Ballasting/Weathering code 100

[rjake4454]

I use code 100 flex trax on cork, I have experimented with ballasting and weathering, so far, doing this has caused more problems for operating trains than I had initially anticipated.

Here is one problem, I first used WS medium gray blend and formed it lightly in and around the unweathered code 100 on cork, glued it down (first spraying it with alcohol so it would soak up the WS cement). The proportion of ballast and texture looked about right, it became solid as a rock the next day (as it should be I assume, rightly or wrongly). However, it still seems too thick and when I run the trains over this permanent ballast, there is a loud unrealistic gritty sound, that doesn't sound healthy for the trains (maybe its nothing, but it seems annoying). What is the problem here? Did I use too much glue? Or should I go to fine ballast instead of medium?

Also, it generally looked prototypical, even though I used the medium sparingly it tends to look a little bulky, and the track and ties seem dull, maybe considering railroad tracks, at least today, look brown with a lot of rust on the rails. Here on my brothers layout, it appeared to be fresh code 100 shiny plastic black, as always, with shiny silver nickel rails glistening far too much while being covered in this ballast glob of some kind which does resemble real rock to some extent, I shouldn't minimize that either.

 So then I experimented next with painting the rails and ties (unfortunately after I had already glued down the ballast, so this was a tedious and impractical exercise, and not very precise.

I painted the ties themselves with 'rail tie brown'....it looked OK....but not great, I would prefer to use a different color that looks more reddish brown rather than such a dull brown with a slight green tint.

That didn't do much, but then I painted the rails with the 'rust' color, and boy, what a difference it made. I painted the inside, outside, some got on the top unfortunately and I had to later the next day, sand down the rails carefully, in order to restore electrical contact.

The sanding worked, the trains ran better, but after a while, they started having problems. I showed my brother, and he noted that I forgot to clean off the freshly sanded rail with a damp cloth, to collect the shavings and dirt that had gathered from sanding off the paint. So now when you run your fingers across any of the track, you see this black grimy substance come up which was never there before. And the train wheels obviously picked it up, I don't know how to clean the train wheels on DCC or DC. Any help?

 But back to the main points:

 1)When ballasting, do you use medium or fine sized WS? I like the look of medium, but I have heard using fine is more realistic and to scale for HO. Your opinons?

 2)When modelling the PRR in western pennsylvania during the 40's and 50's what color was the ballast, lighter or darker? Any recommendations for WS colors? If I was modeling the Chicago area, what colors were common for ballast in illinois, or perhaps ohio? Much difference?

 3)If you paint your railroad ties for code 100? What color do you use? Roof Brown, Boxcar red? Grimy Black etc.?

4)Do you find it easier to hand paint each tie or to airbrush sections of the track? (I handpainted mine, but its really tedious). Any suggestions?

5)Do you even bother to paint the rails? Or is it just too much trouble for operations? Any corrections for me? I am thinking of not painting the rails, and focusing more on painting the ties,,,

Lot of questions, but any thoughts on any or all of them would be greatly helpful to me, thanks.

[Autobus Prime]

rjake4454

3)If you paint your railroad ties for code 100? What color do you use? Roof Brown, Boxcar red? Grimy Black etc.?

4)Do you find it easier to hand paint each tie or to airbrush sections of the track? (I handpainted mine, but its really tedious). Any suggestions?

5)Do you even bother to paint the rails? Or is it just too much trouble for operations? Any corrections for me? I am thinking of not painting the rails, and focusing more on painting the ties,,,

rj:

I've only painted a little bit of mine, yet.  I'm waiting until I get the wiring done. 

I did it the lazy way - thinned some black Apple Barrel craft paint with isopropyl alcohol, and slapped it on the rails, ties, and anything else that got in the way with a 1" paint brush.  I think there was some brown Apple Barrel paint in there, too, and possibly some white.  I can't remember; the whole thing was a late-night "inspiration".  I wiped the railheads with a rag, and re-gleamed them after the paint dried, then ballasted.

It actually looked all right - obviously not a superdetail job, but it didn't look like shiny plastic track any more.  Next time, I'm going to drybrush some brown and gray over the base color, to see if it makes it better.

In the past, I've done similarly lazy weathering jobs with cheap hardware-store spray paint in flat black or primer red.  They didn't look too bad, either.  Again, a little dry-brushing would probably help. 

 

[Buildy]

"5)Do you even bother to paint the rails? Or is it just too much trouble for operations? Any corrections for me? I am thinking of not painting the rails, and focusing more on painting the ties,,,"

 

 

Yes,by all means paint the rails(brush or Airbrush). Nothing screams Toy instead of scale model than Black plastic ties and Silver rail sides.

 

I find,as you found out,that the noise level does increase in areas that have been ballsted and glued.

[selector]

I used local beach sand which would be finer than WS "medium" ballast.  I suspect your troubles are a combination of the odd bit of grit too high, perhaps against the webbing and close to the flange paths.  Also, your rail stops have to be very clean.  Polished, ideally, but certainly wiped with a slightly damp dish towel after all traces of any glues and paints have been scraped away. A piece of wood is good for scrubbing the rail tops.

[Arjay1969]

 I use whatever size is handy for the project at hand.  Medium or fine...no coarse.

As for the "gritty" sound, if you want to prevent that, go light on the ballast when you put it down and shape it with the brush, but then comes the trick...

Turn the brush around and use the handle end to gently tap on the railhead.  This performs basically the same function as a prototype ballast tamper, and forces the ballast to the low points between the ties.  You should end up with very little ballast on top of the ties when this is done.  I haven't had very good luck using isopropyl alcohol as a wetting agent myself, so I usually use "wet water" and 50/50 Elmer's Glue/water to glue the ballast in place.

David's suggestion of using a piece of cork to clear the ballast from the flangeways is a good one.  You can also use a piece of basswood to do the same thing without damaging the rails.

 

Good luck!

[rjake4454]

I seem to have less trouble when I use the fine size rather than medium, it requires less glue, and there is less sound when the train goes on the tracks.

I went to the greensberg train show yesterday in edison, nj and I asked a guy there how he made his track look so good. He said he just sprayed the track ties with rail brown then wiped down the rails with oil, making them nice and shiny for good electrical contact.

What kind of oil do you think he was talking about? Do you just use a rag to do this? I didn't get a chance to talk to him a lot because he looked really busy, but he had a great modular layout, some of the best ballasted track I have seen, I thought it looked like code 83 thanks to weathering but he said it was 100, I'm impressed with what you can do with 100.

 

[larak]

This works for me: Coat railheads with a light oil. Spray the entire flextrack ties and reail sides with rustoleum or some other paint of your choice. Let paint dry. Wipe off oil and there will be little paint on the railhead with plenty on the sides.

Paint selected ties with washes of grey, black or brown. Do this randomly in in groups as you prefer. 

Ballast. The matte medium residue will change the color of the ties slightly so they look different from the rails even where you left them the base color.

I use sand dug up locally and sifted through a strainer for the main lines (too long to buy the expensive commercial stuff) and a mix of medium and fine commercial for the mountain line. Vary the shades a bit. single color ballast looks too fake. The east shore Hudson River Line has five distinct colors of ballast all mixed together near Hyde Park. The West Shore a few shades of gray with some quartz. I also mix in a touch of fine cinders here and more on sidings & spurs.

Oh yes, real rock or sand is easier to work with than the crushed walnut shell stuff.

Karl

 

[rjake4454]

Karl, thanks for the tips about the oil. What type of oil? Where can I get it?

And when you say "matte medium residue" are you referring to WS medium ballast or to something else entirely?

For now, I am sticking with the commercial stuff because I really liked what I saw on those modular layouts at the show the other day. I think I should definately use fine ballast, and it seems less likely to cause the gritty sound than the medium.

 I can't decide what to model, I have mostly PRR, norfolk and western, but modeling these requires lots of trees and mountains for realism, but I like the simplicity of the modeled Chicago and West Coast railroad, I want it to be something like that..

Here are some picks of the yard I think, no ballast, which I like, (less trouble), and I want my track to look exactly like that, how did he do it? I wonder what paints and how do you spray the ties? Painting each tie is so tedious, I've tried it. But I must make my track look like this guy's! What colors do those look like? Roof Brown? Grimy Black, Boxcar Red?

 

[nbrodar]

 I brush paint my track...

Polly Scale Zinc Chromate Primer for the main lines:

Polly Scale DRG&W Frieght Car Brown for the secondary tracks:

I prefer the "texture" of WS medium ballast.  I also tap the railheads with my brush handle to settle things.  It works like a charm.  Rather then matte medium or WS Scenic Cement, I use regular white glue. 

Nick

[Arjay1969]

rjake4454

Karl, thanks for the tips about the oil. What type of oil? Where can I get it?

 

Any light oil will work, with one caveat...you must make sure it is plastic compatible.  You don't want the oil to get onto the ties and dissolve them, after all!   You just want a very thin layer of oil on the tops of the rails to prevent the paint from sticking to it.  After you paint, you can just wipe off the tops of the rails, rather than having to scrub/scrape the paint off.

rjake4454

And when you say "matte medium residue" are you referring to WS medium ballast or to something else entirely?

 

Matte Medium is a type of glue (it's actually a paint base, but it's used as a glue for our purposes).  The WS Scenic Cement is basically pre-diluted Matte Medium.

rjake4454

Here are some picks of the yard I think, no ballast, which I like, (less trouble), and I want my track to look exactly like that, how did he do it? I wonder what paints and how do you spray the ties? Painting each tie is so tedious, I've tried it. But I must make my track look like this guy's! What colors do those look like? Roof Brown? Grimy Black, Boxcar Red?

 

Really, you can use any rust/brown/black combination you want to use.  The important thing is that it looks good to you.  I (and my clubs) use ModelFlex Rail Brown, airbrushed onto the rails.  The airbrushing also tends to put some of the paint onto the ties, which makes them look better.  You can also go back and do the washes of grey/black onto them to improve the appearance of the track even more.

And of course, you probably want to do the painting of the track before you ballast.

Hope that helps!

[twhite]

I mask around the area of rail I'm going to paint then go at it with shots of Floquil boxcar red, roof brown and grimy black.  Straight out of the can, then immediately wipe down the railheads with an alcohol-soaked cloth or lightly with a Brite Boy if the paint's a little stubborn.  I cover turnout points with foil while I"m spraying, and then pick them up by using the felt-tip Floquil track colors.   I then go over random ties with the felt-tips. 

After everything is dry and set, I ballast using a mixture of light gray, dark gray and a smattering of cinders to better represent Sierra crushed granite.  I use the WS in a mixture of medium and fine.  I use either the thinned WS scenic cement or Elmer's white glue, after spraying it down with 'wet' water (2 or 3 drops of liquid detergent in the spray bottle).  I know a lot of guys have really good results with alcohol, however my climate out here is so dry that the alcohol tends to evaporate extremely quick. 

After the ballast is dry (about 24 hrs) I lightly go over the insides of the rails with the handle end of a small paintbrush to loosen any ballast that's clung to the rails, and then vacuum. 

Works for me. 

Tom