Dirt Roads

[peteski]

Depending on how fine you're looking to go, another possibility is to keep sifting dirt down to the point where you can put some in a container and wrap a woman's stocking over the opening of the container, then sift through that.  You'll basically end up with dust.

-Brian.

Just don't use fish-net stockings. 
Actually the mesh size of average stocking will pass particles quite a bit larger than dust, but it might still be fine enough to work as a scale road surface.

[Westcoast_Trains]

in the past i have used 2 similar colors of fine ballast, lighter for the "lesser used" parts of the dirt road, obviously the darker ballast for the more regularly used areas. did an adequate job in my opinion.

[chessie system fan]

I like this person's idea.

https://flic.kr/p/5PqzZ2

Using "Airclay."

https://flic.kr/p/bXgjaD

More process photos:

https://flic.kr/p/5PqA2Z
https://flic.kr/p/SWkZP8
https://flic.kr/p/ceCQVG
https://flic.kr/p/5PuRK1
https://flic.kr/p/cfboRm
https://flic.kr/p/cfbewU

As shown in the weekend update, I tried this method on a small diorama to see how it did. Here are the results! While the clay was wet, I stippled the surface with a soft-ish brush. I then spaypainted the whole thing flat black and weathered everything, adding sand piles here and grime there.

[chuck geiger]

Grout and sifted sand.

[TechnicalATSF]

With N-Scale, it's difficult reproducing a realistic path. For HO, sand and grout work fine, but I've seen N-scale vehicles parked on rocks that would ruin the tyres in seconds. I've found that buying pigment in bulk from a pigment supplier provides a nice dusty effect and the bulk means you can cover large areas. I've also noticed that sands and dirt tend to go a shade or two darker when you use the watered-down white glue method, whilst pigments will retain the colour. Thin coat of any matt paint or medium, let dry until tacky and then apply pigments with a large brush.

[robert3985]

I use real desert dirt that's been baked, screened, and graded yielding several grades of rockiness, to fine dust. 

I used the finest dust with a few larger pieces of fine sand (much finer than ballast) here and there along the way.

On the dirt roads I'm modeling, the prototype usually has a raised portion running down the middle, not as smooth with larger rocks and maybe vegetation... with smoother tire ruts on either side, then the sides of the road and the surrounding terrain are slightly, but noticeably higher, rockier and with vegetation...essentially two parallel ruts running through the scenery and to a lesser degree, running alongside the mainline, but smoother...less rutted. Rockier areas are down the middle and on either side which is impossible to achieve using only one grade of dirt/dust/grout/sand.

To get the dust and assorted slightly larger sand particles to look like N-scale "dirt"...after I generously apply the dust and its slightly larger sand particles here and there along the way, I press down on the dust & sand with a finger or two, which compacts it and pushes the sand particles into the now compacted dust. I keep doing this, maybe adding dust or sand to get the "look" I want, having it look fairly smooth like a road and not like fingerprints in dust.

I do the same for parking areas which some of my public-created dirt roads go to alongside my Weber River where there might be an old pickup or Jeep Station Wagon parked, their owners fishing down on the riverbank under some overhanging wild trees.

Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of my dirt roads, but I have some that show one of the spontaneous parking areas, which have the same look as the rutted dirt road leading to it...

Photo (1) - Spontaneous parking area next to some wild riverside trees under which local anglers often come to fish for the native brown trout...


I do the "finger pressing" thing for other areas of open soil that I have in my Weber/Echo Canyons scenes where the vegetation is usually just tall, wild grass, Rabbit Brush and Sage, with the grasses being dry by my layout's late-Spring/early-Summer season, with green grasses being close to the river or on the north side of steep enough topography to shelter it from the baking desert heat.

One feature of the dust-finger-pressing thing is making game trails...running a line of dust along the terrain, then pressing it flat and compacted before soaking and gluing.  Works pretty good.

Your wetting and gluing technique is also important.  I use an atomizer (not a spray bottle) to soak my dirt & terrain with wet-water first, then I flood it using a big dose-dropper, gently basically letting my glue mixture flow out slow enough so as not to wash away my bare dirt.  Spraying compacted dust with a spray bottle will crater it, which isn't cool.

This works well for me, and the dirt I use I dug from the actual prototype site I'm modeling, so that gives me satisfaction as to the color, and even somewhat to the texture.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[sizemore]

I've been experimenting with these:

https://ak-interactive.com/product-category/textures-dioramas-building-material/dioramas-textures/

The sands, and asphalts are nice. Because of price would only consider scenes up close.

The S.

[Dave V]

I've been experimenting with these:

https://ak-interactive.com/product-category/textures-dioramas-building-material/dioramas-textures/

The sands, and asphalts are nice. Because of price would only consider scenes up close.

The S.

These look great! I'm trying to figure out which of these looks the most like soil in central Pennsylvania...for general ground cover.

[sizemore]

These look great! I'm trying to figure out which of these looks the most like soil in central Pennsylvania...for general ground cover.

Yeah their appearance is what lead/led(sp?) me to look at them. One thing I would consider is that they're designed for 1/35 scale (and higher) models while color may match, the texture is the other half. While you may consider the "muddy terrain" for a road, it might have a better application creek/river shore/erosion. Instead use the dessert sand for the road, and paint it with a color that matches the muddy terrain.

A lot of armor modelers will use the medium for the ease of application/manipulation and resultant dry texture, but then paint with a desired color of choice, then washes etc. Even static grass/foliage as well.

The S.

[randgust]

I'm in the 'real dirt' camp.   Base can be anything, plaster, cardboard, styrene..... gets a coat of earth brown latex paint

Dirt layer 1 tends to be sifted dirt/sand over white glue, then diluted added.

After that 'almost' dries, finer dirt more like powder, and lighter color, that I've saved over the years.   When fully dry, rubbed just with finger and gets magically lighter and flat smoother.   It's essentially like sanding.  In this shot the 'dirt' around the oil storage tanks is what plain dirt looks like, and the roads are the second lighter coat that's rubbed down.



Link:  http://www.randgust.com/TRKMOD26c.jpg

The new 'bargeyard' Ttrak modules will have a lot more of dirt road in them, c. 1922   

[Ed Kapuscinski]

With N-Scale, it's difficult reproducing a realistic path. For HO, sand and grout work fine, but I've seen N-scale vehicles parked on rocks that would ruin the tyres in seconds.

This is one of my biggest turn-offs when seeing N scale scenery.