BobM Posted March 3, 2018 Author Share Posted March 3, 2018 Hi Guys.... 'Let out' again from the nursery due to weather and lack of staff being able to get in..... Here is what greeted me on arrival back home.... to my untrained eye looks okay at this basic stage.... will add a little further colour to the base weathering to bring the sleeper 'to the front' and potentially add a cinder mix, then 'atmosphere' to the ballast itself in the form of oil, grease and weeds...? Will update later... Regards always.... Bob 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobM Posted March 3, 2018 Author Share Posted March 3, 2018 (edited) Hi Guys....... Hope all are okay.....? Have undertaken another hour or so on the sidings (have left Mercontrol for another evening)...... The ballasting done last night has been left to its own devices for 24hrs now and as the previous image indicates has dried and hardened very well, there are one or two patches where the cork can be seen through the ballast but I hope that future weathering can deal with this, either with weathering powders or cinder ballast.....but I will leave this until I have initially grey ballasted the whole initial sidings as a whole and treat individual spots..... The previously weather sleepers have been given a wash of a chocolate brown thinned enamel paint, applied in a dry brush and wet brush approach to get some variations in tone......this is now drying and we'll see how it dries....I understand enamel paint dries a lighter shade than when applied...? The next two adjacent sidings to receive their initial layer of grey ballast have been given an initial chocolate brown wash.....(my art teacher always used to drill into my head that when beginning a piece of either oil or water colour work to get rid of that white paper straight away....any wash will do but just get rid of it and you'll be away) so with those words ringing in my ears, the horrible black sleepers of peco track is now much more workable..... .......and at least on the weathered section the power is still flowing through and the switch works....! The grey ballast looks too grey at the moment...any suggestions on how to apply weathering and 'muck'..... The adjacent two (and next to be grey ballasted) sidings have been given a chocolate brown wash to take away the black plastic look of the Peco track.... The weathered siding is now drying and we'll see how it looks tomorrow evening, the artificial light in the railway room is not good so apologies for the poor images... Regards always... Bob Edited March 3, 2018 by BobM 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobM Posted March 5, 2018 Author Share Posted March 5, 2018 Evening guys........ An update on what is happening...... Have spent an hour or so, with the radio on a favourite station, just 'switching off' and not thinking of anything in particular, which is a change for me, (for what is left of what is laughingly know as a brain is usually racing ahead with all sorts of rubbish churning away), slowly spreading ballast on the next two sidings / headshunt roads......still a work in progress...... Regards always... Bob 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold lezz01 Posted March 5, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 5, 2018 Looking good Bob. You just need to make it dirty. Regards Lez. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobM Posted March 5, 2018 Author Share Posted March 5, 2018 (edited) Looking good Bob. You just need to make it dirty. Regards Lez. Hi Lez Cheers.....yep, getting this area ballasted over the next week perhaps....need to even it out a bit then do 'the business' with the pva / water mix to fix it down......then was going to research how to weather and grime it up......will search RMW for advice on products etc to do the job.... Regards always.... Bob Edited March 5, 2018 by BobM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andi4x4 Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 Lots of good advice on here and some good tutorials on YouTube worth watching, Bob ! Looking good so far, 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold lezz01 Posted March 6, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 6, 2018 I usually go with a blend of dilute dark earth and track colour plus bit of black where the locos would stand mate. Paint the sides of the rails first though. Regards Lez. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold lezz01 Posted March 6, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 6, 2018 ...or you can use powder paint and mix it in with the pva. I would go with 2 parts burnt umber with 2 parts burnt senna and 1 part black nice and runny and mix it 50/50 with pva and then fix the ballast with it in the usual tedious manner. Regards Lez. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobM Posted March 6, 2018 Author Share Posted March 6, 2018 Evening Guys...... It's been 'snowing again'.....metaphorically speaking that is...... Will lets this soak in and settled for 24hrs and show how it looks tomorrow..... Regards always..... Bob 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobM Posted March 7, 2018 Author Share Posted March 7, 2018 Hi Guys....Early evening update....... Just looked at last nights ballasting....in some areas this appears not to have 'fixed'....so will revisit and reapply another mixture tonight..... Regards always.... Bob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobM Posted March 7, 2018 Author Share Posted March 7, 2018 (edited) Evening all......Hope are well.....Threatening snow here tonight...here we go again! Have reapplied a pva / water mix to the ballast as it hadn't set at all...sort of a gritty paste....but have laid another mixture and will leave this a good 48 hrs to 'go off' ( railway day tomorrow weather permitting - otherwise it's hoovering at home) Here's the situation this evening.... Have also stripped off the cork in the area that is to be the 'Private Coal Merchant' yard.......will ballast later, but first I have to pluck up the courage to place another tube in wire control to the adjacent point.....at least so that it can be attached to the pip and the ballast go over the top of the tubing...if it all goes pear-shaped or I bottle out, then at least it can be taken up or covered..... Regards always..... Bob Edited March 7, 2018 by BobM 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobM Posted March 9, 2018 Author Share Posted March 9, 2018 (edited) Hi Guys....Hope you're all okay and looking forward to the weekend... After nearly 48hrs of being 'left alone' the ballast has set firmly and dried out nicely, so have spent an hour scraping away any excess that had found its way on to the sleepers or rail sides, this was accomplished by using the back edge a scalpel blade gently teasing these bits away and then hoovering (yes I can operate the vacuum cleaner) them away..... this is what it looked like beforehand..... then applied a thinned wash of Revel dark earth paint to the sleepers to cover the slight pva film or patches that had been removed with the blade.....will further weather the sleepers and ballast next....will gen up on the techinques and advice suggested for such effects..... this is the state so far this evening.... Suggestions and comments please...... Regards always, Bob Edited March 9, 2018 by BobM 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold lezz01 Posted March 9, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 9, 2018 Hi Bob. Equal parts black and dark earth with a bit of metalcoat gunmetal for the basic sleeper colour then dry brush with a generous dollop of gunmetal 53 or metalcoat polished aluminium added to the basic mix. Then do a dark rust for the metalwork and then do a track colour as I mentioned earlier with dark earth/trackcolour and a bit of black as a dilute wash over the lot as many times as you need. Regards Lez. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted March 10, 2018 Share Posted March 10, 2018 (edited) The way I look at it Bob is this, Metal / Rails, Minerals / Ballast, and Timber / Sleepers are three entirely different materials, so will all weather differently. So I start with painting the Rails, Black / Oil and Rust mix BEFORE Ballasting. Next the Sleepers Grey Brown for bleached weathered Timber, (look at an old Garden fence that hasn't been painted), and then add the Ballast, next a light dusting with the Air Brush to weather the Ballast and blend it all in. Hope this helps Bob. Edited March 10, 2018 by Andrew P 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobM Posted March 10, 2018 Author Share Posted March 10, 2018 Hi Andy and Lezz.... Thank you for the postings....much appreciated...... Regards always.... Bob 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobM Posted March 10, 2018 Author Share Posted March 10, 2018 (edited) Hi Guys.... Hope you're okay....and the weekend is going well....? Have had a go at putting a base colour down on the sleepers, the image here is not good and the colour looks darker in reality than on this image.....I think my camera is not on the correct setting, probably on the American NTSCT setting (which we all know stands for Never The Same Colour Twice)...so sorry for that..... made up a paint mixture from what was to hand...... flat earth, grey and a touch of black...will see how this looks when dry...but it's a base..... did realise when done that I should have done the rails firstly....ooops! When I come to do the next section of siding or track....I will paint all first then ballast..... Comments please...I think the mix should be a little greyer perhaps.....what mix would you suggest for the rail sides.. Regards always.. Bob. Edited March 10, 2018 by BobM 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold lezz01 Posted March 11, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 11, 2018 Hi Bob. Well I would go with two parts 133 or it might be 113 rust, without going upstairs I can't be sure, and one part metalcoat gunmetal and a bit of leather if it's too dark. Or 2 parts rust and one part black and one part 53 gunmetal or even silver if you don't have the metalcoat. You should be looking for that purple/black colour of really old rust. Then dry brush it with an orangey rust to bring out the detail. Regards Lez. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobM Posted March 11, 2018 Author Share Posted March 11, 2018 (edited) Hi..... Thought I'd post these images of the 'up' and 'down' lines at Arley Station as I saw them this evening.......also never worry about ballast getting on the sleepers, full speed, modern traffic lines may be 'pristeigne' but branch steam line ....nah ! Ideas to follow ? The 'up' line (to Kidder...shows the 'distress' caused to the ballast by the standing loco's outside the station building, the 'down' on the right...having 'normal' weathering..... Oh and we had locos too....it's a hard life being a volunteer on the SVR..but someone has to do it! Regards always.... Bob Edited March 11, 2018 by BobM 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobM Posted March 12, 2018 Author Share Posted March 12, 2018 (edited) Hi Guys...... Have been having a go at painting and weathering the rails on the 'test' sidings.....and although I don't at the moment have the colours recommended by you kind guys previously, I had a rummage for the closest to hand and made up concoction that I hope will fit the bill when dry, this can always be added to later with further weathering.....as a base colour may be okay...will dry brush over with the recommended orangey rust later.... Will have a go at weathering the ballast next..... any comments....? Regards always..... Bob Edited March 12, 2018 by BobM 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold lezz01 Posted March 12, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 12, 2018 Hi Bob. The rails are looking very nice mate. The sleepers would have started life creosote black mate which is kind of oily and would fade over time to a light grey on the high points but would retain a certain amount of oily black colour in the low points which would be the cracks and depressions of the wood grain. They would also stain a dark rusty shade somewhat around the rail chairs. Regards Lez. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobM Posted March 13, 2018 Author Share Posted March 13, 2018 Hi....I am going to try and give the sleepers a light grey wash, to tone that brown look and then add some darker shades for the oily stains....then some rusty staining.... At least this project is keeping me off the streets at night! Regards always... Bob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold lezz01 Posted March 13, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 13, 2018 Hi Bob. You do it the other way around Bob. Start dark then the brown wash and then dry brush the grey hi-lights and dark rust last. Otherwise the dark colour will cover the lighter colours you put on top. Regards Lez. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobM Posted March 13, 2018 Author Share Posted March 13, 2018 Cheers Lez.... Will have a go at it... Thanks and regards always.... Bob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobM Posted March 13, 2018 Author Share Posted March 13, 2018 (edited) Hi..... Hoping that I haven't 'gone overboard' with darker base colour, it certainly has deadened that original brown wood look....the light grey dry brush next to be applied to bring the sleepers to the 'lived in' look.... Regards always Guys... Bob Edited March 13, 2018 by BobM 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold lezz01 Posted March 13, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 13, 2018 Looking good Bob. Regards Lez. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now