acrylic or oil ?
Mal Thomas
I'm about to start colouring track and sleepers prior to ballasting. I was
wondering whether to use acrylic paint instead of the usual oil based. Are
there any problems that I need to be aware of apart from not getting it wet
?
Cheers
Mal
Steve Magee
Mal
Suggest you do all the painting and weathering AFTER the track is down
and ballasted. That way you don't waste paint on the bits you can't
see.
Here's how I did it, feel free to plagiarise all you want - or not, as
the spirit moves you. :)
Lay and ballast track (self-explanatory)
Got an airbrush? Got appropriate eartch coloured paint (Tamiya
Earth-ish)? Paint the sides of the rails with your paint. Then dilute
the paint 6 parts water, 1 part paint, load the airbrush and let fly.
You are shading, not painting, there are no points for neatness, so
spray it around. When dry, like straight away, clean the rails with
Peco rubber or something.
Choose nice light colour contrast paint - I use Pollyscale Foundation,
and VERY dry brush it over the painted track and ballast. Highlight
some of the individual stones in the ballast, and the grain on the
sleepers. Clean the railheads again.
Dip small brush in tin of Flat Black. Paint solder feeds, jumpers,
points linkages etc. Flat black will make them dissappear.
If you have a diesel era model, dry brush Floquil Oily Black at
stations, signals, anywhere loco's stop. Again VERY DRY brush only.
Dip the tip in the paint, wipe it off, then brush cloth or kitchen
towel until no paint shows, That's just about the right amount of
paint, but even then, brush lightly on the first few brush strokes.
Oh, yeah, have fun!
Steve
Newcastle Oz
Mal Thomas
Thanks for the heads-up. I must admit I hadn't thought of painting after
the ballast was laid. My reasoning was that I didn't want to get the
rusty-track-colour or the aged-wooden-sleeper-colour on the ballast. I was
going to weather the ballast as you suggest tho, with highlights and oil
and grease and weeds in the right places etc.
What I will be doing is printing off your little 'recipe' and trying it out
on my test bed - it sounds like the results will be very effective.
I assume the paint is acrylic seeing as you mixed it with water ?
Ta once again.
Mal
"Steve Magee" <sjm...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3cce0777...@news.optusnet.com.au...
Bill Foote
inside faces of the railheads clear of paint (not just the
top) - not only on plain track but also on points, where you
also need to be careful to ensure that the gunge you spray
on does not interfere with the blade/stock rail contacts
"Steve Magee" <sjm...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3cce0777...@news.optusnet.com.au...
Steve Magee
<w.d.n...@rdg.ac.uk> wrote:
>Just one problem - for reliable running you need to keep the
>inside faces of the railheads clear of paint (not just the
>top) - not only on plain track but also on points, where you
>also need to be careful to ensure that the gunge you spray
>on does not interfere with the blade/stock rail contacts
>
Yep, couldn't agree more, but I use live frogs with power routing
through auxiliary contacts on the point motor (I use Tenshodo/NJI) so
it's not really a problem here. In fact, in disgust, I think I cut off
most of those stupid contacts that Shinohara insist on using.
Steve
Ncle Oz
Joe Ellis
(Steve Magee) wrote:
>On Tue, 30 Apr 2002 10:01:31 +0800, "Mal Thomas"
><drac...@bigpond.com> wrote:
>
>>G'day,
>>I'm about to start colouring track and sleepers prior to ballasting. I was
>>wondering whether to use acrylic paint instead of the usual oil based. Are
>>there any problems that I need to be aware of apart from not getting it wet
>>?
>>
>>Cheers
>>Mal
>>
>>
>Mal
>
>Suggest you do all the painting and weathering AFTER the track is down
>and ballasted. That way you don't waste paint on the bits you can't
>see.
Say WHAT?!?!
I beg to differ. _Paint_ the track _before_ ballasting. The amount of
"wasted paint" is trivial. This will let you get good coverage without
completely changing the color of the ballast. And don't worry about using
water on top of acrylic paint - once it's dry, it's waterproof. You might
want to take a rag and wipe a very light coat of oil (such as 3-in-1) over
the _top_ of the rails before you paint them. Since the paint won't stick
to the oil, it will make cleaning the rails much easier after they are
painted (just wipe them off)... and don't forget to do the same when you
weather them, too!
Now, once the rails are painted, THEN you ballast... and after ballasting,
THEN you weather. Just like the prototype. If you paint the rail after
ballasting, you'll end up with two dark streaks in the ballast and the
rail will be lost visually. Painting first lets you keep them visually
distinct.
If you want to emphsize the texture of the ballast, then use a black wash
first (I use a few drops of india ink in rubbing alcohol) This will make
it "pop" visually (emphasizing the depth of texture) without having to
make the ballast oversize... and you will still be able to use the
suggested drybrush techniques for highlights.
<<snip>>
--
"What it all comes to is that the whole structure of space flight as it stands
now is creaking, obsolecent, over-elaborate, decaying. The field is static; no,
worse than that, it's losing ground. By this time, our ships ought to be
sleeker and faster, and able to carry bigger payloads. We ought to have done
away with this dichotomy between ships that can land on a planet, and ships
that can fly from one planet to another." - Senator Bliss Wagoner
James Blish - _They Shall Have Stars_
Terry O'Brien
"Joe Ellis" wrote
> (Steve Magee) wrote:
My personal preference is to remove the rails from the track base and paint
them separately, before even laying the track. This avoid caking paint round
the chairs and little silvery bits visible underneath as well as there being
no risk of painting something that you did not want to paint. The difficulty
of this operation depends on the track type, e.g. you need quite a few lbs
of pull to remove a rail from a yard of Streamline and is best done with the
track glued down, but I'm using SMC where removal is very much easier.
Of course this is not a good idea for most pre-assembled points.
Bjerg & Olsen
>
> Say WHAT?!?!
>
> I beg to differ. _Paint_ the track _before_ ballasting. The amount of
> "wasted paint" is trivial. This will let you get good coverage without
> completely changing the color of the ballast.
Both the track and the ballast need to be weathered, this should be done
after ballasting.
On most well-trafficked lines the weathering will have to be quite heavy,
so it actually makes no difference wheather the initial painting of the track
is done before or after ballasting.
Faithfully
Erik Olsen
Steve Magee
wrote:
>
>Say WHAT?!?!
>
>I beg to differ. _Paint_ the track _before_ ballasting. The amount of
>"wasted paint" is trivial. This will let you get good coverage without
>completely changing the color of the ballast. And don't worry about using
>water on top of acrylic paint - once it's dry, it's waterproof. You might
>want to take a rag and wipe a very light coat of oil (such as 3-in-1) over
>the _top_ of the rails before you paint them. Since the paint won't stick
>to the oil, it will make cleaning the rails much easier after they are
>painted (just wipe them off)... and don't forget to do the same when you
>weather them, too!
>
>Now, once the rails are painted, THEN you ballast... and after ballasting,
>THEN you weather. Just like the prototype. If you paint the rail after
>ballasting, you'll end up with two dark streaks in the ballast and the
>rail will be lost visually. Painting first lets you keep them visually
>distinct.
>
>If you want to emphsize the texture of the ballast, then use a black wash
>first (I use a few drops of india ink in rubbing alcohol) This will make
>it "pop" visually (emphasizing the depth of texture) without having to
>make the ballast oversize... and you will still be able to use the
>suggested drybrush techniques for highlights.
>
something about "cats" and "many ways to skin them"?
Steve
Mal Thomas
the chairs before painting. mmm. not a bad idea in hindsight, but for me
it's a little late ! All track work and 90% of electrics is finished and I
aint going to pull it all up to paint it ! It's taken me nigh on a year to
get this far !
After considering all tips/hints I think I will paint before ballasting and
then weather with the various methods presented.
thanks again folks, some great ideas.
Mal
"Joe Ellis" <fil...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:filker-3004...@user-37kat47.dialup.mindspring.com...
Andrew Cocker
wrote:
>In article <3cce0777...@news.optusnet.com.au>, sjm...@yahoo.com
Sorry, I can't agree with this. Rails, ties, and ballast all weather
together. The blending of colour between them should be subtle. Black
rails, silver tops and totally contrasting ballast not only looks
unnatural but isn't prototypical. Oil grease, dust, brake dust, dirt,
and grime all accumulate on all parts of the trackbed. Another problem
is matching sections of rail once they are painted and weathered.
Nothing looks more silly than tracks that change colour suddenly.
Just look at the real thing from a distance that is close to the scale
distance you are viewing the layout from. Track blends in to itself
with the exception of the rail heads. Then again its not bright silver
either. If you want to get totally anal, the rails should be
chemically blackened.
A.
Joe Ellis
(Andrew Cocker) wrote:
>On Tue, 30 Apr 2002 07:50:49 -0400, fil...@mindspring.com (Joe Ellis)
>wrote:
>
>>In article <3cce0777...@news.optusnet.com.au>, sjm...@yahoo.com
>>(Steve Magee) wrote:
>>
>>>On Tue, 30 Apr 2002 10:01:31 +0800, "Mal Thomas"
>>><drac...@bigpond.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>G'day,
>>>>I'm about to start colouring track and sleepers prior to ballasting. I was
>>>>wondering whether to use acrylic paint instead of the usual oil based. Are
>>>>there any problems that I need to be aware of apart from not getting it wet
>>>>?
>>>>Cheers
>>>>Mal
>>>
Hmmm... This may be a Continental thing. I've _never_ seen a mainline get
so run-down that rails, sleepers, and ballast were all one color. Long
before the ballast gets that weathered, the line gets new rail, more
ballast, or both. Sure, there will be _some_ "blackened rust" parallel to
the rails, and perhaps a darker stripe of lubricant down the middle (or
clinkers, if back in the days of steam...) but it never was allowed to
deteriorate to the point you could paint it all the same color.
It might have to do with the fact that US trains carry significantly more
tonnage... our maintenance requirements may keep things looking newer.
I'll bet you folks don't even _have_ ballast washers there in Merrye
Olde... (no, I'm not joking...)
Andrew Cocker
wrote:
>
>Hmmm... This may be a Continental thing. I've _never_ seen a mainline get
>so run-down that rails, sleepers, and ballast were all one color. Long
>before the ballast gets that weathered, the line gets new rail, more
>ballast, or both. Sure, there will be _some_ "blackened rust" parallel to
>the rails, and perhaps a darker stripe of lubricant down the middle (or
>clinkers, if back in the days of steam...) but it never was allowed to
>deteriorate to the point you could paint it all the same color.
>
>It might have to do with the fact that US trains carry significantly more
>tonnage... our maintenance requirements may keep things looking newer.
Maintenance?? Railtrack?? doesn't happen :-)
Seriously look at this pic
http://www.british-railway-digital-images.co.uk/images/66/66104_Doncastor_111000a.JPG
While there are colour differences, they all blend together as a
selection of tones and shades. There isn't a strong contrast between
the rail sides, sleepers, and ballast.
Joe Ellis
(Andrew Cocker) wrote:
Well, I do see the general darker color overall, but I still don't think
you can dupilicate that by painting the ballast at the same time as the
rail. They look like different colors to me. Oh well.. <<grin>>
Anyway, this is what a US mainline looks like...
You'll probably have to manually put that all on one line to use it...
I suspect some of the difference may be because we _start_ with a lighter
color ballast.
--
Joe Ellis € The Synthetic Filker TesserAct Studios
Please Note: ALL email from hotmail.com is deleted UNREAD
| W W | W W W | W W | W W W | W W | W W W | W W | W W W |
| W W | W W W | W W | W W W | W W | W W W | W W | W W W |
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
Filk € Fly Fishing € Model Railroading € Digital Photography
Andrew Cocker
wrote:
>Anyway, this is what a US mainline looks like...
>
>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Orlando_N-Trak/files/Line%20Side%20Photos/A%20Day%20In%20Railroading/6102001_DayInRR_002.JPG
>
>You'll probably have to manually put that all on one line to use it...
>
>I suspect some of the difference may be because we _start_ with a lighter
>color ballast.
Go west young man. :-) Some of the ballast used in the North West US
varies from green to red to near black. Same in the UK. Road surfaces
and ballast in parts of Devon are very red, redder than brake shoe
dust. It all depends on the source of the stone.
I do see what you mean though. For that effect I'd lay the track,
paint it, then ballast, with a final light spray of gunge to soften
the contrast. I suppose it all comes down to the prototype and how
best to replicate it. We really are artists trying to capture the
essence of real life.
Andrew