Adding Grass With Dirt

[ac4400fan]

Hello, im new at adding senery,as ive got my ballast going down, im now seeing that i want to work at a small area at a time ,is this right,so i have a couple of buildings in place ,now i need to add dirt and grass to it ,any ideas? for good grass color with midwest dirt?

thanks guys [:)]

[Jetrock]

In what time of year is your layout set, and where in the Midwest?

I assume that you have your basic landforms in place (foam or plaster, etc.) if you're ready to paint them--one common, simple approach is to get a quart of latex paint in an appropriate dirt color. Don't just ask for brown, go get some dirt of a color you like and bring it to the paint store and get a paint card in that color or thereabouts. Paint your plaster or foam or whatever with the paint, and drop Woodland Scenics ground foam on the paint while it's still wet.

Often the easiest way to determine what color of ground foam you like is to take a photo of the grass you want and hold it up to the WS foam bag. Often mixing several colors of foam will give a better result than a single color--or use a main color with accents of a second color. Unless you're modeling a golf course, grasses will be of different colors in a field.

What sort of terrain are you modeling aside from "dirt and grass?"

[Anonymous]

Another method of approximating the dirt in your area is to actuallyy use the dirt in your area. A lot has been written here & elsewhere about this, including the need to sterilize it before using it. I've found that even using native soils though, it sometimes is surprisingly dark when spread on the layout.

Wayne

[eng22]

I used dirt. Bake it, sift it, spread it. Spray with white glue and water, sprinkle some foam, and you are on your way. If you are intersted in using dirt, I can give you my recipe for baking it. Also, you say you are ballasting now. I would hold off. Bring the ground foam up to the roadbed, then ballast. This way your ballast lays on top of your grass, not visa versa.

[ac4400fan]

well thanks guys ,im doing a north west part of chicago ,in the suburbs,where theres bluffs, not mountains,,thinking of useing a sandy dark color,i would think,im not using foam,the layout is made of plywood and my mountain turan is made up of ,wood scaps,looks good ,i tryed using foam ,omg,what a mess,and nothing was turning out the way i wanted it,epecialy,nailing the track down,,baking the dirt huh,

thanks ,more help,will be grat ,but this is a real good start ,never herd of using real dirt

[eng22]

Example of real Michigan baked dirt