Airfield Arid-Desert

Parched ground instead of a mown meadow

Makeshift airstrips in North Africa, in the Middle East or in the American interior did not look like an English pasture. What was left of them was packed dust, sparse dry stalks and scorched soil in which every taxiing track was printed. This mat offers that landscape ready made, with no mixing of plaster and no scattering of static grass.

What you get. A square area with a side of 245 millimeters whose coarseness matches 1:48, 1:35 and 1:32 scales. Under a single-seat fighter or an armored vehicle the whole scene comes out of one piece; with a longer fuselage two pieces are joined and the transition is hidden with scattered sand.

Tips for the work. A dry surface will take a great deal: lighter dust drawn out with pigment along the wheels, a darker greasy patch under the engine, a few small stones scattered toward the edge, and the scene immediately gains depth. Layers of color are not necessary, because the area is presentable straight from the package. Anyone building a diorama in a frame can trim the edges with scissors exactly to the size of the board and attach them with PVA glue. It serves equally well as an unpaved track, the edge of a wadi or the surroundings of a field repair crew.

The small thing that decides it. In a desert what matters is not the color of the ground but the contrast between the packed surface and the dust stirred up around it. So scatter fine powder only where the blast from the engine would drive it, and leave the rest smooth. A sharp boundary between a clean and a dusty band does more for credibility than the finest shade of base.

• dry desert ground with sparse vegetation
• a square with a side of 245 millimeters
• no painting needed, but willing to take toning
• also suitable as an unpaved track in a civilian scene