07-31-2013, 09:59 AM
Rscott, Ed, your posts were the last little nudge I needed to get going again!
After concentrating on the structures so far, I wanted to get some other scenery done. On the right end of the terminal I need a paved area so that freightcars can be unloaded there. On the prototype the entire terminal is covered by asphalt nowadays, but I only want part of it covered and model the rest as it was until a few years ago. I wanted the paved area to look old and partly covered with gravel. I have been thinking about how to achive this look for quite a while. My sandpaper method to build streets had to be ruled out, because that would give a too clean look (the same with plaster or styrene). Another idea was to fill the area up to the rail heads with very fine ballast and then glue it down with the usual water/glue mix. That might have looked good, but it would have been very difficult to remove the ballast from the inside of the rails once it would have been dry. So I tried something new. I used plaster, but added black paint when preparing it. Then after spreading the plaster on the layout, I immediately dispersed very fine sand and fine grey ballast on the area and carefully worked it into the plaster by tapping with my fingertips. When the plaster was dry I vaccumed the area to remove all loose ballast. Still needs some more detailing, but it is a start.
![[Image: bt46.jpg]](http://www.cnw.mattheydesign.de/bt46.jpg)
![[Image: bt47.jpg]](http://www.cnw.mattheydesign.de/bt47.jpg)
![[Image: bt48.jpg]](http://www.cnw.mattheydesign.de/bt48.jpg)
After concentrating on the structures so far, I wanted to get some other scenery done. On the right end of the terminal I need a paved area so that freightcars can be unloaded there. On the prototype the entire terminal is covered by asphalt nowadays, but I only want part of it covered and model the rest as it was until a few years ago. I wanted the paved area to look old and partly covered with gravel. I have been thinking about how to achive this look for quite a while. My sandpaper method to build streets had to be ruled out, because that would give a too clean look (the same with plaster or styrene). Another idea was to fill the area up to the rail heads with very fine ballast and then glue it down with the usual water/glue mix. That might have looked good, but it would have been very difficult to remove the ballast from the inside of the rails once it would have been dry. So I tried something new. I used plaster, but added black paint when preparing it. Then after spreading the plaster on the layout, I immediately dispersed very fine sand and fine grey ballast on the area and carefully worked it into the plaster by tapping with my fingertips. When the plaster was dry I vaccumed the area to remove all loose ballast. Still needs some more detailing, but it is a start.
Kurt