Prototype Dirt Color

[Dave V]

Evidently you feel it's worth the effort to go out and collect the "real thing" and then process it for use on the layout - plus you have access to that material relatively locally.
Is that because you get better results using natural earth as compared to manufactured scenery products?
Certainly it obviates the need to attempt color matching and no one can question the authenticity of your scenery.

Yes, sometimes, and yes!  So, FWIW, the week after my Air Force retirement ceremony, my father and I took a multi-day trip out to RGS country because we'd been talking about doing so for a good 30 years or so.  So while the primary purpose of the excursion wasn't "dirt hunting" it seemed like the right opportunity to do so.  The weather was gorgeous and the soil was already pretty dry.

I do sometimes get better results, although natural dirt does darken considerably when soaked and glued.  When dry, it looks somewhat darker than when I first lay it down, but not objectionably so.  But the real issue is color matching to the prototype, and I've yet to find a commercially available product (other than Scenic Express "dirt") which looks right for my area.  And FWIW, the deep, deep red of the Placerville and Vanadium area just isn't something I would be able to find on a shelf.

I get a lot of comments about how my foreground scenery matches the backdrop photos so well.  Well...at least dirt-wise, as long as the color rendering on the photo backdrops is close to true, it has to match because, well, it's from identically the same location.  Matching ground cover vegetation colors is harder, but I use a ton of materials from Silflor and Scenic Express that get me close enough.

[Jbub]

*thread drift* So I'm curious about the track configuration west of the curve and what it's purpose was. It looks like some wyes that loop together to me.

[Dave V]

*thread drift* So I'm curious about the track configuration west of the curve and what it's purpose was. It looks like some wyes that loop together to me.

That was the top of the hill--the crest of the Allegheny Front--where helpers were turned to go back down to Altoona.

[Tristan Ashcroft]

That was the top of the hill--the crest of the Allegheny Front--where helpers were turned to go back down to Altoona.

Yup, that.  Then further west is Cresson with the wye at the helper terminal and two coal branches wandering off (Corman to the west and the Irvona secondary to the north... RIP Irvona secondary).  And then there's that weird little scrap of track to the south of the summit - it's in the right place to be the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site.

Also forgot to mention in my first post - I second all mentions of "If you want to model it, look at it, and use/take all the pictures you can get".

finally - geosciences ftw. 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Dr Rocktopus! I'm glad you finally found your account stuff!

[Tristan Ashcroft]

Dr Rocktopus! I'm glad you finally found your account stuff!

I actually found it a while a go.  I've just been lurking.  And am also lazy.

[Dave V]

That was the top of the hill--the crest of the Allegheny Front--where helpers were turned to go back down to Altoona.

Of course, auf Pennsy, one would call them "snappers" rather than "helpers."

[p51]

Where I model, in Northeast Tennessee, the dirt is generally a uniform rust color (with all the ore in there I was surprised that none was magnetic). I had my parents get me a large jar of dirt from the place I model, and I had paint matched at Home Depot from that. Thankfully, there wasn't much difference in color.

[Iain]

I've used sheetrock mud to simulate the sandy soil of eastern NC.  The only problem is it winds up being a bit too uniform, but some drybrushing and then foilage helps.


hrm, I need to get to a place where I can build a model railroad again.

[SandyEggoJake]

Looking at Tristan's map, @dem34 is right.  Green.  Perhaps with some blue.