Bob, I filled an old syringe with modelflex supergloss black and just dragged it along the centre of the track releaseing drops of paint as i went along.
Very well done For the next airbrush or brush to track adventure - to avoid overspray- try using the cardboard thingy that is installed around the collar of shirts that come back from the laundry as a shield. I have to wear a dress shirt to work each day. I have hundreds of these as well as the cardboard - approximately 8 x 14 shirtback. I use the collar strips as a palette for either mixing or for a drop of paint or mounds of powdered chalk or for mixing chalk. The larger shirtbacks are my work surface and good for a surface if you are cutting with a knife. If dirty, flip it over to the clean side. If both dirty, toss it and get another from the stack.
Hey mark: I haven't seen many of the cardboard shirt forms in almost twelve years. My golf jerseys don't come with cardboard inserts. Stay cool and run steam....
Colonel, Looks great. A lot of engine terminal tracks have small piles of sand where the crews tested the sanders. That woud be an easy fix and give it an even more weathered look.
Looks like I have more work to do , would you suggest the piles of sound be on the outside of the rails rather the centre?
Paul: I want to do this, too. I think that the piles should go on the outside of the track, at least in N scale. There doesn't have to be much sand; just a little under each sander location where an engine might have been standing. It is where the sand might dribble out if a valve was open or tested. On the inside of the rail, I would just use a small amount of paint so there would be no problem with flange clearance. But, the most important thing, to me, is the light color. The sand is white, or almost white, and a great contrast from the other, darker material in the engine yard. There must be a picture of this in someone's Rail Images folder? [edit] From William Cowie's Rail Images album, a small sand under the front engine: From Harold Hodnett, lots of sand here. Much more sand than I wanted to model. This is obviously in a engine yard. I would certainly not put this much sand between the tracks. Another from Harold Hodnett. Sand is a small pile right at the edge of the rail. Another good one from Harold. See the small white splotches? The newer the sand, the more the color contrast. [ September 30, 2005, 06:52 AM: Message edited by: sapacif ]
Hey mark: I haven't seen many of the cardboard shirt forms in almost twelve years. My golf jerseys don't come with cardboard inserts. Stay cool and run steam.... </font>[/QUOTE]Bob- Go back to work.
Hey! Here is the picture for what the little sand piles look like. UP Mike had it there all along. It really is a good example. A little green grass growning there, too.
Colonel: The super-gloss black makes all the difference The only other thing I would consider is messing up the railings on the walkways some... A section of rusty pipe (that needs replacing), a section of shiny pipe (that's just been replaced), and a few splotches of paint / grease / oil where somebody has leaned dirty equipment / overalls on it. Maybe a nice black circle (with dribbles down towards the ground) where a workman prefers to leave his oilcan? Looking good (and dirty)
thanks for the comments yes I'll have to make it look even more dirty . I just painted and added some MoPac Engine staff and put them too work. Oh check the last picture it seems one of the new workers has already found a hiding place between the old box car and shed to escape from work, hmmmm he must be an ex UP wprker
The problem I see with most ballast is that it is too gritty/grainy for the oily dirt look. I had an accident happen on my old layout. The results were quite good. I was working some dirt ground cover up to the rails when the dirt got all over the rails. I tried removing it but the dirt mixed with the matte medium and produced this smooth spackel like effect. I just smoothed it below rail height and I never had any trouble with it. I decided liked the effect quite a bit, I have always planned to use it in situations like you have there. Perhaps in your situation you might want to dribble some watered down black paint on as well for the oil look. You might also try using some fine ground foam and then drench it with black paint. Working with colors can be kind of confusing. Oil can have a slightly blue tinge when soaked into the ground. perhaps mixing a tiny bit of dark blue into the black paint might help. I hope I do not seem too critical, but I'm a dork and have always thought the ground around train facilites is kind of pretty in its own dirty way. I feel the same way about rusty things. I spend a great deal of time thinking about these kinds of things. (then again i'm talking to railfans and we do find a certain beauty in the most ugly utilitarian objects ) An afterthought...The other thing you might do is had some black chalk dust. Oil atracts fine dust. I think that is why diesels get so filthy looking, they burn oil and the residue on the surfaces attracts particles. Yet another aftertought... Ever get plaster dust on some track work. It's the devil to get out of the ballast. Perhaps if you sprikled plaster dust on the area, then brushed it into all the nook and crannys of the ballast. For a last tough you simply use watered down black paint to fixit in place. Follow this up with some smoothing before it drys, just in case it floats out of its crevaces, and you should have a really smooth engine facility look. [ October 01, 2005, 12:36 AM: Message edited by: traingeekboy ]
