While progress in the layout might have stalled slightly this week (long days travelling into work to
teach on a training course), I did manage to spend a little time yesterday experimenting with track painting and ballasting. I was going to do a post on what colour to paint the rails but after an initial experiment trying four
RailMatch paints; sleeper grime, light rust, dark rust, and oily steel. There really was no contest though as only the sleeper grime looked at all convincing. The added bonus is that I was already intending to use it to paint the sleepers so using a single colour for rails and sleepers will make the job much easier. Having fixed on sleeper grime I repainted all the rails (although not very well as you can see the light rust peeking through) and then set about experimening with different ballast colours.
As you can see from the photo I've tried three different approaches (I did this in a bit of a rush hence the ballast isn't very neat):
I used two different colours of Woodland Scenics fine ballast;
gray and
light gray. The gray ballast is on the left and the light gray in the middle, while on the right I used a 50/50 mix of the two. Personally, none of these looks perfect. I think the gray looks the most realistic as the other options are two light, but it shows almost no variation in colour which isn't really very natural. I'm thinking I'll try another experiment using a 90/10 mix of gray/light gray to introduce a small amount of variation to the gray ballast while maintaining the darker colouring, but I thought I'd ask what you, my dear readers, thought of the different options.
The grey is best but a smattering of light grey would lift it a bit. When painting sleepers you can add more texture by airbrushing an oil between coats and then wiping the second layer with a cotton bud. I only found out that cotton buds are really designed for applying eye shadow a couple of years ago. Someone should make a lint free version.
ReplyDeleteYou wouldn't believe the number of cotton wool buds I go through while modelling. They are the by far the best thing I've found for applying small amounts of PVA glue to cardboard.
DeleteWouldn't the colour of rail ballast depend upon its source and, to some extend, would the colour you use depend upon the source used for that location?
ReplyDeletePS I read an article on the origin and history of the cotton bud or Q-tip. How arcane is that?
You've hit on the real problem. I don't have a specific location in mind for the railway other than "England's green and pleasant land" so I'm having problems working out ballast colour. Mind you I think the middle one is too light for any railway I've ever seen.
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