry for a couple of days and then vacuum off and then save all the excess material for future use.

The problem with using play sand that there just isnt enough colors available to cover a perticular location a given modeler might be modeling.

While I use the White Play Sand - and have to agree with the poster on color.

I have used thinned Latex Paint to stain the white sand - While it isn’t the best - I cover everything with Ground Foam anyway so very little of the Sand is seen!

BOB H - Clarion, PA

I have used real dirt without any of the treatments described above with no ill effects. I handle soil samples all the time in my profession and I always have sifted dirt that I can use. Critters in the soil need moisture to grow; they also (in most cases) need oxygen and a good organic substrate as a food source. If you use any of the adhesives to fasten the dirt (known as soil in my profession), to the layout, you’re eliminating the combination of conditions that are necessary for microbes to grow.

As far as the metals are concerned, I have some fellow modelers who just use plenty of adhesive along with a thorough vacuuming of the surface when dry; they have had no problems.

Yes, it sure is. There are all kinds of organisms in dirt especially insect larva and eggs which will hatch and multiply in your house if you don’t. Some of them will do quite well indoors and will find your house a wonderful source of food. Many things in the soil will begin to emit odors as well if the soil is unbaked.

One way to get a small sample of the odor would be to place an open jar open end down on the soil overnight and then pick it up the next morning and take a deep breath, you may not like the aroma and are only getting a small sample of it, I’ll bet you would not like the house to smell like that.

Rob

I used real dirt for years and I baked it in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes after sifting it through a piece of window screen. Recently I switched over to using Sanded Grout from any building supply store. It comes in lots of different colors. I found it more consistent/less hassle then real dirt.

-Steve

[:S]After reading this thread I am seriously considering changing to a winter scene…something waaaaaay up north with 6’ of snow covering the ground where the only thing exposed to the viewer is the freshly plowed track, ties, and ballast, some evergreen trees, rocks/mountains poking through the snow, the odd asphalt road here and there and vast expanses of white for ice fishing/snowmobiling…no dirt anywhere….[(-D]! Of course myself and my guests would all be snowblind after an hour, which would create an entirely new set of potential health risks…[xx(]…LOL!

Happy modeling all!

Don.

When I was a young engineering tech, we did soil remediation to remove carcinogenic compounds from old gas station, fast food, dry cleaner sites, etc. One of the main procedures involved cooking the soil to burn off chemical compounds. When we did site prep work for new construction, a similar soil cooking technique was used to kill the organic matter in the dirt we obtained on site to use for fill or grade contouring purposes. Cooking kills the bugs, kills the plant matter and a good fine sift, and magnetic culling will uncover very small particles that may be problematic on a layout. Better safe than buggy!!! Cedarwoodron

Necessary? Not if you don’t mind little crawly critters all over your house? Metal cookie pan w 4 edges turned up, 400 degrees for about a half hour. Methods? After the bake, sift through fine screen, apply as other ballast types. Best for sidings, spurs. If you put it on in THIN layers, cracking not a problem. If it does, another light layer over it, soak well with 70% rubbing alcohol, or if you’re modeling Kentucky, a good bourbon.