Hey guys once again looking for you guidence. I was wondering how to make more realistic groundwork such as a dirt road (dry). I have seen various post around on the subject but i was looking for like a step to step on how to paint it and make it look real. I have seen some amazing dioramas out there that look like they actualy went to france and got the dirt for that road.
What would give a good texture for dirt in 1?72 scale since thats what i build in.

My next question is grass, what produxts give the best look of grass and weeds like found on country roads. I seen the M.C. Dio and that just blew me away, and made me wish i could do somthing that good.

And my last Question is anyone got any pictures of farms aroundt eh caen area , i tried searching google but had no luck


Also any tips on using wall spackle over foamboard for base?

Doh! Forgot to chng my topic title

thx


John

Can't help you much on the spackle over foam board RAF-Mad but as for dirt roads I never paint them. What I do is after allowing the plaster to dry on the foam-board I brush a PVA:water mix (70:30 approx.) over the plaster and apply thin layers of soil over the glue mix. I pass the soil through a tea strainer to get an even spread. Let it dry overnight and then blow off soil than didn't stick well and apply the glue mix over the bald areas and then add more soil.

To get some contrast, I mix in a darker colored soil and apply it over another layer of glue mix that was applied over the first soil. Helps me save paint. In my pic below I made some wheel ruts on the road by making channels in the plaster first before it set so that the soil would take the same shape.


As for vege, I believe in the States you can get a good selection of dried flowers. Michaels is one place often citied by the guys here. I've used a combo of preserved and dried, real ferns and coconut husks for my tropical dio combined with good ole painted camel hair from wood varnish brushes.

For roads I've also used the dirt over glue/ water mix. I usually paint the textured (plaster) roadway a dirt color prior to spreading sifted dirt. As for grass, I've found I'm happy with the results from unraveling hemp rope, dipping it in diluted paint (chromate green) and then dabbing the excess paint from the rope. I'll also shade it with a darker green for contrast. After it dries I cut it to length and glue tufts to the dio base. It is time consuming, but the effects of multi-colored blades of grass is very realistic. Go out and look closely at a lawn, you'll see different greens and browns. Good luck!!

Hi RAF-Mad, for dirt roads since you are doing this in 1/72nd I would suggest not using real dirt for the ground work. I feel it would give to coarse a texture for it to be in scale no matter how fine it was sifted. I would lay what ever medium(celluclay,plaster,etc) and while it was still wet I would sprinkle baking soda on it and press it into place a litte. When this is dry I would cover it with 50/50 water white glue mix to keep everything in place. The baking soda should givce you a good dirt texture in 1/72nd. then I would base coat it in some suitable brown paint just to get everything coated. I always follow this with pollyscale dirt paint, then various washes of burnt seinna and raw umber oil color.
As for grass in 1/72nd I would use static grass to depict the taller grasses and try to use something like woodland scenics fine turf for the shorter grasses. I am no expert in this scale, and I am sure some one else out there may haver better and more suggestions. Oh and I am glad you like the ground work on my Mid Carpathian dio With that I used hudson and allen turf, verlinden static grass, heki wildgrass, and woodland scenis wildgrass.
Cheers Kevin

A damp sponge works good for smoothing wet spackle to shape..... Depending on the type of spackle, you can also use the damp sponge to smooth after the product has dried.. great for getting rid of sharp edges or filling in cracks.. less dust too.

Thanks for you guys help, just need some recomendations on paint colors now for the dirt .

Also how do you guys make ruts in the road, and how deep should they be?

Sorry RAF-Mad I missed that part of your earlier note on building it for 1/72. As Jackhammer said real soil would be a bit off scale unless you get fine silt or clay which you would have to sift.

Anyway to your question on ruts. The depth really depends on the load bearing capacity of the soil or dirt and the weight and number of vehicles. A wet heavy clay soil with lots of traffic may have a deep rut may as opposed to a dirt track made up of a lot of sand for example. Heavy traffic and heavy vehicles create deeper ruts than light traffic and light vehicles.

Ruts can be done based on the width of your vehicle wheelbase and making mini drain-like channels based on the width on the wet plaster before you do your ground work.