desert sand/dirt road

I once created a dirt road cutting through a hill side using old peices of styro foam [the packing material from various DVD and TV boxes], news paper wads, and plaster cloth. The shape of the this was created with the newspaper wads and the styro foam acted as a the flat portion which would become the road. The plaster cloth was cut laid out on top of this foundation and spayed with water [some choose to dip the plaster cloth in the water and then lay it out which maybe better but I haven't tried it yet].
Now this is that part you were really asking about:
After the plaster dried i painted it with some cheap matt brown laytex paint [any earth tone will do as long as it's a matt finish]. After it dried i diluted some elmers school glue with water and painted it on the area where the "dirt" on the road would be. Now here are where the choices come in depending on scale. If you are woking with 1/35 scale you would sprinkle finer "dirt" than if you were modeling in 1/25 scale. My cars were in i/25 so i used Wood Land Scenics Tallus [rubble/fine rocks] which were a light tan color. If you get the lighter color rocks like grey they can be tinted to the color you want by sprinkleing them on the glue ,allowing to dry and putting either clothing die [dilute if necessary] or diluted acrylic paint in a spray bottle and spraying the rocks with it. This same method is also used to dye rocks made from plaster.
So to make a long story short paint an earth tone base, coat it with Elmers [or diluted Elmers], and simply sprinkle on the dirt/rocks.

Latex paint on the base is great because it's cheap, covers well, and covers quickly. Also some manuals recommend adding your turf for the grassy areas before the latex dries and you can skip the "painting with Elmers step". Anyway no matter which method you use after the the rocks have dried in place shake off the excess and then place some diluted Elmers in a spray bottle and spay it all over the the turf and the dirt road. Don't worry it will dry clear. Be aware that if you are using sand too much glue will make the sand take on a "muddy looking" texture.
I appologize for being long winded but i hope this helps. It took a lot of reading and trial and error to get this far and i wish i had someone to tell me when i started out. {I hadn't found this site yet!]LOL
GOOD LUCK!

i use dirt and sift 3 different stages, 1 coarse ( pebles and small rocks ) 2 fine ( sifted thrugh a mesh netting) 3 (optional) super fine speaker box covering (makes a dust type product be sure to ware a mask)

Just regular dirt from the yard? Any special prep like drying?[i have only built two soil/greenery type dioramas.]

yeah, i appreciate the advice people. is the dirt "real" dirt? please dont feel bad about being long winded...it nice to see some peple go into detail. most responses are always sooo vague. so please be long winded!! thanks for the advice guys! :)

if you have access to a beach, the coastal sand is spectacular for dessert dios...

Kitty litter works great !!

Those cheap "everything is a dollar" type stores often have a crafts and home decor type section. This is where I get my cheap sand in a little bag for a dollar. Tho I'll admit mote of the time they had colored sand because the true color sand would sell out faster.lol
So how do you guys use the real dirt?

cook it to kill any nematodes, mold spores or other nasties.... Then sift and apply.
I like to use plaster mixed with celuclay and the dirt/sand/detrious to make the road surface and go from there. Then you can add the kitty litter and put in the contours before it dries.

Mike

How do you "cook it'?lol

Pop it in the owen for a while or put it in the microwave

spread it out on a cookie sheet or tin foil and pop it in the regular oven.

Mike

I think we should retitle this thread 'Things to do While the Missus is Out'!LOL
If my wife or even my mother for that matter ever caught me stickin dirt in their cooking devices I'd find myself snug as a bug in a rug six feet under it [nemotodes, horny toads and all]!LOL

MGM,

You don't think I let my wife catch me using her oven for cooking my dirt do you? Same for cooking sculpey or Fimo... those are projects for when she's gone for a while.

Then it goes into a container that I keep labeled. Sand, fine sand, coarse sand, light dirt, dark dirt, clay, kitty litter, etc. I do it in batches and she's none the wiser. Then I just go pick the ground material I need for the base and setting. I have these plastic containers that the crystal light drink mix packages come in. They are perfect for this application. I can see in a glance what I have and how much. And its always on hand.

Clear tennis ball cans, cool whip containers, glad plastic sandwich containers all work pretty well similarly.

Mike

Yeah, remeber the first time i "cooked" some Super Sculpy. thought i'd never get the smell out of the kitchen. That was the first and last time I tried that one!LOL

i tried a while back to use "real" sand from the "yard". used elmers white glue on it...all i got was a grayish blob that when dry...looked like a grayish blob instead of sand. now i heard someone say something about using glue and baking soda...maybe i'll give that i shot. i appreciate all your advice guys...that just seems way easier rather than "cooking" real dirt. :P but thanks non the less.

The problem was you used too much Elmers. First paint the base [or the area wherever you are going to put the sand] a light tan color. When that dries you can do these things;

1) Paint on a thin coat of Elmers and then spinkle it over the sand, allowing full coverage, and alow to dry.

2) Shake off/blow off off the excess sand after it has dried.

3) Spray with witha diluted solution of Elmer's in a spray bottle in order to "seal it". This eliminates the "muddy" look.

I have "been there done that". Beleive me this WILL solve the problem. it worked for me!

I think I'm coming close to doing almost every thing ever written or thought of about scenery (I'm quite hungry for it being a model railroader) I have a few areas on the layout, and then some in the diorama that I managed to look very real, without much mess. Easiest way to lay down a dirt road?

3M is the answer! So, you give whatever you need to coat with a good deep spray of super powerful spray adhesive. Then you coat that sucker with plenty of dirt or sand. I went out and collected some from under my deck. Its not that deep wet dirt thats under grass or anything...nice and dry. I swear its so easy. Just knock the road on its side(or "lightly" vacuum), and waaa LAH...dirt road. The adhesive bonds it very solid. It even "keeps" a lot of the larger particles of dirt...so you can kinda pick and choose, via some tweezers, where you want your "rocks" to be. You have to wait a while for it to dry, and you could put multiple coats over as many times as you want to. In fact, I find I don't need to put any base coat down of anything, given that I want the base to be just the dirt color I'm using. Big time EZ! Try it on some scrap...see if it works for you


-jon

Yeah, it just depends on what color the base is from the start. It's just that in tha case of sand it is so light in color that the best way to avoid "the mud effect" with Elmers is to use a light base coat. This method looks great and only requirs a thin layer of sand for the desired effect.

Hi 60,

I did the same thing as duckman in the past. I use good old pva glue spread evenly over surface to stick it down. For my latest dio (# 2), I have got my hands on some fine grade grout powder. I'm gonna try this for bulldust using pva glue as above. I reakon flour might work, I used this sprinkled over wet paint to create mud on road wheels in my first dio, it didn't look so good for mud though.
In that same dio though, I did have a dirt track going through a farm field. Using mulliput I spread it in a wide strip a couple milimeters thick, sprinkled very fine sand over it and using a tyre from my bitsa box pinched at the hub between my fingers rolled it in two parallel lines an axle width apart while pressing down. This looked good, the track looked like well compressed dirt with looser dirt around it.

Have fun mate, Wacky.

ahh...what would i do without you guys. i must say that since "joining" you guys have helped me out alot. know if i can find the time to do it..lol :)
thanks again!

QUOTE: Originally posted by MartianGundamModeler How do you "cook it'?lol

I cook dirt for a living. Honestly. Have iron skillets and a coleman stove on the back of my truck. Don't over cook dirt though, you can actually burn it and turn it black.

QUOTE: [i]Originally posted by lizardqing2 I cook dirt for a living. Honestly. Have iron skillets and a coleman stove on the back of my truck. Don't over cook dirt though, you can actually burn it and turn it black.

Only somebody who has worked as a soils tech can truly appreciate this statement.
I did all my dirt cooking in the lab though.

I use sheetrock spakling compound spread out on the base. put it on not flat but as if there is a slight rise away from the front of the base. As it slowly dries, I use a flat form, e.g. a putty knife to drag along the surface to make the road. Don't wait too long to do this or it will be too dry. I then sprinkle sand purchased from a crafts store ( any color) on the surface and stick a rock or two into the compound. After it dries two or three days. I spray or paint on a dark brown color making sure to cover any folds and the base of the rock. I then use a light sand or tan color and either dry brush or spray with my airbrush almost parallel to the base this way the color seems to be wind driven from one direction . I then lighten the higher areas staying away from the dark folds . I just did this technique for a road for my Dingo Scout car in North Africa cira 1942. I must say it came out smashingly good

seems like everywhere i have lived since i have been doing models (10 or so yrs) i have had a hole in the basementfloor...er, umm.. by the sewer cap...lol but i just use this dirt, ... i pour white glue onto my base, spread it around with a flat peice of cardboard, then pour the dirt on. i then mat it down with my hands, wait an hour or so til it dries completely, then tip it upside down to let the excess fall off..then i add rocks and the bigger stuff individually. its worked now for years... as far as hills etc, i agree with the whole styrofoam thing, but i use plaster, or wall plaster etc to make the actual hills, then i do the same as far as the glue is concerend..
hope this helps.

about the sand and Elmers glue....can i paint the sand after it's dry?
would it look muddy? can i use an earth color enamel that is thinned?
thanks!