Tehachapi, BC

[Scottl]

Wow, that paint along the base looks good from the side, but the long view it really makes the rail look wide.  I'm quite surprised by that.  I suspect the paint clinging to the sides of the plastic tie clips to generate that long perspective. 

I'm really enjoying your experiments with this.  Keep it coming and thanks for sharing!

[davefoxx]

Gary,

I don't know... when I look at the picture it seems like the height of the rail has grown with the treatment you gave the rails and clips.  You mentioned the railhead width, but I think the rail height is much more noticeable, especially now.  Maybe you could tone down the color for a little less contrast?

Otherwise, your work is impeccable as always.  Keep those updates coming.

DFF

[ednadolski]

... and had too many gaps under the rails where you could see the plastic tie connections.

One thing that worked for me in my tests was to put down an initial layer of ballast (lower than the tie tops), and then glue that into place (I used the WS Scenic Cement -- used the 40% discount coupon at Hobby Lobby ).  I would then follow that with a second layer which I worked into place with the tip of a filbert brush, to fill up the gaps.  I could do this without displacing the initial layer since that was bonded in place.  I then followed that up with a third layer down the center of the track, sprinkled very lightly with a small (like 1/4 ounce) measuring spoon, to cover the middles of the ties.    Overall it was a bit time consuming, and I think it would have gone faster with some kind of ballast-spreading tool, but I haven't had the chance to try to make one yet.  Also, in every step, it's important to try to avoid putting on too much ballast at once.

I tried a quick rail clip test before work this morning with supplies on hand and I'm somewhat encouraged.  I dug out some water soluble oil paint in a tube (raw umber) and thinned it ~50/50 with 99% alcohol, then just painted along the rail base, applying 2-3 coats of it.   Here's a side view, showing that it doesn't cover completely, but it does give the illusion that the clips could actually be pieces of hardware rather than blobs of plastic

Definitely an improvement over the raw clips.  Just a thought: rather than a thinned wash, perhaps this wants something more like a drybrushing effect?  That might help to keep the paint more on the clip, and less on the tie itself (since there is no 'tieplate' like with wood ties).

The wide railhead that Ed notes is quite evident here.

I'm trying to think outside the box on this one, and I came up with something that probably sounds a bit nutty but I thought I'd mention it anyway.  The railhead would appear thinner if one could grind a 45-degree chamfer off the outside edge of the railhead (not on the gauge side).   This could maybe be done with a Dremel equipped with a grinding bit and some kind of custom-made jig.   Then paint the rail as usual, but only clean the paint of the top edge of the railhead, leaving the chamfered surface the same color as the sides of the rail.   The chamfer wouldn't need to take off too much, maybe say 0.007" to 0.010" or so.

Thoughts?

Ed

[ednadolski]

when I look at the picture it seems like the height of the rail has grown with the treatment you gave the rails and clips.  You mentioned the railhead width, but I think the rail height is much more noticeable, especially now.  Maybe you could tone down the color for a little less contrast?

It might be worth trying the grey dusting/powder over this, to see if that will tone down the contrast and help the elements to blend together.

Ed

[ednadolski]

BTW Gary you might have mentioned it but I think I missed it --- is that the AZRM ballast?

Thx,
Ed

[GaryHinshaw]

Thanks for the honest feedback.  You're absolutely right that the last paint treatment just exacerbated the appearance of oversize rail, so that treatment is out.  The ME track is really nice, but there will always be a bit of a Lipstick on a Pig aspect to working with this.  And Ed, you get points for thinking outside the box, but grinding the rail head down is a bit too far outside my box.     I'm pretty sure I couldn't pull that off in a way that doesn't make it look worse rather than better.  But I bet you could!

I tried weathering the next stretch tonight and I think I have something I wouldn't be ashamed to have on the layout.  Here's a before & after overview pair:





and a few other views:







Here's the recipe, for my own future reference:

* Light black wash over all the ballast.  A few drops of India ink in 99% alcohol.  (Might be a bit too dark.)
* Thin the water soluble raw umber oil paint about 70/30 paint/alcohol.  Dab each clip using a 3/0 brush.
* Apply Weathered Brown/Soot Bragdon powders to the ties & ballast near the ties.  Apply a blacker mix of powder between the rails.
* Finish with a thinner mix (about 30/70 paint/alcohol) of the raw umber along the rail base to tie everything together.

In the long shot above the new treatment starts at the curve and it shows that the new clips are much more subtle; and I think the black between the rails helps to subdue the apparent thickness of the rails.  I could probably do with a bit less stray ballast between the rails.  Comments and further suggestions for improvement are encouraged. 

Finally, and gratuitously, here is a beauty shot of my favorite loco:



Spiral Tunnels here we come.   

-gfh

P.S. Ed, the ballast is Scenic Express / Smith & Sons Penn/Ohio Limestone, #50 grade.  Very nice to work with.


Note added: looking back at the proto photos, I think I need a bit more rust in the rail and clip paint.  Maybe a bit of burnt umber or burnt sienna mixed in.  Next test...

[Scottl]

This new recipe is pretty much ideal to my eye.  You are making the track into a showpiece.  I'm glad I waited to let you figure it out 

Ed's idea for grinding the track seems rather, um, laborious, but I think the idea has merit if applied selectively.  Even in your short test section, the viewer perspective is forced and we are much more likely to see some stretches of track along the long axis where the width really shows, while other sections are viewed from the side and the width is a minimal issue.  Perhaps for some of these stretches it is worth considering a rail grinding experiment?  A jig like you use to grind chainsaw chains might be suitable with a Dremel grinding tool.

Less radical would be to paint the rail-top edge a bit on the outside to visually narrow the shiny exposed metal.  Some sort of jig could make consistent work of that, and presumably it would minimally impact wheels.  Blacken-it might be suitable to avoid paint-on-wheel crud problems and would resist track cleaning?

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Gary, this is looking really good. I'm really enjoying your research and testing here.

[Dave Schneider]

Looks great Gary. I am going to PDF this page for future reference. Thanks for documenting your tests and results.

Best wishes, Dave

[Coxy]

Gary, your track is looking great. I've spent a lot of time at Tehachapi. You're modeling hallowed ground for sure!! Thanks for all the pix.

Very interesting to see what can be done to realistically weather 'concrete ties' flex track. I've only worked with wood or dark plastic ties.  Those little white blocks along the rail really do a poor job of approximating a rail clip. The more the simulated rail clips turn dark brown the better the track looks IMO.

It might be worth hand coloring/painting the simulated clips on a short stretch of track, just to see how good the concrete tie track could ever look with weathering.  It doesn't have to be a scalable technique.  A microbrush with some full strength matte paint and/or weathering powders would be interesting. Dark black/brown would seem to be the way to go. Minimal variation in color along the clips too as in the prototype.

The clips don't appear to take paint very well in the photos, at least not on the top of the clip which is the most visible part. This may be due to their shape, little blocks - washes like to collect at the base of the clip and that's where the pigment ends up when dry, leaving the top whiter and more prominant than you want. Thicker washes may help get better coverage on the tops of the blocks but clearly there are reasons thin washes are preferable while layering in weathering on track.

The plastic tie clips may also be covered in ballast cement which could prevent weathering treatments from sticking well to the clips and encourage the washes to leave the top in preference for the sides and base. The clips will likely take weathering and paint better if first roughened with a dremel tool or hit with dulcote or similar.

Seems like you are close to cracking it.

Cheers,
Steve

[GaryHinshaw]

Sorry to keep posting endless track close-ups, but once I get going on something, I can't let go.  Witness the endless track plans and benchwork photos further upstream.

Scott, the track I'm using has pre-weathered rail, so the head is already dark.  I wonder if normal wear from running trains will tend to preferentially shine the inner half of the railhead, thus achieving the effect you note.  I can't wait to run some trains and find out!   

Steve, good to hear from you again - it's been a while.  Spurred on by your comments, I went back to the lab tonight and tried redoing the clips.  After looking through my paint collection, I decided to try painting the tops of the clips with Polly Scale Rail Tie Brown.  It turned out to be very simple and quick with a small flat brush, and I think the results look much better!  Some times it doesn't pay to re-invent the wheel.  I followed this by dusting the rails and clips with a mixture of Bragdon Weathered Brown and Dust Bowl Brown powders.  Here are two more shots showing the results:





This I can live with!  But I'm always open to suggested improvements.  Better modeling through peer pressure.

-gfh

[Ian MacMillan]

Looks much better.

[DKS]

Looks much better.

+1

[Coxy]

Gary, neat effect, glad the suggestions helped. Nothing worse than a highly visible unwanted detail.

Until you pointed the rail-to-rail ballast coverage out, I had always just though of concrete ties as having a line of ballast down the center line. In higher speed territory, I believe that is necessary to prevent ballast being lifted up by passing trains, but at Tehach, that's not an issue of course.

A couple of additional thoughts on getting even ballast coverage between the rails...

In trying to get good even ballast coverage between the rails, it may help to have some finer grained ballast mixed in with what you have currently. The finer ballast would likely fill the small spaces between the larger ballast grains. I haven't tried this, but you may be able to crush some of your current ballast, perhaps in an old coffee grinder, or just by brute force with heavy blunt objects.

The other thought I had was to color the ties between the rails the same color as (or just slightly lighter than) the ballast color. This could be done before ballasting with a brush or an airbrush. Then, when you spread ballast between the ties, any exposed ties between the rails should blend visually with the ballast and look a lot less like exposed concrete ties. It may take some of the pressure off having to perfectly spread the ballast between the rails in a layer that is probably only a grain or two deep.

Oh, and thanks for the welcome back. I think I'm back! I moved from the SF Bay Area to Toronto last year and there hasn't been much time for railroading. I've got a basement now and a nice operations-oriented N scale plan. Hoping to have something worth posting in this section of the 'Wire soon.

Cheers,
Steven

[ednadolski]

Say Gary, those last couple of shots are looking really good!   I like the way you've got the paint to show the detail on the clips, makes 'em look like an actual clip rather than just a nub of plastic.

Ed

PS I'm still trying to think thru the grinding thing.  There's that small voice in my head that keeps saying there's got to be a way....