The aim of the project outlined here is to try and develop the SOLICON techniques that are already being used by soil researchers in order to find a practical technique available to cotton consultants or agronomists (SOLICON 2) that gives an accurate analysis of soil compaction. Here a new, cheaper field technique for acquiring images of soil structure using paint is compared to the existing resin method. The existing method of impregnation (6 & 7) is labour intensive; it talces at least two days of field work followed by at least 2 hrs per sample of laboratory work (reimpregnation, grinding and photography) before the images can be analysed