This is an experiment but so far so good. I used cork roadbed as a base and spread a thin layer of spackle over it which hides the seam down the middle. Then I painted it earth color and spread a layer of soil (screened and baked to perfection) over it and slightly flattened by rolling a jar over like a steam roller. Wet water and diluted white glue was then applied and a line of soil added down the middle of the road which soaked up the wet glue as well. The soil darkened but will lighten up as it drys. This method allows me to detail the road, including water puddles, with well defined edges and then the fake fur scenery can be butted up against the road for a natural appearance (I hope). The light areas in the second photo is for water puddles. They will be painted darker before adding water. Hope these photos don't exceed band width for the website. I also added the wooden crossing boards.
Jim, you need to stop (just kidding). Not only are you "paving" the way for me, this thread is better than a night alone with the wife without the kids. Oh is this a B-E-A-UTIFUL work of art. It is so funny that you should be doing this because I was thinking of how to do the roads in Fredericksburg, which btw, were all dirt and the tracks went right through the heart of the city, right down the middle, and of course crossing the streets. The tracks were buried in the dirt. Thank you so much for doing this. You're a great help!
Nothing does dirt better than.....well, dirt. I used finely-sifted & clean dirt for an N scale pulpwood yard with the same results you achieved. Nicely done!
Yep, it's hard to beat using real dirt for model dirt. Screen it and debug it and you're good to go. I use real cinders from the city maintenance yard and screen them for cinder ballast. They come from the Labadie power plant. Mother nature provides a lot of good stuff for scenic purposes. Water isn't one of them though.
Of course, by "water" I mean the two part Magic Water. It worked very well in my creek scene which is the first time I ever used it. I'm trying several new to me methods on this layout project. Learning as I go
I think my recipe for dirt road construction is a success but I'll let you folks be the judge. I'm open to suggestions for improvement. Tonight I added some border scenery on a test section (front edge of layout at Greenbrier) and added the water puddles. They were painted dirt color and Magic Water was added. A second layer will be poured later for depth. The fake fur scenery was brought up to the edge and blended. I will eventually add a few weeds. Here's a couple of photos for your inspection.
Jim, I think you are doing a fantastic job. For what they're worth, two pieces of constructive suggestion; 1) I think I might grind the dirt a little finer. From the close-up pictures, the particles look a little more like fine gravel size. 2) The puddle looks fine as it is - I wouldn't make it any deeper.
Jim, Constructive suggestion: Your roads are too smooth for dirt. You need wagon and car tire ruts. When you wet your dirt with water and glue, take a buggy or two of different sizes and roll them in the dirt as if pulled by horses. Same with any cars you have. This will create the ruts, which when dry will be permanent. You can then modify some to be shallow, while others can be deep while imitating soft areas still moist. Otherwise, looks good! Also, horse buggies mean horse apples. You need to put piles of manure randomly on the roads.
I'll see if I can cook up some ruts. I may have to settle on "suggestions" of ruts by paint and eye trickery. The surface is already crusty. Keith, I see what you mean about the granule size. Looks like code 88 and I needed code 70. I'll keep that mind. Now I gotta figure out how to represent horse crap. No, I'm not going back to Bollinger County to dig some real manure for sifting and baking! I have to draw the line somewhere
Use pieces of coal from the tender. For fresh horse apples, paint them deep green, like Pullman Green, and give them a very, very light dry-brush of rail rust, or better yet, some scrapings off of a brown chalk stick. Use black very sparingly to imply drying from the sun. For stale apples, paint them a toned down yellow, and give them a very, very light dry brush of Pullman Green. You can also add a little dry-brush of rail rust, or the brown chalk scrapings. No black as that will dissipate once the apples have hardened. Either way, make little piles of dung, and some trailers. What I'm trying to figure out is how to make them apples steam...
And here I thought you were a die-hard Frisco man! What would the Zalma Branch be without genuine Zalma Horse Apples? Afterall, you have genuine Zalma dirt! My image of you is shattered! Oh, the pity of it all!
Oh, now don't anyone go askin' how I know so much 'bout them thar horse apples. It's a Texas thing. Although I thought in Missouri, y'all threw 'em for sport.
Hahahahaha! That's right. I was thinking of a piece of dried ice under the table with one or two tiny pin holes. That's about the only thing that I could come up with that didn't involve oil that would coat the rails. However, having special gloves to handle the piece of dry ice may not be to practical for this hobby. Back to the drawing board.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA! OMG I'M LAUGHING SO HARD! JIM DO THIS! Preiser 30414 Horse Drawn Liquid Horse Manure Carrier I hafta get me one of these!!!!
