Good morning...I want to build a small layout with some Rokuhan trac and I would like to paint & ballast the track. Has anyone here done that and could you show the techniques and/or results? Thanks for the help.
I just put down the ballast on the edges of the fake ballast. Stop just short of the tie ends and blend it up to the same level as the plastic ballast.. Try to find a ballast color that matches. The fine gray ballast works pretty good - the smaller the better. Use your favorite ballasting method - I prefer the Woodland scenic glue - undiluted. Use "wet water" (water and a drop of soap) in a spray bottle - make sure it sprays a mist, not big drops - on the laid down ballast first to remove surface tension. An eye dropper to apply the glue and get the ballast "shiny" all the way down to the bottom edge to saturate the ballast. The rail painting can be done with paint pens with rail brown or even rust - experiment! Just make sure to clean the top of the rails with an erasure. I have found the track works better electrically if you also clean the inside top edge of the rail web, the flanges can help pick up power.
Not much more to add to David's response. I like to use an india or sepia ink wash on the sections, it seems to give the plastric roadbed a bit more depth and dulls everything. Also, since you wouldn't be layin ballast between the rails, a light oil slick down the center of the the tracks makes the roadbed less noticable.Let us know how your layout turns out.Mark
I have two different approaches that both work well. The first think I do is paint the track road bed and all a mix of a grimey black with a few other tones. I keep mixing until I get the right look. Next, I ballast the track with fine ballast. This takes time. I ballast the whole track but I am very sparing with the balllast between the rails. I do not ballast between the turnout points only the sides. What worked well was a heavy misting of pure 99% alcohol before the 50/50 white glue dribble. Here is a shot of the track shortly after finished.
My 2nd method, I paint the track, but then I use woodland scene fine soils to build up the sides of the track to the proper height. Then I use a sparing amount between the rails. This works great for a branch line look. I did this in my roundy.
Sure for the crossings I used styrene strips painted with washes of brown and asphalt. The road is the foam road tape, but I built the height up to the crossing using AMI instant roadbed. I suppose clay or putty could also work, I then painted the foam roadbed with many coats of asphalt paint.
Good Day! Could you please tell what's the brand name of the ballast which was used on the first photo? It looks nice from the distance. I am currently trying to find a ballast with the smallest particle's size possible. On the photo there's a painted Noch ballast with particles that are too coarse. Is there a ballast which has smaller particle size to your mind?
Arizona Rock and Minerals has very fine ballast. It is N scale (-1 in the part number) but trust me, it is finer than Woodland Scenics Fine and Highball Z scale. Do NOT order the -O, thinking it is finer than the -1 N. It is powder and will dry like stone when it is done. Good for dirt roads or limestone paths but you can use many other stuff for that. I haven't evaluated Scenic Express but suspect it is also on par with Woodland Scencics Fine orHighball's Z. BTW: Noch is distributor for Woodland Scenics in Europe. Also, Smith and Sons reportedly has very fine ballast too. Smith & Sons 440-286-4890 between 6pm - 10pm Eastern Time 13630 G.A.R. Highway Route #6 Chardon OH 44024
