IronBeltKen
Lazy Daydreamer
One of my lineside industries is a bulk cement wholesaler with three large concrete silos, receiving its product by rail, and distributing it locally by truck. The trucks drive thru the bottoms of the structures [similar to a flood loader], entering at one end, loading up, and exiting the other end. The surrounding terrain is plain gravel, and I'm attempting to simulate the areas where truck tires have left a hard, packed-down surface as they traverse the lot approaching and departing from the silos.
Truth be told, this started as a flat plywood surface painted grayish-brown. I thought the scenery would be something I could just throw down quickly over a few evenings - big mistake! As I've gotten into it, it's becoming more obvious that if I were to do this "right", I would have to remove all the structures and cover everything with hydrocal. But I don't want to go down that rabbit hole - too many other projects that need my attention - so I'm making the best of what I already have.
At first, I thought I could use Woodland Scenics "scrubbed dirt" ballast. It's the perfect color when poured out of the container. But it needs to be cemented down...and when I apply a watered-down white glue to it, it darkens - and when the glue dries it looks like MUD!
Similar to what happens to light weathering powder applied to a dark surface when you spray it with dullcote.
Next, I tried painting the surface with a dirt-brown colored flat latex paint. The color is correct, but as with all latex paints that I've seen, "flat" actually means "a little less glossy." It has that plastic-looking "sheen" that kills the appearance of dry, sun-baked dirt.
Finally I decided I'd have to settle for just having the wheel ruts in that latex brown color, with the surrounding color being different. Trace out the tire trails, splat down white glue with "dead grass" turf on adjoining surfaces, then rub-on some of that dirt ballast after it dries...yeah, that should do it!
First, figure out where the tractor and trailer wheels would roll over when exiting the silo. (I had to use a tank trailer instead of the bulk trailers, because none of those actually attach to their tractors and they cannot be rolled!)
Apply more dirt-brown latex over the areas where the wheel paths would be:
Outline the wheel trails with white glue, apply turf. (The turf appears to have completely soaked into the glue here):
After 'outline' glue dries, apply glue to the remaining open areas:
And finally, rub in the "dirt" ballast and vacuum-up the excess:
Unfortunately, some of the turf applied to the outlying areas reacted differently when applied to the glue, resulting in mismatched textures. Guess I'll have to cover that up with shrubbery and flocking; static grass is NOT an option, that space is way too difficult for me to reach - don't want to disassemble and reassemble that silo structure, it took me forever to get those things to line up properly!
Truth be told, this started as a flat plywood surface painted grayish-brown. I thought the scenery would be something I could just throw down quickly over a few evenings - big mistake! As I've gotten into it, it's becoming more obvious that if I were to do this "right", I would have to remove all the structures and cover everything with hydrocal. But I don't want to go down that rabbit hole - too many other projects that need my attention - so I'm making the best of what I already have.
At first, I thought I could use Woodland Scenics "scrubbed dirt" ballast. It's the perfect color when poured out of the container. But it needs to be cemented down...and when I apply a watered-down white glue to it, it darkens - and when the glue dries it looks like MUD!
Similar to what happens to light weathering powder applied to a dark surface when you spray it with dullcote.Next, I tried painting the surface with a dirt-brown colored flat latex paint. The color is correct, but as with all latex paints that I've seen, "flat" actually means "a little less glossy." It has that plastic-looking "sheen" that kills the appearance of dry, sun-baked dirt.
Finally I decided I'd have to settle for just having the wheel ruts in that latex brown color, with the surrounding color being different. Trace out the tire trails, splat down white glue with "dead grass" turf on adjoining surfaces, then rub-on some of that dirt ballast after it dries...yeah, that should do it!
First, figure out where the tractor and trailer wheels would roll over when exiting the silo. (I had to use a tank trailer instead of the bulk trailers, because none of those actually attach to their tractors and they cannot be rolled!)
Apply more dirt-brown latex over the areas where the wheel paths would be:
Outline the wheel trails with white glue, apply turf. (The turf appears to have completely soaked into the glue here):
After 'outline' glue dries, apply glue to the remaining open areas:
And finally, rub in the "dirt" ballast and vacuum-up the excess:
Unfortunately, some of the turf applied to the outlying areas reacted differently when applied to the glue, resulting in mismatched textures. Guess I'll have to cover that up with shrubbery and flocking; static grass is NOT an option, that space is way too difficult for me to reach - don't want to disassemble and reassemble that silo structure, it took me forever to get those things to line up properly!
