Desert ground cover

[wblock]

  I'm simply looking for a few suggestions as to how to model desert ground cover. I looked at Woodland Scenics but they didn't seem to have anything but mats and to me those always look too uniform.

[BigDaddy]

There is desert as in nothing but sand dunes and there is desert with quite a lot of vegetation.  There is an current thread about getting the right shade of dusty ground.

http://www.sceneryexpress.com/Details/products/1186/

And a place that sells cactuses.  http://www.sceneryexpress.com/Details/products/1186/

[wblock]

Good point. I wasn't thinking of the sand dune type, but rather what I see every day while driving here in Arizona with lots of scrub. Looking for something to use for the actual floor of the desert. I'm actually thinking of going out and scopping a little myself - just dont want to scoop up any Scopions with it.

[Motley]

Ya just use real dirt, and its FREE! I use alot of real dirt on my layout.

 

[SWFX]

40 lbs bag of play sand from Home Depot that i filtered out while watching a hockey game....

 

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[SWFX]

uno mas!

 

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[Lone Wolf and Santa Fe]

Here is the link to Woodland Scenics Desert Plants http://scenearama.woodlandscenics.com/show/Item/SP4124/page/1

The smaller cactus, grasses and wildflowers are nice. The large cactus only go in Arizona or as landscaping in people’s yards. I also use single pieces of yellow and dark green extra coarse ground foam to represent individual desert plants.

But before all of that I paint the ground with the proper sandy colored latex paint. Then while the paint is still wet I lightly sprinkle on LifeLike brand Earth. This makes a great start of barren desert. Then add the cactus and wild grasses, and tumble weeds. Also add some brownish looking chaparral trees.

j..........

[Southwest Chief]

Very fine play sand mixed with some Woodland Scenics fine yellow grass and lots of silflor tufts of varying colors and sizes.  And I still need more tufts:

Here's an older pic of the desert back when I used lichen bushes.  I now prefer Silflor tufts:

 

 

 

 

[KEN MASON]

I used the play sand from Home Depot too. We painted the ground a Behr color called Warm Caramel and sprinkled the play sand on top of it while it was still wet. We used the Warm Caramel color to paint the mountains on the backdrop too.

 

 

[jjdamnit]

Hello all,

Check out this forum thread!

http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/211869.aspx

You will need to copy & paste the link in your browser eventhough it's an MR link.

Hope this helps.

[SWFX]

for plants i used the standard ground foam from WS and added clumps for brush