OK, after snooping around more on your website, I now know that it is indeed Unitrack. So besides painting the rails and the roadbed, what other steps did you take to make the track look as good as it does....dont make me beg man!!! it's not pretty Thanks in advance.
Matt: Those are my pictures of the JJJ&E on my Picturetrail website. Thanks for the compliments Here are some photo's of the finished Unitrack weathering with the ballast between the ties. The photo's on Picturetrail don't show the finished ballasting. In the Picturetrail website the roadbed was painted grimy black, the ties were also painted grimy black with dust, earth. mud. The rails in those pictures were painted rust and grimy black. I like Pollyscale Mineral red better for the rails. I have to update the site. Here is my technique for weathering and ballasting the Unitrack. It does take time but the results are worth the time invested. I handpainted the gray Unitrack roadbed Grimy black. That includes 125' of mainline track, and all yards and sidings. You can airbrush the track, but I prefer handpainting. That way I could control the paint away from the rail tops. The JJJ&E runs on DCC and I wanted to make sure no paint ended up on the rail tops. Then I handpainted each rail mineral red. I then painted the spike heads burnt umber and then raw/burnt sienna with a 18/0 sable brush. I used the same brush to handpaint the ties railroad tie brown. The ballast used was a very fine 00 & 000 grade of Color Canyon Materials Natural rock ballast. BTW, all the painting of the roadbed, ties and rails was done after the track was in place. I didn't know if painting the Unitrack would affect the DCC on the JJJ&E. It didn't. Color Canyon Materials -Ballast [ October 16, 2005, 09:58 PM: Message edited by: Powersteamguy1790 ]
WOW that LOOKS AWESOME!!!! I am going to copy your reply here as my Field Manual for track detailing. Now I just have to teach the wife and kids this method to assist Thanks for the info. That track just looks incredible!!
By the way, did you have to bring the "earth" to the track? meaning any ground fill needed or did you just ballast the track as normal?
sorry for the 20 questions....but what adhesive did you use, white glue and water mix? or something else? Thanks, your layout is truly inspirational. I really like the rock formations too. very nice.
Matt: Are you going to use Unitrack for your entire layout? If so, have fun.... It's much easier to weather and paint before the track is on the layout. Stay cool and run steam......
Roger that, and yes, I was planning on using Unitrack for the entire layout for a few reasons. 1. Very reliable, almost no room for track laying error. Performs very well. 2. Eas of use with built in roadbed. Which helps justify the cost when one looks at the fact they would have to purchase roadbed and intall it. 3. As you have demonstrated, it can be made to look very good. I have seen some other methods that have made Unitrack look good but so far I like yours the best. 4. Their switches and swith machines are very reliable. 5. I simply hate flex track I know many love it but I will never get comfortable with it 6. It is also reusable. My entire layout for the most part will be able to be recycled if ever need to in the future including the benchwork. I have moved too much in my life not to plan on this. of course I have no intention on moving again....but you never know.
Matt: I used only ballast to bring the ballast up to the level of the track. I used a 50: 50 mix of white craft glue and water. The mix was spread on the ballast with a medicine dropper. For the area between the ties, I used the medicine dropper, dropping the glue/water mix on the ties. The mix percolated to the ballast between the ties. When the ballast was dry in 24-36 hours, I removed any excess ballast that was on the inner track rails. You have to wait that long because the glue/water mix has to evaporate from the Unitrack roadbed. It can't seep down as with regular track. I then used the 50:50 glue/water mix on the ballasted area again to make sure the ballast was properly glued to the Unitrack roadbed. I usually worked in 4-6 foot sections. You can also add some iso-propyl alcohol to the mix to help wet the ballast thoroughly. Have fun..... Stay cool and run steam....
And yes.......my layout will have allot of unitrack....sigh....that is allot of painting How hard was it to paint once you installed it? I might have to play with this idea some. Maybe have a paint fest prior to trackwork. Trackwork will be done in phases anyways due to the size of the layout not to mention the funds issue (which reminds me....I really need to stop buying locomotives for awhile )
Matt: I can attest to the fact that operation of a layout with Unitrack is "bullet proof". I can run 28 car trains (constraint due to the shortest reverse loop on the JJJ&E) for hours without any problems. The JJJ&E has four reverse loops. The turnouts run flawlessly. I use #6 and double crossovers on the mainline of the JJJ&E and use a combination of #6 and #4 turnouts in my switching yard. The points of the #4 turnouts have to modified slightly to enhance good performance. The Unitrack stays remarkably clean. That's due to the metal used in the rail composition by Kato. I rarely have to clean the track, but do so about once every 6-8 weeks. I usually run the JJJ&E for at least one hour daily. All my rolling stock is equipped with low profile metal wheel sets and there are no derailments at all. Unitrack and turnouts are extremely DCC friendly. As you can see, you can also make the track look very realistic. Stay cool and run steam.....
The painting of the track wasn't too difficult. Some areas were inaccessible due to the fact that the entire layout is graded. Ther is no level track on the mainline. The mainline reaches it's high point 7 1/2 inches above the low point on the mainline. The areas in the tunnels obviously couldn't be painted. The switching yard and turntable area of the JJJ&E is the only level area of the layout. Those photo's aren't in my website at Picturetrail yet. Here is the turntable area: I haven't finished ballasting between the ties in the turntable/switching yard area as of yet. Stay cool and run steam.....
I ......MUST......BUILD.....SOON That looks very cool. I know what you mean by Unitrack staying clean for a very long time. I have a loop of Unitrack running on my workbench with a couple of #6 turnouts (also had Atlas snap track in same area). Both the Kato and Atlas track are from early N-Scale "experiments" of late 1999 and 2000 (when I started planning the first N-scale empire that went defunct due to a nasy divorce). The Kato track barely needed any clean up and once cleaned up....runs reliably for a very long time....I was amazed!!!. The atlas track did get dirty faster. I use to use nothing but 99% Atlas snap track in my HO days and man, I was always cleaning that thing. I have thought about going the route of a dedicated cleaning train. With two or three Aztec cleaning cars pulled by a workhorse Kato F7 (BN of course ) Is this a reasonable plan based on your experience?
I am using Unitrack for the second part of my layout for most of the reasons already mentioned. I have started to fasten it down by usinf two pins through the holes provided. I use the very fine Peco pins and they are virtually impossible to see. A mate of mine has made me a cutting device to cut cork at the correct angle to fit between the Unitrack to bring the ground level up to the top of the Unitrack and then I will use scenic powders etc. on top of that. That's the theory anyway. I am very impressed with the track so far. Regards, Dave
