hi, its Matt tomlin, long long long time no chat, i have been busy, anyway my ww2 artiallry dio has been put of and will commence november however the troops are already finshed, anyway in my dio i am having dirt trenches, and the ground is going to be real muddy, how can i have this effect, of mud without doing spraypaint, ( i cant just sprinkle dirt otherwise it would look dry)
thanks

matt tomlin

Matt

To simulate a really muddy trench you actually built up your leveling in your dio with Styrofoam (including the Trench). Next cover everything with wallspackle. While the wallspackle is still wet you sprinkle a really fine grained sand on it (bit like Birdcage sand) and Push some Foots of figures in it for the Footprints. When everything is cured you paint or airbrush it in the colors you like/want and after the paintjob you take glossy varnish and give the whole trench system a wet look.
The Glossy Varnish gives the whole groundworks a glossy shine. What you also can do is give all the footsteps a drop of future so you get smaal puddles of water. This will give even more the idea of a really muddy trench

Just my 2 cents hope I`v e been of any help

thnx faust, to be frank, i am not a very resourceful modeler, i dont use or even know what wallspackle is, and i have no accese to styrofoame,i am using paper mashe, anyway i might just use plaster, add foot prints (your idea) and then sparay paint plaster with shiny brown sparay paint.

thnx for help

matt

matt

It doesn`t need to be exactly styrofoam. That`s only what I use as I have a great resource for that and I always have a big supply of it at home. Since it`s going to be covered with something you can also make up the form from the foam type with all the small white balls. This is to be found in the Do It Yourself (DIY) shops in the Insulation aisle.
Wall spackle is what I use to cover it up. Wallspackle is a stuff that you normally use to close up gaps in walls and such. It comes in a tube (a big tube) and you pay really a small amount of money for it. This stuff you can add/smear easily on top of your foam stuff and is quite sticky it dries in a timespan of 24 hours. Also this is to be found in Do it yourself shops.

Hope this is of some help too

Oh no! not you as well! #:-)

Faust has a good instruction .... maybe some things might be within your reach... I´ll try to explain what they are. Styrofoam is the white packing material like in meat trays from your supermarket. Wash the trays and there is a nice flat bottom. Cut this out and save them. They are great to build up shapes. Glue them together with white glue or medium temperature hot glue only. Superglues will melt it. Make up your trenches and ground shpes with this stuff.
Spackel is the stuff that you repair holes in walls with. It comes in tubes already made up. Not the quick drying stuff.... you need time to work with it,.... takes 24 hours to cure. With a knife or small flat shape, spread out the spackel and and then roughen it up with footprints etc. add wooden boards to simulate walkways over really wet areas.. when weathered this looks cool! When dry paint in very dark browns to simulate damp ground conditions. Then if you dont have future use gloss varnish. tint this with a yellow ochre or light brown and add several layers to footprints etc to show wet gound ...looks like little puddles.

If you gloss the whole surface it just looks like shiney clay.... so plain dark browns for the earth and then clear gloss the puddles for a nice effect!!

Bingo on the previous posts.
Don't forget to include mud on the figures. Their feet, knees, elbows, etc will be at last colored if not clumped with mud.

Matt, you may want to try your local electronics store as a source for free stryofoam. Eveything they have on display in there came packed in huge white chunks of stryrofoam. They may hang on to some of it but I bet they have some lying around they would be happy to part with if you ask.

Just a thought,

Shaun

I've worked with joint compound (same as wall spackle?) on various dios. If you have problems smoothing it to the desired texture you want while it is wet, try using a piece of dampened kitchen sponge to smooth it. If the spackle has small hairline cracks in it after it cures, try the same method. I've smoothed off unwanted ridges of joint compound even after it has cured using this method .. and it beats sanding or hacking at it with a knife. Keep a small bowl of water on hand to rinse the sponge every so often

Drywall mud, AKA joint compound, AKA wall spackle is some of the best stuff around. You can easily colour it with acrylic paints prior to application. That way, if you get a small chip in your groundwork, you won't see the white underneath. The key to working with it is to keep your tools clean, and occasionally, dip them in some water to help you smooth over your areas. If you lay on the compound too thick, you increase the chances of cracks. Better to put on several thin coats than one thick one. ... he says from experience...

wall spackl ill keep it in mind what i like to do at the moment to stimulate the mud is to mix up some plaster with powdered paint u can buy in craft stores in a tint of brown just add water and mix it up then apply it to the base and get some gloss varnish over it!

Hi Matt,

As they say here are my two cents: For mud I use mud. Take the black dirt from you backyard, dry it and filter it for large parts. After that, you can mix it up with water and enough wood glue (white glue). This muddy mixture you can apply to your ground work with a brush or spatula. Because of the white glue it dries up a bit shiny and looks wet. Mind you it becomes rock hard, while it is wet you can put your figures in it for footprints or your afv's for track marks, but dont forget to wash of the mud form the figures/afv's after making the prints. This mixture is also great for mudding your vehicles.

Regards, hut

Several good ideas have been expressed... let me share another. To make trenches, I assume you are doing a thick base to show level ground as well. Here is the technique I use - quite easy, and very inexpensive. At the florist shops they sell a thick green foam that can easily be cut and shaped with a finger. I mount this to my wooden based, and then begin to shape the trenches, shell holes, puddles - whatever. Once the contours are correct, I then "paint" a solution of plaster of paris over the entire piece, which gives it hardness and texture. Then you can begin to treat the area with whatever ground cover you so desire. Like Faust, I believe that varnish makes an excellent gloss, but if I want to show standing water puddles amidst the footprints and holes, I use POUR-ON by EnviroTex. It provides excellent wet gloss, and also good "water" depth. As a side note, to make footprints in mud (snow, dirt, etc.), i have sawed off two "feet" from a figure and attached them to long strands of stiff wire. I can then use these feet to make impressions whereever desired... even in difficult areas to reach, simply by bending the wires as needed.