Thanks Stuka,yes I would say he`s a prime candidate for skin cancer in his later years,lol! It maybe that he came out a little deeper in colour than it actually is in pic form .
Ok Tango 1 here is how I did this groundcover;
I started with a dry wooden base long enough to include the length of the barrel,no overhangs,that`s very important!
To the base I dry spooned your common dirt from a construction site,with this dirt you build up the road sides and create depth for tire tracks etc.
Next,I dry spooned a dark sand that I picked up from Micheals liberally over the dirt,gives you a twotone colouring now and something to work hilites on.
I remembered something Heavy Arty said awhile back that the desert had a bit of a red/rusty tinge to it so I added a bit of a rust coloured tile grout to hilite,but ever so sparingly!! Remember,all this is still dry!
I next added again sparingly a white sand to hilite even further.
Now mix a solution of whiteglue and water and apply to all areas,fear not,this will dry rock hard.
Once you have it soaked down you then add your tire ruts, vehicles,signage,figures etc.,with white glue of course.You can also go back and add more sand as I have done to give more depth .
Another very important bit of info that I should have mentioned earlier is don`t use an untreated piece of wood,you`ll have a banana boat by morning! Cut up you wifes nik-nak shelves or something like that but don`t use just straight plain wood!
So that`s how I do all of my groundcovers on all dios and vigs,hope this works for you,
have fun!
"Battleing Bastards of Bastogne"