Ground cover


R

RonP

Member
Ok might as well add this here to as I think it is a great contribution to any site.

Ok this isn't a question it is an answer. Ok we made the ground cover with Sawdust. We used acrylic and water and a coffee can. Detailed instructions in the link. however for those that don't want to go it is terribly easy and I could not seem to screw it up.

Full article here
Link has been updated
 
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looks very good too( thumb up!)...sawdust???and painted with deluted( white spirit) alkydepaint?
That is the way I make my "leaves"for the trees I make..( from MDF)

Jos
 
I've been using sawdust for about 15 years. Grass, ballast, leaves, dirt. soil,
roads, roofs, walls, etc. Only I put mine in a large glass jar & add the paint & let it sit for about a week. Then I dump it out on thick newspapers & let it dry for about a week. I've got about 5 diff. colors of sawdust stored in plastic containers for future use.

Larry
 
this appears to be working great:
S6300014-1.jpg


I deviated from the exact process a little using a paper towel to steep, or strain the excess paint-water.

i got 2 big garbage bags of sawdust from home depot for my favorite price....free. so i have a lot more than i will need but enough to experiment with.
 
Fantastic, Now before you put it on you layout test it out. I have found it reacts slightly with glue on my first few tries and needed to do things differantly then with normal foam. What i do is put down a light coat of watery glue first then put on the cover. this makes it so it isn't so, well you will see what i am talking about give me your thoughts after you are ready and we can both figure a perfect solution.

It soaks up the glue is what i mean, so thats where the problem lies.
 
thanks ron. i was going to ask a similar question but didnt want to sound too, well, green (no pun intended). i was going to go with a light mix of water and regular elmers. but i wanted to know two things:

1) will the water and elmers work (has anyone ever used that)? i thought i remembered reading that in one of the books i got from the library, but it was from 1978. i did want to try it with the woodland scenics adhesive in the spray bottle, but id have to wait until the weekend to get to my LHS.

*edit: what you were saying about the watery glue may have answered my question

2) is it better to paint the phoam first (earth tones) or apply the ground cover right over the pink? i am thinking to paint it, but wanted some other opinions/techniques.
 
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You should definitely paint the foam in an earth colored latex first. The exact color should be about what the earth really looks like in the geographic area you're modeling. For example, in my area of Alabama, the pink color of the foam is a pretty close match to red clay soil. Other areas can range from a slate gray to a deep brown. It will actually look more natural not have ground cover on every square inch since nature always has some bald spots.

Water and white glue will work fine with sawdust but make sure the sawdust is completely dry first. Use the usual mix of about 30% white glue and 70% water with about an ounce of alcohol to break the surface tension of the water. Now, this is the most important. Add three or four drops of bleach for every pint of glue mix. Sawdust contains all kinds of microorganisms that will thrive on water and glue, along with the humidity that's naturally present. The bleach will kill these and prevent you having a horrible stench from all your nice looking ground cover about six months after you lay it down.

Spray the ground cover very lightly with water, just enough t get the very top a little wet. Too much water will make the ground cover run and turn it into a goopy mess. I used to use a medicine dropper to apply the glue/water mix. As long as the mix immediately disappears into the ground cover when your are applying each drop, you've gt it wetted just right. If it sits on top of the sawdust, it need to be wetted just a bit more.

When I first started in model railroading in the mid-60's, colored sawdust was a common ground cover. It doesn't have the irregular look of ground foam and tends to look more like a lawn than natural ground cover. You can correct this by using a small amount of ground foam when the sawdust is completely dry and sprinkling it over the terrain to add some natural variation. Many of the most famous early layouts, including John Allen's, used sawdust for ground cover, and it's still a viable material today if handled right.
 
1) will the water and elmers work (has anyone ever used that)? i thought i remembered reading that in one of the books i got from the library, but it was from 1978. i did want to try it with the woodland scenics adhesive in the spray bottle, but id have to wait until the weekend to get to my LHS.

Yes they say 50/50 in most case.

I am green too thats why i spend so much time sharing knowledge i learn my friend.

*edit: what you were saying about the watery glue may have answered my question

2) is it better to paint the phoam first (earth tones) or apply the ground cover right over the pink? i am thinking to paint it, but wanted some other opinions/techniques.

Yes i usually paint first but more often then not you find the paint gets covered completely
 
You might even think about sprinkling some of the saw dust on the WET paint after you paint the foam. The paint will stick a good bit of the saw dust.

Anyone tried Rit dye for coloring sawdust? Or how about lichen?

Rotor
 
RonP in post #8:
I have found it reacts slightly with glue
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If you ( can ) mix the sawdust with a color made out of enamel paint and some white spirit, I think you will have no problems with that!
Can't beat some kinds( specialy MDF!!) of sawdust to imm. leaves in N or HO scale...;)

Jos
 
I used to use Rit dye all the time for coloring sawdust. You can mix up about five different batches of different colors and then blend the together before you put them on the layout. You just need some 5 and 10 gallon buckets that you can toss when you're done because they won't be much good for anything else.

RIT dye also works for lichen but the lichen will turn into a dry, crumbly mass without some additional treatment. As I remember, I used commercial grade glycerin and had to heat it up and soak the lichen. It was both expensive and messy. I think a better alternative today is going to Michaels or another craft store and looking for what they call reindeer moss. It's really lichen that's already been treated and you can get a pretty big bag of various colors for about six bucks. They also have some reindeer moss mats that make a pretty realistic and easy way to cover a larger area and it has a rough look that looks like wild fields of vegetation. Almost all the vegetation you see in this picture is reindeer moss sheet I broke up and glued to foam hills on the railroad cut going out of town. I think the total material cost was about $8.

SouthernE-7andE-6Medium.jpg
 
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Rotorranch said:


Anyone tried Rit dye for coloring sawdust? Or how about lichen?

Rotor
Click to expand...

Yes, I use Rit, glycerin and wet water to treat lichen.
I also use dry tempera paint with glue when painting the papermache for ground cover. Brown, green and yellow are sprinkled into the diluted glue and brushed around to get different shades of ground right before applying the grass and foam. I usually color the plaster with the dry tempera when pouring.

After sprinkling grass/foam, I mist wet-water over all to help glue wick into everthing.

I tried the sawdust for the first time and like the results. Next batch, I'll add the bleach.
Havin' fun now.
 
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UP2CSX...I knew about the glycerin treatment. I thought I remembered mention of Rit Dye.

I have a couple of garbage bags full of lichen I collected that I need to color and treat. :) I may try the Rit dye.

The reindeer moss looks good!

Rotor
 
Rotorranch said:
UP2CSX...I knew about the glycerin treatment. I thought I remembered mention of Rit Dye.

I have a couple of garbage bags full of lichen I collected that I need to color and treat. :) I may try the Rit dye.

The reindeer moss looks good!

Rotor
Click to expand...

Where do you get Lichen from ? is it a southern thing ?
 
Roto -
I bought a gallon of glycerin online for about $28. About 1 cup of glycerin to 3-4 cups of wet-water add the coloring (I really like kelly green) and after drying the lichen for several days, I carefully submerge it in the glycerin mix. When it is dry it is VERY fragile. By drying it first, it seem to soak the glycerin faster.
It will soak for a couple days and then is removed and dried on newspapers for a couple days. I'll process 3 colors at a time and then store them in net onion bags.
 
RonP said:
Where do you get Lichen from ? is it a southern thing ?
Click to expand...

RonP...there is a north facing cut for the road I live on, about a 1/4 mile from my house, that is covered in lichens and mosses. I just gather it when I need it.

I've also gathered plenty in the North Georgia mountains.

I don't think it's a Southern thing, like Kudzu is. Lichens grow nearly anywhere, as long as conditions are favorable.

Rotor
 
roto-

i read about lichen, but never quite followed up on it until now. it looks like if you touch it, fungi will start growing on you *yikes*. I always tell my kids to stay away from it and the grey crusty fungi stuff that is usually near it.. Maybe just a myth that i cant seem to let go of.

Is there any danger of any type of contamination? I found some right here in my backyard on and near a downed tree from the ice storm a few years ago.

is there a need to preserve it? if so how is that done?
 
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