Waton

[Guest 009matt]

Dave, How do you get such smooth ballasting?

[eldavo]

Dave, How do you get such smooth ballasting?

 

Paint between the sleepers with neat PVA, sprinkle on the ballast then tamp down with the MK I index finger. The painting the glue on bit is very tedious but the results are good and there is almost no reworking or cleaning up to do.

 

Cheers

Dave

[PhilH]

That bridge is the wrong colour purple.......Looking good Dave - what happened to the 'ballasting with Klear' thing?

[eldavo]

...what happened to the 'ballasting with Klear' thing?

 

I had a section of ballasting that I had done with Klear come unstuck. As soon as I touched it it started to break up and come away. This kind of put me off it a bit! Also I noticed that ballasting with Klear with loosely spread ballast gave a much rougher look than tamping the ballast into neat PVA. The acrylic varnish seemd to accentuate the roughness somehow. In 2mm the roughness didn't look right so it was back to older techniques.

 

You can actually see the difference in the last pic I posted. To the left of the point tiebar is done with Klear (on the lower two lines) and to the right is PVA. Quite noticeable really.

 

Cheers

Dave

[PhilH]

I had a section of ballasting that I had done with Klear come unstuck. As soon as I touched it it started to break up and come away. This kind of put me off it a bit! Also I noticed that ballasting with Klear with loosely spread ballast gave a much rougher look than tamping the ballast into neat PVA. The acrylic varnish seemd to accentuate the roughness somehow. In 2mm the roughness didn't look right so it was back to older techniques.

 

You can actually see the difference in the last pic I posted. To the left of the point tiebar is done with Klear (on the lower two lines) and to the right is PVA. Quite noticeable really.

 

Cheers

Dave

 

You're going to be popular with the WMR EMers!

[Guest 009matt]

Paint between the sleepers with neat PVA, sprinkle on the ballast then tamp down with the MK I index finger. The painting the glue on bit is very tedious but the results are good and there is almost no reworking or cleaning up to do.

 

Cheers

Dave

 

thanks - can I ask some more please?

 

How thick do you paint the glue?

 

What ballast do you use?

 

How much do you do at atime?

 

cheers

 

Matt

[eldavo]

thanks - can I ask some more please?

Of course.

 

How thick do you paint the glue?

 

What ballast do you use?

 

How much do you do at atime?

 

cheers

 

Matt

1) Plentiful but not excessive

2) Woodland scenics fine grey

3) About a foot per session. Any more and my brain fries!

 

 

This technique was documented by Gordon S in his Eastwood Town thread (Eastwood Town post #45) . I don't mask the edges and a lot of my track has card strips along the adge to represent concrete cable ducts which makes life easier.

 

Some more detail an piccies to show what it looks like. Here's a shot of a bit of track in the raw (almost). The track has been given a squirt of Halfords grey primer and, because this section is meant to represent concrete sleepers, a squirt of Plasticote Suede effect.

 

 

I apply the PVA (cheapo stuff in a big bottle from somewhere) with a number 1 paintbrush. I'm not too careful about it but basically slap it on in the big areas then add blobs of glue between sleepers. The PVA will tend to settle into the corners on its own.

 

 

This section is about 3 inches which is not too long so the PVA dries too much and also not too long so my brain, eyes and paintbrush fingers start losing it.

 

I then sprinkle the ballast by pinching a bit between thumb and forefinger. I have done it by sprinkling from a small bottle but I find I have better control using my fingers. I'm basically a fairly messy modeller so I tend to use my fingers for most things!

 

 

Then I knock any excess off the ends of the sleepers with my finger and tamp it down into the glue. Worth also running your fingernail along the insides of the rails to dislodge any stray ballast and glue otherwise the ride is a bit rough in N gauge!

 

 

Pretty much done though it doesn't look that clever (yet).

 

 

 

I leave it for 24 hours or so to let the PVA do its stuff then brush off any excess, not usually very much, with a bigger paintbrush.

 

Here's a cruel close-up of a section that was done a few days ago. The rails have had a rough splash of rust colour here as well and the whole thing is waiting for the weathering treatment to tone down the colours.

 

 

 

A bit of weathering a little more detailing and I think it will look OK.

 

Cheers

Dave

Edited August 31, 2017 by eldavo

[eldavo]

Todays challenge, fit backscene boards. I figured I can't really do any landscaping without them so they have to be done now. Basically made from 3mm MDF and either bolted, to allow removal from the 3ft boards, or screwed and glued for the 2ft end boards. The ends have been curved round by scoring the reverse of the board, shaping then filling the score marks with "no more nails". Hope it stays put! Here's a shot of all 4 boards assembled.



The tops of the backscene boards are not located positively against one another yet so I have to figure a scheme for that. They have been sprayed with a couple of coats of B&Q matt white emulsion as a base. Blagged PhilH's airbrush and compressor for a week or so to get this job sorted.

A slightly closer view shows the Eastern end where the track has been laid.



I plan to airbrush on a progressive blue shading tomorrow. Hopefully only the backscene will turn blue not the air!

Cheers
Dave

Edited August 31, 2017 by eldavo

[PhilH]

That's not another hole in the sky is it..?? I reckon it's you who's responsible for all this 'ere global warming I reckon that's going to look the business.

[Guest 009matt]

Thanks for the demo dave, it is great

[eldavo]

Backscene boards sprayed with (a little) blue emulsion to give some sort of graduation from blue(ish) at the top down to white(ish) at the bottom. Also they've now had a squirt of Ronseal matt varnish. Looks like it does what is says on the tin!

While clearing out the ensuing mess in the garage I had a couple of boards outside in daylight so thought I take the odd snap. Amazes me the detail on these tiny models.




Here's a shot of a couple of the holes in the sky taken from another angle. The backboards look very white in this shot but there are hints of blue honest!



Time for some work on a couple of crucial structures and then some terraforming I think.

Cheers
Dave

Edited August 31, 2017 by eldavo

[James]

 

That looks excellent - perfect for modern p-way

[Lukasz]

That last shot looks like the kind of track in big cities.

Sprawling and very good.

 

 

Lukasz

[Loxborough]

Looking really great. Good sense of space. So N does have its merits after all...

 

George

[gordon s]

Looking good Dave, but I'd have a word with that signalman. Could be a big derailment any second now...

[eldavo]

Looking good Dave, but I'd have a word with that signalman. Could be a big derailment any second now...

 

I knew someone was going to spot that! Certainly going to be a bit of a mess as the turnout is fitted with clamp lock motors so it won't trail. The signalman denies all responsibility on account of the fact that there are currently no levers or switches installed in the signalbox. In fact I am still pondering how to control this whole shebang. Could well be a few relays involved.

 

Cheers

Dave

[eldavo]

At the Eastern end things have started to get messy. Very messy. Basic ground shape created by forming kitchen roll soaked in finishing plaster over crumpled newspaper. This'll take a couple of days to dry out!



There's a skeletal bridge which will form part of the scenic break and hide the hole in the sky (hopefully!).



Cheers
Dave

Edited August 31, 2017 by eldavo

[eldavo]

Plaster is still drying so time to look at some of the structures. The "mock-up" road bridge in the centre of the layout that will have the station buildings has seen some attention. Played around with using Scalescenes brick paper and some custom image textures. It's sort of OK but not brilliant by any means. I remember why there is no wallpaper in my house now, hateful job!

A 66 emerges from the Minworth Lane bridge heading for Derby. I still haven't conquered photographing these diminutive models!



The same taken from a different angle. Spotters at Water Orton would take similar shots from a footbrige just East of the station.



Still undecided whether the card and brickpaper route will be good enough. I know why I like working in plasticard now though!

Cheers
Dave

Edited August 31, 2017 by eldavo

[eldavo]

Useful things these long weekends. Managed to complete SWMBO's list and make progress on the layout!

The second board has now had some of the topology built up. In my normal manner I didn't simply use the same technique as I had used successfully on board 1 but switched! This time I've used old fashioned papier mache techniques with kitchen roll and dilute PVA glue. Should be a bit lighter than the plaster option I used before and is slightly less messy but takes longer to construct but also dries quicker! Here's an overview of the board after a coat of neat PVA has been splurged onto the dried papier mache construction.



The first board has had a sealing coat of neat PVA applied and a base coat of Burnt Umber. Ooh, chocolate pudding!



This was then given a blast of rough grass. Actually several different types of static grass woofed at wet PVA using a variety of "puffer" bottles. The PVA is still wet in this shot but it's starting to take shape.



To wrap up here's an overview shot of the 2 boards I've been working on bolted together.



Cheers
Dave

Edited August 31, 2017 by eldavo

[SouthernRegionSteam]

Absolutely stunning, Dave, you should be pleased with that!

Can I ask what static grasses you used? It's something I'm looking to try out, and I like the effect you've achieved.

That and your well built boards, I'm getting more and more tempted to redo the layout.

 

This is what RMweb is all about - sharing your techniques and showing off your skills as inspiration to other modellers.

 

Jam

[eldavo]

... Can I ask what static grasses you used? ...

The grass I've used on this bit is a mixture of MiniNature 4.5mm Winter and Spring (from International models I think) with the odd touch of Citadel grass thrown in. The latter looks identical to one of the Noch grasses, summer I think as I have some of that too.

 

 

It's too green and needs a bunch of other textures adding for scrubby undergrowth. I also have to somehow conjure up some bushes and a lot of trees! Here's a fairly poor quality shot (my camera batteries are flat so this is taken with the phone) showing how it looks now the PVA has gone transparent.

 

 

Cheers

Dave

Edited August 31, 2017 by eldavo

[SouthernRegionSteam]

Interesting, many thanks for that!

That's very kind of you to put that up.

I think it's time for some experimentation at some point.

[eldavo]

More faffing around with scenic stuff this week. The ground profile has been completed on baseboard 2 and every spare spot has been blasted with static grass. looking at photographs of Water Orton it is amazingly green, there are trees everywhere. Time to start experimenting with creating trees and bushes.

After quite a number of hours of tinkering and fiddling I've created a small section of hedgerow and a couple of trees!



It's at this point I realise I should have opted for an urban location rather than this one! Why are trees so difficult to make?

Here's the area from a similar angle with a 66 approaching from the Derby direction. The small tree in the background is attempt number 3 with attempt 4 being the larger tree in the middle ground.



From above you can see this is just a tiny area. It's going to take forever to build enough greenery for all of the layout!



Cheers
Dave

Edited September 4, 2017 by eldavo

[PhilH]

Amazing progress Dave - starting to really look the business!

[dseagull]

That really is impressive stuff!