Applying dye - how?

12/03 Model Railroader ... p. 66

In the paragraph "Old standbys", Eric states that he applies various shades of 'dye' to sawdust for ground cover.

Can someone please explain to us how you apply 'dye' to something such as sawdust. We're not quite sure what the process would be.

Many Thanks! Matt and Kathleen

Reply to
Matt & Kathleen Brennan
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Ah!! I asked this group about this a few months back, when I was making colored sawdust "grass" a la Lionel. The primary message from the responders was to not use dye and particularly RIT-type cloth dye, which tends to fade quickly from UV in fluorescent lights, and to instead use water base paint. I followed the advice and used some olive green acrylic paint from the local craft store. I thinned a couple ounces of paint with about twice that amount of water, put it in a coffee can, and added sifted sawdust (through window screen), stirring, until there was no visible free liquid. I then worked the mixture by hand until all the sawdust was colored, and then spread the mixture into a thin layer on newspaper to dry. When dry, I applied 50-50 thinned white glue to the surfaces to be covered, sprinkled the sawdust over the glue, and when dry, vacuumed up the excess. It worked fine, and in about four months, there has been no detectable fading of the color. But one note. I deliberately was trying to re-create a 1930 vintage Lionel toy train layout. I think ground foam makes a more realistic ground cover for a scale layout, particularly in HO or smaller scales. Gary Q

Reply to
Gareth Quale

Matt, IIRC the technique was to soak the sawdust in the dye mixture for awhile then air dry it on a newspaper or paper towel. Be sure to protect the underlying surface.

Bob

Reply to
KTØT

Mix up a concetrated RIT dye mix and put the sawdust in the mix until the sawdust adsorbs the whole mix. The more sawdust you get in there, the less drying you generally have to do. Then spread the sawdust out to allow the stuff to dry, mixing and breaking up clumps as you go. You also want to make up many different batches of differing colors near each other so that the sawdust isn't a steady color - life isn't so try to emulate the real appearance of reality - after you mix all of the sawdust together.

-- Bob May Losing weight is easy! If you ever want to lose weight, eat and drink less. Works evevery time it is tried!

Reply to
Bob May

Excellent. Thanks everyone. We create a lot of sawdust in the woodshop, and to be able to blend some of it into a model RR scene will be a welcomed use.

Most Appreciated! Matt and Kathleen

Reply to
Matt & Kathleen Brennan

What I do is put about 1" of water in a 1 lb. margarine tub, add a healthy squirt of "Ceramcoat" acrylic paint of the desired color, then stir in about a cup of sawdust. I mix it up real well, then dump the whole mess out on a folded section of newspaper or or paper towl, let it dry a day or so, then sift it through a kitchen screen strainer,

Don

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Reply to
Trainman

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