Rough Ground area

[katwigan]

Hi,

I have been looking for a suitable material / method of covering some Bare Earth areas on my layout Wigan Wallgate recently. The type of area that is not covered in grass or weeds  on an embankment or a rough area towards the back of a goods yard area  typically. 

Anyway the mind also strayed to some unfinished household jobs that have been on the backburner while I do battle with  that C word. One job sent me scurrying out to the shed to locate some stored material.

 

Some of which was soon daubed onto this test piece below ( ignore the granite setts that's not it )

 

 

This is as applied with a small spatula, the grey,mottled material in the bottom R/H area

 

 

Several hours later as it is starting to dry

 

 

 

Still not fully dry yet, takes about 24 hrs, but dry enough to give it a rudimentary spray of  brownish colouring

 

 

The next step I guess is to try it on a bigger area or embankment.

I think it looks very promising, certainly from a surface finish PoV. It comes premixed in a 1Kg container for around A$17 , it dries slighly flexible due to the recycled rubber content and it is self adhesive. A rough calc shows that 1Kg would probably cover a couple of sq metres at about 3mm thick, however a small area on my test piece is only 1.5 - 2mm thick and has bonded really well. 

 

I suppose I will have to tell you what it is now.

 

 

Not sure if it is available in UK but I am sure there would be something equivalent.

 

OR does it look B awful?

 

Kevan

 

[ianmacc]

I just zoomed in on my mobile ‘phone to give it the ultimate test and it looks very much like mud/ clumped soil as intended. A few weed clumps may assist for other uses too as there are not that many totally bare earth patches without some sort of human intervention in temperate climates. I think some water puddles and half-buried car tyres/ bent old oil drums etc. pushed in before drying would really lift it too.

Edited January 26, 2019 by ianmacc

[katwigan]

Definitely Ian, the intent of this test was to see what what the dried surface finish looked like and it will certainly need 'dressing up' to various degrees for the various areas proposed. certainly tufts of grass, weeds, bushes etc etc along with the obligatory muddy puddles in the goods yard area. 

The surface tension of the product is such that it could probably be smoothed considerably more than I did if required but also it would hang onto embankments and slopes without subsiding.

I am quite happy with the crude test piece and hope to give one of the smaller areas on the layout a go soon once I have some weeds etc available. I will post an update then