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40. Tarmac, or water in flood?

C126

Entry posted by C126 in B.R. blue goods yard.

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PICT2839.thumb.JPG.55c5969539398e155e8c2445194c21f8.JPG

 

No, it is not a Turner sea-scape, but my umpteenth attempt to get a simple, even coat of tarmac-grey on the loading area for my goods-yard.

 

I started with a darkened (water-based) Green Scene 'Light Tarmac' textured paint, and failed to apply it evenly.  Then I decided to cover this with a coat of sieved sand, glued down with P.V.A.  This did not adhere evenly either, not helped by my doing it in three areas (if immediately after each other on the same after-noon).  'Bother', I thought, 'at least I can use the faults as scenic details such as puddles.'  So I slapped on a few coats of acrylic paint, and again achieved a 'varied' finish.

 

After several coats of slightly thinned acrylic, then much thinned poster paint, and all applied by a 1" paint-brush or a natty little sponge-roller my partner found in a charity shop for me, I returned to using the 1" paint-brush with a poster-paint, hoping this would be the last coat.  Alas, not: while it looked beautifully even on application, the paint has dried with pale and white 'flecks' and 'surf froth' I would be proud of if painting a view out to sea one stormy after-noonDSCN0531.thumb.JPG.7eb682332af5d32ed1a7e45f45955a60.JPG.

 

Now I have given up for the moment, and gone back to playing trains...

 

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... while I decide how to cover everything up satisfactorily for the final option: Halford's 'rattle can' primer spray-paint.  If this does not work, I will sulk and eat cake.  What I need is some fine-grained sand-paper in A2-sized sheets one can just paint and glue down.  But then would this 'blister' and warp?  Probably.

 

Anyway, the wagon inspector visits...

 

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... while the coal merchant leaves him to get on with his next round:

 

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Meanwhile, the mileage sidings are seeing traffic.

 

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Edited by C126
Typos. and adding photos.

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  • RMweb Gold
simon b
  • RMweb Gold

Halfords spray paints are your friend here. 

 

Cover the entire area with the matt khaki from their cammo range, then mist normal grey primer over some areas to vary the colour.

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Wheatley

The tarmac in your header photo isn't the same colour or texture all over, and that's a main road laid to a recognised standard. In BR blue days your goods yard could be anything from fresh tarmac to 50yr old packed cinders, or concrete, or ropey old tarmac mixed in with packed cinders, potholes filed in with old ballast or all of the above. Use what you have as the base coat and build up texture and shading with washes of grey/brown watercolour (or thinned acrylic), talc or fine sand for texture and a bit of green scatter around the edges for weeds etc. More texture at the edges where the loose chippings get scattered to, less where it gets regularly driven over. 

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  • RMweb Gold
C126
  • RMweb Gold

Thanks @simon b ;  had I known or thought of this before, I would have saved a month of irritation.  No idea why the painting ends drying unevenly, but yet another thing to put down to experience!

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  • RMweb Gold
C126
  • RMweb Gold

Thank you also @Wheatley.  Blending the 'track brown' into the tarmac was the next task, after what I expected to be a 'simple base grey', and then some sparse greenery.  I like the idea of pot-holes filled with ballast chippings, and trying other textures as well.  Watch out any exhibitor at the next show I attend with areas of hard-standing on her/his layout I like!  Oil-stains were going to be another excuse for irregularity as well, and perhaps a spillage or two.  Thanks again for your ideas.

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  • RMweb Gold
simon b
  • RMweb Gold

Not too much concrete but here is a little inspiration for you.

 

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  • RMweb Gold
simon b
  • RMweb Gold

A little off topic, but would you mind sharing which colours you have painted the retaining walls with? Looks to be a good base to represent London yellow brick.

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Wheatley

This was done more or less as described above, basecoat was Halfords grey primer over a skim of polyfilla. It still needs work. The track was ballasted with fine sand, which was also used for the surface of the loading dock.20220709_201250.thumb.jpg.65c70931ba458ade958e540747ddbf6b.jpg

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  • RMweb Gold
C126

C126 2,060

Posted (edited)

  • RMweb Gold
13 hours ago, simon b said:

A little off topic, but would you mind sharing which colours you have painted the retaining walls with? Looks to be a good base to represent London yellow brick.

 

Delighted to.  Humbrol Acrylic 62 Matt, 'Leather' on the newer canister on the right:

 

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I photographed them in the sun just now to try and get a 'real colour', but actually they need a good mix, not having been used for a few months.  As you can probably see from my previous photos, the colours vary according to light and camera, and the newer (right canister) batch is a slightly different tone to the older, as seen on my new viaduct bridge piers, compared to the first batch of brick arches.  The arch 'rubbers' orange colour were mixed by hand.

 

Returning to the original topic, I should plead for forbearance.  My exasperation was simply owing to what I expected to be a quick and simple task - the 'base/primer' coat of a scenic area before adding details and shading - was not a morning's work as assumed but took at least a month with four different techiques, and now needing a fifth.  But this is what the hobby is all about, and I thank you all for your kind words of advice and hope will show you progress soon.  Best wishes as ever.

 

 

Edited by C126
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  • RMweb Gold
simon b
  • RMweb Gold
14 hours ago, C126 said:

 

Delighted to.  Humbrol Acrylic 62 Matt, 'Leather' on the newer canister on the right:

 

PICT2850.thumb.JPG.5bf3de0b42fe74b277c60c5997cfac00.JPG

 

I photographed them in the sun just now to try and get a 'real colour', but actually they need a good mix, not having been used for a few months.  As you can probably see from my previous photos, the colours vary according to light and camera, and the newer (right canister) batch is a slightly different tone to the older, as seen on my new viaduct bridge piers, compared to the first batch of brick arches.  The arch 'rubbers' orange colour were mixed by hand.

 

Returning to the original topic, I should plead for forbearance.  My exasperation was simply owing to what I expected to be a quick and simple task - the 'base/primer' coat of a scenic area before adding details and shading - was not a morning's work as assumed but took at least a month with four different techiques, and now needing a fifth.  But this is what the hobby is all about, and I thank you all for your kind words of advice and hope will show you progress soon.  Best wishes as ever.

 

 

Many thanks for the colour tip, I'll get hold of a pot and see what it looks like on a test section of brick plasticard. I've seen a few buildings built from London yellow bricks with red brick detailing and I like the look of it, but struggle to get the colour quite right. 

 

With regards to the time taken to achieve a end result your happy with, I find that the simplest sounding jobs can often be the most time consuming. If you want to add some more variety to the surface you could lay some sheets of granite road sets to divide the area up.

 

Looking forward to see the layout develop.

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Lacathedrale

Colour perception is one of those weird things-  It all works seamlessly, until you have to try to mix the colour your eye is actually seeing instead of what it THINKS it's seeing. I recently mixed up some paint for the inside of a coal wagon from mid-brown and mid-grey and it looked like the colour you'd see on a WW1 tank: but when it was slapped onto the wagon sheeting it was a really good fit. If you'd have asked me to pick that colour out of a line up as 'most suitable' I'd never have picked it because my brain was telling me the colour of wood should be lighter or more brown or whatever.

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