Earth color paint

[heath54]

Hi All
I am in need for a mix for making earth color paint that uses flat white latex paint as the base.  any help sure will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Heath

[Craig]

When I need a large amount of a certain color, I take my white paint to the store I purchased from and pick out a suitable color from a swatch.  They tint or re tint the paint for free and the color is generally a very good match even if the paint was not pure white when I brought it in. Paint store workers are able to compensate for pigments present in the previously tinted paint by adjusting the formula of the sought color.

"Earth tone" is a very vague term with literally thousands of possible variations. I used eight different shades of green on the layout I just built, and five or six tans and browns. The overlap of each color creates yet another color. I don't see how you can go wrong by experimenting. I don't know how much white you have to work with but quarts of mistinted paint are always available at paint shops, home centers, and stores that sell paint. I usually spend $2-4 on a quart and can, therefore, afford to waste some if I should happen to. Good luck.

Craig

[GlennW]

Depends on what color dirt you have in your part of the country. AFAIK the only concern could be if the paint is too dark. A shade of tan to off white may be better, unless you need some red or sand. "Black" may have some shades of brown in it.

[heath54]

Thanks guys for the answers.  I guess I should have not asked such a general question.  What I really need to know is can I tint the flat white latex paint with tube acrylics.  Also if I can do you know what color to mix to just get a plane brown for dirt as I am in the Western New York area and we have pretty plane looking dirt here. 
Thanks again
Heath

[GlennW]

The Cheap thing to do may be to go to Sears or another paint store & collect the sample chips. Some Paint Stores sell "sample kits" so you don't have to get a whole gallon. Even for Western New York you may find some interresting dirt to model. Perhaps you could do a day trip up & down the Niagra Gorge & take tons of pictures. What you are looking for is some variation in the layers of rock.

The Paint Store will be your best guide for kinds of paint to mix. AFAIK most latex/acrylics should mix. That may be one way to put in bits of red, yellow & other colors. I've seen some painters mix small batches of paint till they get the shade they want. If it's too light, paint it over. If it's too dark, try some other colors.

[heath54]

Thanks Glenn

I will grab the camera and the wife and head out this weekend.

Heath

[r.cprmier]

Heath;
One thought on the subject: Most paint pigments are mineral-or mineral compounds that would comprise chemicals.  As a thought, you might want to consider what is called "gesso", which is a white medium used in conjunction with any acrylic tube colours.  my daughter turned me on to it some time ago, and it does work very well in a variety of applications.
Another thing worth monkeying around with is dry pigments and a white medium.  The very worst thing that can happen is you do it over; unlike electricity-which can burn your house down...

Have a great day!

Rich

[ebtnut]

Mostly this is a matter of how much area you want to cover with paint.  If you have sizeable expanses of plaster, go get a gallon and get it tinted at the paint store to the color chip you like.  If there is a question, go lighter rather than darker.  For more detailed areas, tubes of artist's acrylics are useful (say you want to model a freshly plowed garden plot that has good, dark topsoil.  Burnt Umber straight from the tube might work.  If you have a railroad cut through sedimentary rock, you might want to paint in some different colored layers to represent the different eras the sediments were laid down.   Stick mostly to "earth" colors--Burnt umber, raw umber, yellow ochre, burnt sienna.  Almost nothing in nature is dead black, except fresh-mined coal.  Any coal or shale seams that are exposed to the elements will fade to some kind of grey-brown from weathering.  Under most model railroad lighting conditions, the coloring should be on the subtle side, or it may look too dark or too garish.

[heath54]

Thanks guys

Looks like I may be taking the paint I have and get it tinted.  I am really new to this and have no idea what I am doing. I did master the art of plastering. 
Heath

[Derek O]

Check out this multi-part video series on carving styrofoam scenery - it really helped me understand carving, applying latex as a base paint then improving the look with earth coloured acrylic washes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1D4KBB_GC4

Its easy and fun to do!

Derek