I am seriously scenery challenged and need some advice. I would like to use such things as dirt, leaves, twigs etc, in creating some scenery. I have heard that I should "nuke" or "cook" the material or whatever, before I use it so I don't introduce unwanted creepy crawlers or other unwanted problems into my house. I am sure this has been covered somewhere and I just missed it. My bad, but I do have a couple of questions about this process.
1. Which is best, microwave or oven?
2. Should the material be covered or just left open?
3. Anything else anyone might think I need to know in the way of suggestions.
Thank you!
Bob
bmayo I am seriously scenery challenged and need some advice. I would like to use such things as dirt, leaves, twigs etc, in creating some scenery. I have heard that I should "nuke" or "cook" the material or whatever, before I use it so I don't introduce unwanted creepy crawlers or other unwanted problems into my house. I am sure this has been covered somewhere and I just missed it. My bad, but I do have a couple of questions about this process. 1. Which is best, microwave or oven? 2. Should the material be covered or just left open? 3. Anything else anyone might think I need to know in the way of suggestions. Thank you! Bob
First remember to "scale down." For example, even the smallest leaf in real life would cover the entire roof of a small building in HO scale.
The cooking advice is also to dry out the material being used, moist natural material may attract the same creepy crawlers that you're trying to prevent.
Yes, it should be glued down or attached in some way to the layout.
I've gon through several second hand blenders which I use for making my own ground foam from an old car seat i have ( colored of course) blending leaves, twigs basicly anything I can get my hands on and if I think the color is a bit brite I tone it down with a spritz of alch\ ind. I use mostley sifted baseball diamond dirt as well. You gotta learn to build scenery in layers starting with dirt or ground goop and build up up up.
Lynn
Present Layout progress
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/p/290127/3372174.aspx#3372174
wickman I've gon through several second hand blenders which I use for making my own ground foam from an old car seat i have ( colored of course)
I've gon through several second hand blenders which I use for making my own ground foam from an old car seat i have ( colored of course)
Not to hijack this thread but how do you make the foam??? Just blend it?
davidmbedard My question is why?David B
My question is why?
David B
What materials do you recommend for modeling dirt and general ground cover, like in a forest?
- Harry
bmayo1. Which is best, microwave or oven? 2. Should the material be covered or just left open? 3. Anything else anyone might think I need to know in the way of suggestions. Thank you! Bob
I've never tried it, but I have been told that dirt should be cooked in a regular oven, and that a microwave won't likely kill ants etc. I strongly recommend doing this when your wife is not home. Also, I've read that one should run a strong magnet over the dirt before using it to remove metal particles.
I think you should be careful to remove twigs and leaves before cooking it, lest you start a fire in the oven. Actually, perhaps cooking it on an outdoor grill would be best.
This should help for the ground foam http://dansresincasting.com/Ground%20foam.htm , this guys method does work although I found that an old car seat worked better for me , I think its beacuse the seat is much harder\courser material.
Here were some pics I did a while back , as you can see I used the egg crate type foam , not as good as the course foam.
I also found that the wetter the foam in the blender the better it would brake down , I use a stick to keep pushing the foam toward the bottom of the blender blades. after I make the first batch I just reblend to make finer and finer gound foam.
I've never cooked anything, before I use whiteglue \alch to hold down in place I ussually give the area I've put the blended gound cover a good spraying of alch\india ink and figure that should kill anything thats still moving, plus it tones down the variation in colors.
Thanks to everyone for your comments. You have given me some things to think about and I may not go into the "cooking" business. LOL! Again thanks to everyone.