A 6" square plaster-boarded support column or post rises through my benchwork, separating a three track main line from a freight yard in a very urban industrial area.  At the moment, it has undergone the same treatment as the backdrop:  painted white at horizon fading to sky blue toward the ceiling.  

Ballasting trackwork is an area of weakness for me.  I've begun ballasting the track on my layout recently.  It's HO scale on masonite splines with styrofoam terrain covered with plaster cloth and Joe's plaster vermiculite mix.  I'm using woodland scenics medium ballast, and wetting it with 70% isopropryl alcohol, and glueing it down with a 3/1 glue/water mix with a trace of dish detergent.

Recently I've been working on my layout scenery between Grass Lake and Black Butte (SP Shasta Route).  I'm trying to figure out how to represent sage brush, or what I call sage brush.  The bush in question is colored similar to artemesia tridentia (big sage) represented by this photo.

Hi all-

I'm experimenting with some track weathering techniques and one of the things I'm experimenting with is with washes of enamel paints.  I have been using turpenoid OMS  to thin the paint, but I find that the paint is taking a LONG time to try between each application of the wash.

Does anyone have a suggestion for an alternative method of thinning enamels that speeds up the drying process?  I know it's going to be a longer time than an acrylic regardless, but anything that can cut the time down at all I would be interested to hear.