question

[Elrodbeckham]

what do you guys use to put a gravel driveway on a diorama.

 

beckham

[TexasRoadWarrior]

1 hour ago, Elrodbeckham said:

what do you guys use to put a gravel driveway on a diorama.

 

beckham

Depending on where you live, and what scale you're working in, if you have a Michael's near by, you can get different colored crushed stone and use that. It comes in different sizes as well as colors so you should have a decent choice. 

You could also use model railroad ballast although that may be the wrong scale for you. I believe the largest scale on that is G scale. 

You might also want to get model scenery cement to hold the stone down. 

Woodland Scenics makes a good one, probably get that at your LHS.

I've also thinned out White PVA (Elmer's Glue) and used that as well

[Elrodbeckham]

im 1:64 scale

 

beckham

[peteski]

Too bad you made the subject line so generic - something like "Looking for 1:64 scale gravel material" might have been a bit more informative. 

1:64 is well within the range of model railroading scales. If you have a hobby shop which caters to model railroaders you should be able to find something appropriate.  I think that N scale ballast material (it comes in several colors and coarseness) would be good representation of gravel in 1:64 scale.  As for affixing it, just Google "ballasting model railroad track" and you will get lots of info on how to do it. Most involves "wet water" and Elmers glue or acrylic matt media.

[TexasRoadWarrior]

The stuff i got from Michael's would work then since I used it on my old HO scale layout. 

You can usually find it in the floral decorations section. It comes in round, clear plastic containers, and as I mentioned, you can use scenery cement, it even thinned Elmer's Glue to attach it to your diorama.

It's usually about 2 lbs. in the container, and it comes in multiple colors. I found a color that was popular on the railroad I was modeling, and even mixed some black in on the sidings to represent oil leaks.

Hope this helps. Looks like Michael's is only carrying 3 colors now.

https://www.michaels.com/product/stone-granules-by-ashland-10482445

22 hours ago, Elrodbeckham said:

what do you guys use to put a gravel driveway on a diorama.

 

beckham

Depending on where you live, and what scale you're working in, if you have a Michael's near by, you can get different colored crushed stone and use that. It comes in different sizes as well as colors so you should have a decent choice. 

You could also use model railroad ballast although that may be the wrong scale for you. I believe the largest scale on that is G scale. 

You might also want to get model scenery cement to hold the stone down. 

Woodland Scenics makes a good one, probably get that at your LHS.

I've also thinned out White PVA (Elmer's Glue) and used that as well

[Elrodbeckham]

im bad at asking questions online.

 

beckham.

[rattle can man]

maybe gravel for fish tanks or birds. Cat litter (old school non-clumpingtypes)

[sidcharles]

Mr Natural says: "use the right tool for the job"

 

https://acrylicosvallejo.com/en/product/hobby/diorama-fx-en/brown-earth-26219/

 

 

 

[stavanzer]

If you use Kitty Litter, you have to crush it first.

Put a handful in a large Ziplok bag, gt most of the air out, seal it, and then crush it with a rolling pin (or something like that. Coke Bottle)

Once it is very fine, you can combine it with the binder, and then spread it flat.

[peteski]

When it comes to figuring appropriate material size, find some 1:1 gravel, measure its average size, then divide it by 64 (since you model in 1:64 scale).  Then you have an idea what size material you need. I mentioned N scale ballast because to me that would give you roughly correct size for 1:64 gravel.  Brown earth paint is not gravel. Someone didn't read the question.

Stuff for fish tanks/birds or kitty litter could work if crushed (in its original state to me it is way too coarse for 1:64 scale gravel).

[Ace-Garageguy]

A lot of railroad modelers use screened sand or dirt from the yard.

Looks pretty real.  

[mcs1056]

So, for 1:1 world 3/4" rocks, all you need to do is go out and find some .011" rocks. N Scale ballast is listed as .2 to .3 mm, which is about 0.0007" to 0.0011". This seems small for your stated purpose.

I'm with Ace. 

[peteski]

1 hour ago, mcs1056 said:

N Scale ballast is listed as .2 to .3 mm

I model in N scale.  Where did you get that information?  Woodland Scenics sells multiple coarseness N scale ballast and while I don't have it handy, I'm pretty sure that even the fine ballast is larger than 0.2mm.

Go to https://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/category/NScaleProducts   and search for ballast.

Edited September 11 by peteski

[Bugatti Fan]

Garden centres sell bags of  fine granules to put around the tops of pots to deter slugs. The granules are a lot finer than old style cat litter.

[stitchdup]

pva and dried dirt over brown paint. get your dirt/earth from various locations for a variety of shades. I have from near black through to almost burgandy. you can also use spray cans to paint sand if needbe. simply lay the dry sand out in a thin layer then dust (not paint, just very light dust coats) with suitable colours, leave a few minute, then stir and spread out again for another dusting of paint. repeat until its the colour you want. if you use 2 similar shades it can look very real. the tamiya marine colours are great for this

[mcs1056]

8 hours ago, peteski said:

I model in N scale.  Where did you get that information?  Woodland Scenics sells multiple coarseness N scale ballast and while I don't have it handy, I'm pretty sure that even the fine ballast is larger than 0.2mm.

Go to https://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/category/NScaleProducts   and search for ballast.

Got this from the internet. Perhaps (Likely) your source is better.

[mcs1056]

In Hobby Lobby for other stuff, I saw this. Might it work?

Might be wrong size. Thumb intentionally there for scale. 

[Elrodbeckham]

On 9/17/2025 at 2:30 PM, mcs1056 said:

In Hobby Lobby for other stuff, I saw this. Might it work?

Might be wrong size. Thumb intentionally there for scale. 

that's what I am gonna end up buying. its the right size.

 

beckham

[peteski]

5 hours ago, Elrodbeckham said:

that's what I am gonna end up buying. its the right size.

beckham

Looking at the size of that gravel  compared to the thumb, as I see it, thise will be good size stones in 1:64 scale (not gravel).  Maybe I'm seeing their scale differently from others?

 

EDIT: I was looking over another thread on the forum and there was a perfect photo there showing gravel driveway.

The average size of the gravel looks to be about twice the size of the lug nuts. In 1:64 scale that will be quite small.  I would still recommend N scale ballast from Woodland Scenics.

Edited September 19 by peteski

[sidcharles]

the clue was in post #5

[peteski]

1 hour ago, sidcharles said:

the clue was in post #5

I don't know about post #5, but I mentioned N scale ballast material for 1:64 scale gravel in post #4, and still preaching that.

[iamsuperdan]

Honestly, like Bill said above, I'd go outside and find some sand. 

Check out this YT channel. Some amazing diorama work here. Including how to make sand, gravel, and dirt roads.

https://www.youtube.com/@lasercreation-world1981/videos

 

[peteski]

I guess it depends on how fastidious of a modeler one is, but sand looks to me nothing like gravel.  Even in 1:64 scale. I dug up some of my N scale ballast, and photos are worth a thousand words.  No more guessing and speculating.

Here we have a 1:64 scale Mustang on Woodland Scenics Medium size railroad ballast.  Has a look very similar to the gravel in the 1:1 photo I posted earlier.  It is actually still a bit too coarse. Fine size ballast would be even closer to scale, but all I had was medium size.  Also, the shapes of the grains are similar to what gravel looks like.

And like Mike S. posted, here's a thumb photo.

Some of the smaller grains are about 0.64mm in size, but on average the grains are around 1-1.5mm.

 

My ballast was purchased over 30 years ago, but I suspect the ballast currently sold by Woodland Scenics is very similar in size and color.

Edited September 20 by peteski