QUOTE: subject of grass
Joe Fugate Modeling the 1980s SP Siskiyou Line in southern Oregon
"Being misunderstood is the fate of all true geniuses"
EXPERIMENTATION TO BRING INNOVATION
http://community.webshots.com/album/288541251nntnEK?start=588
QUOTE: Originally posted by cwclark Joe....what's a spring clamp?..will vise grips holding the wire at the end of a table work also?
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
Owner and superintendant of the N scale Texas Colorado & Western Railway, a protolanced representaion of the BNSF from Fort Worth, TX through Wichita Falls TX and into Colorado.
Check out the TC&WRy on at https://www.facebook.com/TCWRy
Check out my MRR How-To YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/RonsTrainsNThings
QUOTE: Originally posted by jfugate TOPIC THIS POST: Ballasting and weathering track With the sky backdrop finished and the rough scenery plaster work done, I usually ballast and weather the track next. I use MicroEngineering flex track, codes 83, 70, and 55. I like this track because it has very tiny spike heads and a realistic randomness to the ties. Ballasted and weathered ME track looks better than handlaid, in my opinion. (NOTE: Model Railroader editor Andy Sperandeo asked me to submit an article on these techniques, which I have done. My article might appear late this year (Nov/Dec) or sometime next year, so watch for it. In the meantime, I'm going to be covering these techniques in the Siskiyou Line video series video volume 4 on scenery, among other things.) I ballast the track using Woodland Scenics fine gray ballast, which is a color that matches the prototype Siskiyou Line. You'll need to pick a color that is right for the region you model. Keep in mind that when you bond the ballast using the techniques I outline here that the color darkens slightly. I spread and shape the ballast using my fingers and a small stiff-bristled brush. I like to use my fingers because it gives me lots of control. I use the stiff-bristled bru***o brush ballast away from the rail sides and off the tops of the ties after doing the shaping with my fingers. You want your ballast to be even with the tops of the ties, but not *on* the ties. I use 70% isopropyl alcohol straight to wet the ballast prior to gluing. This pre-wetting step is essential because without it the glue will simply bead up all over the ballast and ruin all your careful shaping efforts. The alcohol is great because it goes right in without disturbing the ballast. I use an old white glue bottle, fill it with alcohol, set the tip to release just a drop at a time, and then dribble it all over the ballast until everything is soaked with alcohol. Next, I bond the ballast with a white glue solution. I mix 1 part white glue to 3 parts water, and add several drops of dish detergent to the mix so it will soak in readily. Carefully dribble the white glue all over the ballast and let it dry overnight. The white glue will displace a few ballast grains, but for the most part, things should stay put nicely if you follow these directions. For the few grains that always stray, after things have dried overnight, I take a small screwdriver and lightly scrape the stray grains off the rails and tie tops. Use light pressure on the rails so you don't strip any plastic spikeheads off the track (especially critical with ME track because of the tiny spikeheads). Vaccum to remove any loose ballast grains. I paint the sides of the rails with Pollyscale Roof Brown (mainline) or DRGW Depot Brown (sidings/spurs). I prefer waterbased paints, and Pollyscale sticks to the metal rails well. Use a size 00 brush, and don't fret if you get paint on the ties. If you look at real track, you'll see some of the weather color on the tie plates and ties under the rail -- so you're just making things more realistic if you get the rail weathering color on the ties around the base of the rail! Next, I use an old phonebook as a paint palate and mix some craft acrylic paint (black, brown, white) to get some black-brown and gray-brown color that I paint randomly on a few ties using a size 0 brush. Hit maybe 20-30% of the ties to give them some realistic variation. Paint spur and siding ties more weathered brown and gray tints to reflect the greater weathering and less maintenance they typically get. Let everything dry for about 30 minutes. Next, we need to weather between the rails. Looking at prototype track, it tends to weather differently between the rails than it does elsewhere. To simulate this, I mix 1 part plaster with 1-part black powered tempera paint and bru***his dry powdered mixture down the middle of the track (mainline). I mix 1 part black, 1 part yellow, 2 parts brown, and 4 parts plaster and bru***his dry powdered mixture down the middle of sidings and spurs. I mist the track with wet water to fix the plaster-tempera mix in place (it will also fade somewhat). The secret is the plaster in this mix -- that will make between-the-track weathering more or less permanent once you mist it with water and it dries. For extra heavy weathering, brush some more weathering powder between the rails while the track is still damp. Finally, I clean off the railheads with 600 grit sandpaper (poli***he railheads, really) and then vacuum. Here's a photo of some finished track done this way (from the MR article): (click on the photo for a closeup) Notice how realistic the track looks. If you treat the track like any other model and weather it appropriately, it will look great! NEXT TOPIC: Finishing the rough scenery: applying dirt/background grass
QUOTE: Originally posted by jfugate Electro: The spikeheads are larger on Walthers/Shinohara code 83 track but otherwise, yes -- you will get nice results if you follow the techniques for ballasting and weathering your track. In fact, even Atlas code 100 with it's coarse detail will benefit greatly from ballasting and weathering. To the eye of one standing up and operating the layout, it's hard to tell the difference between code 100 and code 83 at that distance. If you have a tight budget, Atlas code 100 is pretty cheap, and if it's ballasted and weathered, it looks acceptable. It's only when you get down close with the camera that the differences really stand out in the look of the track. I tell people if they aren't planning to take lots of in close photos of their layout for publication, then the fine detail on ME track isn't as important. I've got ME, Walthers/Shinohara, Atlas, and even Peco turnouts on the Siskiyou Line. Once it's all properly ballasted and weathered, it's hard to even tell the difference. For example, this photo has an Atlas code 83 #6 turnout in it ... To see a larger version of this photo, click here: http://mymemoirs.net/model-trains/images/post_photos/large/Photo_20.jpg If you look real close at the points area, you can see the larger spikes on the Atlas turnout, but it's not offensive because the ballasting and weathering helps it blend in. Here's an extreme closeup of just the points area: To see a larger version of this photo, click here: http://mymemoirs.net/model-trains/images/post_photos/large/Photo_20_turnout.jpg