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How to seal the dirt

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  • Member since
    July 2014
How to seal the dirt
Posted by teejay on Thursday, April 9, 2009 7:40 PM
1st time to do a serious diorama and I've started to put dirt on it and was wondering if I should use a mixture of elmers glue and water and spray it on the dirt inorder to seal it or does anybody have a better idea.
  • Member since
    April 2009
  • From: burbank,ca
Posted by fx dude on Thursday, April 9, 2009 8:44 PM
I rarely use elmers glue and water to seal, but you could do a test,it might work fine.Some of the miniatures for the studios have landscapes.(dirt/grass/concrete/whatever,....Aqua net hair spray worked good ...also just crystal clear,....many coats.(finally .....polyester fiberglassing resin ,srayed gives you a serious hard coat.,but might be to thick........good luck....new to the forum stuff,thanks to those of you who welcomed me....fx guy(1madmodeler)
fx dude
  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: CANADA
Posted by Kelly_Zak on Friday, April 10, 2009 12:42 AM

Hey TeeJay,

All I do is just spray the surface with water to make it damp, then I have a mixture of about 70/30 white glue and water mix in a bottle with a pointed tip. I drop the glue mixture on the wet ground and just let it soak in, the wet ground helps the glue absorb better, otherwise if the ground is dry, it will bead up when you are applying the glue. Let dry overnight and it should be good to go. Another suggestion for dirt would be sanded or nonsanded tile grout. Use the same sequence as above, the only thing with the tile grout is that it'll dry hard like cement, which is good! 

Happy modelling

Kelly

"There you go with those negative waves again!"
  • Member since
    July 2014
Posted by teejay on Friday, April 10, 2009 1:36 AM
Thanks. Just verifying, am I to wet the dirt with water before spraying the diluted glue? By the way I use rocks and stones from my backyard and pound them to powder to be use as dirt.
  • Member since
    April 2004
  • From: Boston MA
Posted by vespa boy on Friday, April 10, 2009 8:51 AM
as a varaition, instead of plain water initailly, add a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid to the water. It helpd break surface tension when you apply the Elmers glue/ water mix.

http://public.fotki.com/nkhandekar

This ain't no Mudd Club, or C.B.G.B.,
I ain't got time for that now

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: CANADA
Posted by Kelly_Zak on Friday, April 10, 2009 9:57 AM
Ah yes, forgot about adding the detergent to the glue mix, I've just been doing it the way I have for so long now! LOL
"There you go with those negative waves again!"
  • Member since
    January 2007
Posted by the doog on Friday, April 10, 2009 4:47 PM

I usually add any dirt or groundwork to a layer of Elmer's instead of the other way around.

You can easily seal additional layers of dirt on top with Dullcoat. I use it all the time.

  • Member since
    March 2004
  • From: Kincheloe Michigan
Posted by Mikeym_us on Friday, April 10, 2009 5:08 PM
 the doog wrote:

I usually add any dirt or groundwork to a layer of Elmer's instead of the other way around.

You can easily seal additional layers of dirt on top with Dullcoat. I use it all the time.

Nothing simulates dirt better than dirtTongue [:P].

On the workbench: Dragon 1/350 scale Ticonderoga class USS BunkerHill 1/720 scale Italeri USS Harry S. Truman 1/72 scale Encore Yak-6

The 71st Tactical Fighter Squadron the only Squadron to get an Air to Air kill and an Air to Ground kill in the same week with only a F-15   http://photobucket.com/albums/v332/Mikeym_us/

  • Member since
    June 2008
  • From: Iowa
Posted by Hans von Hammer on Saturday, April 11, 2009 1:09 PM
Water/glue/soap mix is the way I do it... Model Railroaders been doing it that way for decades..

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