Let's Talk Mud

While there are certainly more than one way to model mud, and you may already have a favorite, this is a method that has been working for me for a long time, is fairly easy to do, and achieves what I believe are fairly realistic repeatable results. This is what you will need:

Ingredients:

Water

Plaster of Paris

Play sand

PVA glue

Acrylic gloss media

Burnt umber acrylic paint

Each of the ingredients plays an important part. The plaster is the main filler. The sand is for texture, the water and PVA glue act as the binders, the gloss media slows the set, thus increasing working time, and the paint pre-tints the final product. While I have NEVER measured out the above, the main ingredient is the plaster. As long as this dominates the rest, it has always set rock hard.

A note of Importance: DO NOT USE Durham's water putty. Mixing in the acrylic paint and gloss media interferes with its curing process, and when it eventually does set, will be crumbly. Making the Mud 1. Add water to a large mixing bowl. 2. Add plaster, and incorporate completely into the water. (ALWAYS add plaster to water, never water to plaster.) It should be a fairly dry mix at this point. 3. Add play sand and mix well. 4. Add a healthy squirt of PVA and mix well. 5. Add acrylic gel and paint, again mixing well 6. The tightness or looseness of the mix can be adjusted by adding more plaster, or more PVA and Paint, do not add more water. 7. At this point you should have a cottage cheese like consistency. Applying the Mud For a base, drop large goops of the mud onto the base with a spatula, and blend together with a large old paintbrush. Do not smooth it out, as this removes all the texture. If you are applying it to a vehicle, apply with a medium sized round brush and dab and push it into the desired positions. Painting the Mud Depending on the finish you are trying to achieve the amount of finishing necessary will vary from just a light drybrushing, to full paint, washes and multiple drybrushings.

If you are modeling dried mud, all you will need to do is maybe apply a light mudstone (Buff) dry-brush to highlight. Damp, but drying mud can be done by pin-washing depressions with a burnt umber wash to deepen the shadows. To model wet goopy mud, Paint with a semi-gloss burnt umber, when dry apply a 50/50 wash of burnt umber with dark grey, then dry-brush with a 50/50 mix of burnt umber and buff.

Snow and water can be added as desired using many commercially available products. Well that's it! I hope you find this helpful!