I just finished my first section of fully ballasted mainline, but something did not look right. A quick check back to MRR’s told me I needed to weather the ballast. I brushed black powder in between the rails and a medium earth on the outside. Well, now I need to secure it. I don’t want my locomotive’s wheels to pick up the powders, and have not run trains in a month or so because of this fear. So my question is, what do do to secure the powders? Do I use my can of Dullcoat? What will Dullcoat do to the pick up of the rails? Scenic Cement? Any ideas? As always, any hope is much appreciated.
Dullcoat will probably do the job but possibly just blow it away. A light coat of oil on the rails (to be wiped away after spraying) would prevent the Dullcoat from gunking up the electrical contact.
My own method is to spray a combination of alcohol and india ink on the ballast. Nothing further is needed to secure it.
Dave Nelson
What I did was use a very thinned out black wash with paint thinner (solvent based). And used a big brush, and then cleaned the top of the rails with paint thinner.
The powders can be mixed with a bit of Plaster of Paris and brushed over the ballast. Then spray with an alcohol wash. Wash with water mixed in, that is…
Crandell
Yes, This is what i did . And it worked out very well.[Y]
Good question regarding weathered ballast. I would like to expand on the question. On the cover photo of the March 2011 MR magazine the tracks and ballast of George Selios’s layout seems to be a master stroke. Not only are the rails weathered a rusty brown but the ballast is tinted the same rusty shade along the right of way and the ballast between the tracks is weathered darker, most realistic. How was this done?
Cheers,
Since I’m just getting to that part, I’m playing around trying to find the best way to get good looking ballast. I wonder if George didn;t ballast first, then paint the rails, naturally some of the paint will get on the ballast - more so if he airbrushed the rail but that really seems overkill to me, nto to mention potentially messy. An overall wash after painting the rails would blend the ballast together so there wasn’t just a streak of rusty ballast alongside each rail. Just a guess.
–Randy
I have an old. FSM publication “Scenery Ideas-How We Make Model Scenery On Our Kit Dioramas,” which details the methods he was using at the time. He devotes one entire page just to coloring the ties and rails. He was using Floquil stains that are no longer available, such as Oak and Driftwood. (I’ve been using Doctor Ben’s alcohol based stains with excellent results.) He painted the rail with a small brush.
On ballast, here is the short version.
To represent oil and grease between the rails, use gloss black Rust-Oleum well thinned with mineral spirits and apply over the ties and ballast with a 1/2" brush. Use a smaller brush around turnouts and crossings. (I’ve had good luck with Polly S oily black.)
In George’s New England, there is a thin layer of rust on the outside of the rails and the ties. He used Floquil Rust, thinned with Di-Sol. Again a 1/2" brush on the outside of the rail only. (I’ve used Polly S Rust thinned with alcohol and had similar results.)
I use Woodland Scenics Gray Blend and find really helps to tone it down with a wash of black india ink, followed by a really thin wash of Polly S Dirt.
On page 137 of the Third Edition of “How To Build Realistic Model Railroad Scenery,” Dave Frary has a similar method using acrylics.
It is amazing how much more realistic track and ballast are when painted.
I weather ballast with an airbrush and thinned Poly S paints (black, earth tones, etc)… then wipe the top of the rails with laquer thinner…
Good and necessary topic as track is every bit a scale model…possibly more so than structures.
What works well for me and the Piermont Division is after track is spiked to roadbed. I spray everything with Floquil Rail Brown including ties. I immediately wipe tops of rails to remove paint as this stuff is a bear to remove after drying. Ballast is next applied and affixed with 50-50 Elmers white glue and water. Before application of Elmers, all is sprayed with water with dish washer liquid soap to break tension. I also add dishwater soap (wetting agent) to the Elmers mix. After ballast dries I brush a mix of India ink and alcohol…Then the fun!!! I use General’s black charcoal powder brushed on to the track centers and sides. This hides the dreaded and unrealistic look of ballast affixed to the tops of ties. To fix the powder, just spray Floquit Flat Finish or any type of Acrylic flat spray such as Krylon. the key is to again wipe the tops of the rails before drying. A soft track cleaner block works well. If you log onto www.zanestrains.com, there are plenty of shots and video showing finished track work.
Also there were many roads that used (and still) very dark gray ballast rendering the above not necessary assuming you are using a dark blend. I love the look of medium gray (not salt and pepper) with a weathered look.
HZ