I’ve started doing some experimentation with scenery and wanted to share some techniques that yielded results that I'm pretty happy with. Keep in mind my layout is a mid-70's terminal carfloat layout that I strive to have a “life on the edge of bankruptcy” look and feel with worn down equipment, marginally maintained rights of way, etc. The goal of this experimentation was to create old, neglected trackwork. If you are looking to depict Class I 4 track mainline the specifics of what I've done may not be useful to you but the techniques could be adapted to yield different results.
I will say up front NONE of these techniques are my own creation but are culled from various sources from within the hobby so I can't take any credit if you try this out and are happy with the results (but you can buy me a beer for sharing ). Also, apologies in advance for the lighting in these pictures, but it was the best could do to yield "in progress" shots from my workbench.
1. With track secured in place, I took a razor saw and dragged the teeth of the blade across the ties not forgetting to do the ends on the outside of the rail. This added some extra texture to the ties enhancing the wood grain as opposed to how it looks out of the box. Make sure that drag your blade parallel to the ties (i.e. you should be banging into the rails as you do this) so that the grain goes in the right direction.
Here is my test track secured in place with regular white adhesive caulk. The razor saw is used to create extra deep grain in the ties. Also sneaking into the photo is the rust weathering marker that will make an appearance in a few steps.
I've just started adding grain to my ties. For large sections of track this could probably be done easier and faster with a distressing tool similar to this one that Micro Mark sells. Also, don't forget the tie sections outside of the rails. Don't worry about the shavings coming off the ties; these will disappear in the ballast. At this point you could also snip off the ends of some of the ties to simulate rotted out ties, or splits them with a razor blade or hobby knife to show ties just starting to deteriorate.
2. Now it’s time to paint. I applied a coat of white acrylic primer to the ties and plate details. The paint should be fairly well applied but if you miss a spot here or there or get some of it on the rail it’s not a problem (getting it on the rail was actually a good thing, more on that in a bit). I used cheap artists Gesso as it was on sale at an art supply store but just about any white primer paint would work; I think regular household primer might be a bit too thick and lose a lot of the grain detail you've added, but it might be worth trying. After applying the primer I cleaned the railhead with a paper towel.
Here is my track after priming and allowing sufficient time for the paint to dry. It will look better...I promise. Also, the brush I used for all of my paint application is pictured: it's a #6 flat brush. If you're working in HO then it's almost the same width as the distance between the two rails. As a result paints can be applied in a stabbing motion so you waste less paint between the tracks if you were to drag your brush along between the rails.
3. After the primer dried, I applied a wash of Floquil Roof Brown and mineral spirits (but I strongly believe simple craft acrylics from Wal-Mart mixed with alcohol would work as well and would dry quicker) directly to the ties with enough of the wash on the bursh that it pooled up a bit on the ties. To get results I was happy with I ended up with about 5-6 coats of the wash before moving on to the next step. Immediately after applying each wash I came back with a paper towel and wiped down my the rail head.
Here is the track after the first wash was applied. (NOTE: The track to the LEFT of the cut in the foam board is following the technique outlined here. The track on the right was done using an india ink wash immediately following the primer which gave me less than favorable results). Trust me, this will look good eventually! What is unique about this process is that you are essentially starting with fully weathered track (i.e. ties that are completely sun bleached) and are working backwards to newer, less weathered ties.
4. Once my ties were just slightly whiter/greyer than what I wanted to end up with I took an india ink wash and dragged it down the CENTER of the ties (turning that same #6 brush sideways) to simulate the darker look of the center of the track due to oil spilling, road grime etc. Once again I cleaned off my rail head with a towel.
5. After my ties had dried, I took the rail brown paint pen from my first photograph and ran over the tie plates and spikehead details (admittedly very crude with this code 100 Atlas Flex track, but it's sufficient to demonstrate my methods) and let it dry for about 15 minutes after cleaning the tops of my rail. This can be done by literally dragging the pen along the edge of the rail; this does not need to be perfect as the colors will blend. I then came back with my rust paint pen and painted the sides of my rails. Don't worry about rust getting on the spikeheads etc. as this helps blend the colors and the textures together. Also, where you have primer on the sides of your track you will get slight variation in the colors of your rust. This breaks up the uniformity of the paint color and gives the rail more of a rusted look and less like it's simply painted that color.
6. After that, you're all done. I didn't include pictures of the lsat few steps as I think they are fairly self explanitory but here a couple of shots of the finished product. I'm really happy with how it came out. I needed to overexpose the images to get the detail and color to come out right but I hope you can look past that to see my results. I'm really happy with what I've been able to create!
Thanks for reading and any comments, suggestions and criticisms are welcome!
~rb
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~Rich
Proto-Freelanced Carfloat Operation, Brooklyn, NY c.1974