Weathering ballast

[nookie]

Hi all, track is laid the sleepers and rails sprayed with sleeper grime and just about to ballast with woodlands grey mix but I feel its a little too light 

and wondered if anyone has pre weathered the pva/copydex & water mix with either a suitable dark emulsion, ink or acrylic paint just to tone it down a bit

as I feel airbrushing afterwards would be (for me) a disaster

Cheers Clive. 

[Gwiwer]

Yes.  Well sort of.

 

I weather ballast using a dilute mix of water-base acrylics and water with a couple of drops of washing up liquid in for better dispersal.  It can foam slightly on application but the bubbles don't last! 

 

The precise dilution varies according to need.  1:1 for a heavier coating of colour and as little as 1paint : 4 water for a light wash.  Undiluted acrylic is also handy for a few places such as ash / oil drop where locos stand at signals for instance and it is even possible to build up a depth of acrylic paint for really heavy staining.  

 

Using a piece of single-ply tissue beneath neat acrylic can represent the tarps sometimes seen between the rails where oil-drop is a severe problem such as terminal roads in stations.  Very thin plastic film can also be used for this.

 

With the ballast well set in PVA I don't use that in the weathering process.  I want to minimise the risk of the ballast lifting when it is briefly wetted as the paint goes on.  If done lightly and carefully it will stay put.

[Mick Bonwick]

Household emulsion from a tester pot, in the right shade, will do the job when mixing up. It will last for ages, too!

[nookie]

Thanks for the replies, off to experiment now. 

[Pete the Elaner]

2 hours ago, nookie said:

off to experiment now. 

I was about to recommend that.

Try it out on some small lengths of track on some off-cuts of board until you get the effect you want.

Most weathering looks heavier once it has dried. You don't want to over-do it on your layout.

It will not feel like a waste if time once you get it right.

[nookie]

Thanks Pete I did just that, the emulsion came out lumpy and thick (it was rough emulsion) the one with small amount of frame dirt came out shinier than I thought and the copydex/water mix with nothing added came out.......just right!! toned down just enough.

Thanks for your input Clive.