The Carolina Sandhills Lines in HO Scale

[davefoxx]

Just a suggestion... If you want to remove the bridge easily, use thinnest CA glue you can find and put a very small amount at each rail/tie joint on the bridge and the first few inches each side of the bridge. This will lock the track curvature in shape. Then make razor saw cuts on each end of the bridge, but. Stay within the locked area for the cuts. You can then pull the bridge & track. When reinstalling, you can add a couple of track feeder wires to the separate section, or use sliding rail joiners and solder back into place.

That could work, but since I only plan to pull the bridge for two reasons (to finish the bridge and to complete the terraforming around the base of the bridge) and then set it in place permanently, I'll probably forgo removability.

DFF

[davefoxx]

I need help finishing my trestle.  I've got Minwax "Dark Walnut" stain, as recommended by the trestle kit manufacturer.  I think it's too dark.  I also have some Tru-Color "Brushable Weathered Gray Wood" paint.  In the first picture below, from left, I have (1) raw wood from the kit, (2) Dark Walnut stain over raw wood, (3) Weathered Gray Wood paint over raw wood, and (4) Weathered Gray Wood paint over Dark Walnut stain.  Is any of this even in the right direction?



Close-up of (1) and (2):



Close-up of (3) and (4);



The other option that I have considered is to spray the entire bridge with gray primer and then stain that.  That allows me to stain everything, including the plastic ties under the bridge track.  This is a trick I learned in the 1980s when I first tried handlaying track but used commercial turnouts.

Thanks,
DFF

[Bendtracker1]

Dave,
It looks too dark unless it's a fresh trestle?
One thing you might try is to cut the stain with lacquer thinner to lighten it up a bit and see what that looks like?

Another option is on the full strength stain or cut stain is to dry brush the gray over the stain or thin the gray to a thin wash and apply it over the stain.

[CRL]

I like using a “sweet & sour” (fine steel wool dissolved in vinegar) solution to turn the wood a natural weathered gray. This only works if you carefully cleaned up any glue runs. Brush the solution on the wood and let dry... can speed up the process by baking in oven on very low setting.

If color not dark enough, add more steel wool to solution.

[davefoxx]

Dave,
It looks too dark unless it's a fresh trestle?
One thing you might try is to cut the stain with lacquer thinner to lighten it up a bit and see what that looks like?

Another option is on the full strength stain or cut stain is to dry brush the gray over the stain or thin the gray to a thin wash and apply it over the stain.

Great suggestions!  Thanks, @Bendtracker1.

DFF

[davefoxx]

I like using a “sweet & sour” (fine steel wool dissolved in vinegar) solution to turn the wood a natural weathered gray. This only works if you carefully cleaned up any glue runs. Brush the solution on the wood and let dry... can speed up the process by baking in oven on very low setting.

If color not dark enough, add more steel wool to solution.

Wow!  Interesting.  Thanks, @CRL.

DFF

[Bendtracker1]

It's just a suggestion to use what you already have on hand.
CRL's suggestion is also another option if mine doesn't pan out.

Here's a link to the steel wool and vinegar: https://www.familyhandyman.com/painting/how-to-age-wood/

[davefoxx]

I’m concerned about the “steel wool-in-vinegar” solution, because I’m sure I have sloppy glue in the joints.  So, I’m thinking about the gray primer sprayed over all of the dissimilar materials and then staining that.  Otherwise, how would I blend in the plastic bridge track ties?  That might keep the stain from being so dark, and then I could drybrush or wash the Weathered Gray Wood paint over that.

Maybe.

Thanks, guys!
DFF

[DKS]

My approach has always been an India ink wash to achieve the weathered grey. Start with a thin wash and make multiple applications until the desired darkness is achieved. If you have glue runs, I'd first attempt to shave them off with a sharp knife. Failing that, I'd paint them a light grey or pale tan, then hit it with the ink wash. Sometimes I dry-brush on thinned flat brown paint to simulate old creosote and blend the irregularities together. As for the plastic ties, I'd prime them with a light grey primer, then apply the India ink wash to it as well.

[Dave V]

For my RGS trestles I stained the wood before assembly with Hunterline stains (Russet and Driftwood).  I'd be concerned with glue spots not absorbing stain.

You could try--rather than gray primer--my go-to wweathered wood primer.  I use this stuff on everything, including real wood and plastic:



The finished spray is grayer than what the cap indicates.  It's a perfect gray/brown.  And it's dead-flat.  It's the base color for the big plastic trestle on the Midland (with Testor's tan highlights):

[DKS]

For my RGS trestles I stained the wood before assembly with Hunterline stains (Russet and Driftwood).  I'd be concerned with glue spots not absorbing stain.

You could try--rather than gray primer--my go-to wweathered wood primer.  I use this stuff on everything, including real wood and plastic...

The finished spray is grayer than what the cap indicates.  It's a perfect gray/brown.  And it's dead-flat.  It's the base color for the big plastic trestle on the Midland (with Testor's tan highlights)...

Crikey. I even have like 2-3 cans of this stuff, and never thought to use it. Genius.

[wazzou]

Out here on the West Coast anyway, decades old creosote is still pretty dark.
It's important to remember that the surfaces aren't horizontal in most cases so are not subjected to the same UV and ballast dust as ties are.
I'd start dark and lighten from there.
I'd also be sure to study some prototype photos.

[jpec]

Crikey. I even have like 2-3 cans of this stuff, and never thought to use it. Genius.

That's why we call him Dr. Hotballs, PhD...

[hnipper]

Crikey. I even have like 2-3 cans of this stuff, and never thought to use it. Genius.

The roofers just left a partial can of that same color when they finished replacing our hail-damaged weathered wood shingles!!! Great hint!

[Santa Fe Guy]

This is what I used for the timbers on my HOn3 mine and trestles. Easy to use and dries almost instantly so you just stain as you go.
Light random strokes with Grey first followed by the Burnt Sienna and a final cover of Walnut.
These are all relatively cheap and have a very long shelf life if you put the caps back on.
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Just another way.
Rod.