Re: Coloring sawdust (imitation Lionel imitation grass)

Gareth=A0Quale wrote: I'm completing a project to make a re-creation of a Lionel "Scenic Railway" to put on display in an historic toy store operated by the museum system in our town. I've used the illustrations of the original in the 1922 Lionel catalog, and a photo of one that still exists in a collection from the Kalmbach book on duplicating Lionel dealer display layouts, as my guide. The basic ground covering is some Life-like "mountain paper"------------- Before I start by trial and error, I wonder if anyone out there has used dye to color scenery material

-------------------------------------------------- Gareth, did you look at Life-Like's "sawdust"? They have two different colors...one of which is green.

Bill Bill's Railroad Empire N Scale Model Railroad:

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Rather than RIT dye, I use "Ceramcoat" acrylics. Take a 1lb. margarine tub, put about 1" of water in the bottom, and a healthy squirt of whatever color you want. fill the tub with sawdust, and stir it up until it's thoroughly mixed. Dump the whole mess out on a sheet of newspaper and let it dry overnight.

Don

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It isn't light fast. Daylight and/or Fluorescents do it in in just a few months.

CTucker NY

From the book "How to build realistic model railroad scenery". Dave frays says to gather twice the ammunt of saw dust that you think you'll need or your project, usually half will be hrown away. tools and materials needed a 5 gallon pail, window screen, rubber gloves, an assortment of dyes, newspaper, a

2' stick. Purchase a packet of the following colors Forrest green thru medium green to light yellow green. Work outside if possible, to start heat 2 gallons of water almost to boiling, then pour the water into the 5 gal pail, add a packet of the lightest green and stir until disolved. Add sawdust a handfull ata time untill all the liquid is absorbed, set the pail aside and let it cool. while waiting start the next pail of water for the next batch, after 20 minutes the first batch should be cool to work with, put on gloves grab a handfull of wet sawdust and squeese out the excess water. seat the sawdust out on several sheets of newspaper to speed drying, use lots of newspaper and spread the mixture out as thin as possable. Add the new water to the old water squeesed out of the first batch of sawdust till you have 2 gallons, stir in the next packet of the next darker shade of green and repeat the process. Keep the colors seperate as they dry turning every couple of hours to speed drying. Move the sawdust inside at night under normal condutions it can take 2 days to dry compleatly. When it is dry sift the sawdust through window screen to sift out the oversized pieces and splinters. This will remove about half the sawdust you collected. Store the final product in plastic bags labled for each color and your ready. Hope this helps you with your project.

I used dyed sawdust on a layout I had as a teenager in the 70s.

The layout lasted about four years without any noticeable fading of the sawdust grass. However I had some extra dyed sawdust which I kept in a paper bag and tucked away. Twenty years later, that stuff had turned a uniform gray by just sitting in a dark paper bag.

The sawdust that I used was a very fine mix of several types of wood (mainly, oak, birch and fir plywood -- my father is a cabinet maker so I had an ample supply from the stationary belt sander).

I use Ceramcoat acrylics and water. So far (after about 3 years under flourescents) the colors seem to be holding up well.

Don

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Thanks all for the comments. I've asked mama if she can return the RIT. Gary Q

I think the RIT is just plain old aniline dye. It should be ok with water.

If you want to go the fancy route. You can try woodworkers aniline dye because it's made for wood which sawdust is reputed to be made of.

They have a bright green which would probably simulate Lionel's garish color.

Eric

Gary wrote:

I'm completing a project to make a re-creation of a Lionel "Scenic Railway" to put on display in an historic toy store operated by the museum system in our town. I've used the illustrations of the original in the 1922 Lionel catalog, and a photo of one that still exists in a collection from the Kalmbach book on duplicating Lionel dealer display layouts, as my guide. The basic ground covering is some Life-like "mountain paper" that comes very close to the color blotched brown wrapping paper Lionel appears to have used. I now want to duplicate the old Lionel grass made of dyed green sawdust to add some texture to the paper ground cover, and to hide some of my seams in the paper covering. I've found some RIT Kelly Green, and Dark Green dye in a local Kroger, and have sifted the contents of the shop vac connected to my radial arm saw through window screen to get sawdust of the right size.

Before I start by trial and error, I wonder if anyone out there has used dye to color scenery material who would have any pointers? Specifically, the RIT instructions call for using boiling water/dye, but I think this may be to set the color in fabric, and may not be as important for layout use, so I want to try to use tepid water. Will this work? Thanks. Gary Q