Fluesheet's Shelf Layout

[P5se Camelback]

I notice that it appears to be "after-lunch nap time" for the track laying crew.
(Lucky them! I haven't had a nap after lunch since kindergarten!)

So I'm wondering ...

... does the railroad also supply cushions or pillows inside that cushy-looking Lehigh Valley gondola?


:mrgreen:

[Fluesheet]

... does the railroad also supply cushions or pillows inside that cushy-looking Lehigh Valley gondola?
:mrgreen:[/align]

Ha! I keep forgetting to get those folks off the "set".

To answer your question, no - and I haven't heard any complaints yet!

[Fluesheet]

Okay, yeah, I gotta get me some o' them! VERY nice. I bet they'll look super all weathered and grimy.
Galen

Absolutely - the layout came off the wall to be painted, and I keep finding more reasons to delay that!

And I've finally gotten around to painting it!

Finishing up cutting slots for joints. The saw cuts a finer notch than the file pictured earlier.


Masking off the points:


Before:


After:


Removing point masking:


Removing paint from rails (lesson learned - do this while the paint is still wet!). I used aluminum figuring it was softer than a dental tool or x-acto blade and would be easier on the rail.


Next up is ballasting and adding ties to the final two turnouts (as well as more joint bar detail).

Entire build thread: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://goodman312.zenfolio.com/p802892396">http://goodman312.zenfolio.com/p802892396</a><!-- m -->

[nachoman]

Nice work on the painting. Can we assume ballast and ground cover are coming soon?

[mountaingoatgreg]

Matt,

I was wondering what you had been up to...

Looks like things are progressing nicely on the layout, once things are cleaned up and tested it looks liek you can start scenery!!!

[Fluesheet]

Nachoman / Mountaingoat,

My intention was to put some ballast down today, but decided to detail some ties first. I attempted to create some rotten ties, and also spent some time airbrushing individual ties to get some variation.

I'll have to wait until the ballast is down to see if that effort was worthwhile. I'll post some pictures of the rotten ties in the next couple of days (if they look good enough...).

[tetters]

I trick I learned from one of our club members if using an airbrush to paint your track work is to put a tiny amount of vasoline on your finger, basically a thin film of it. Rub the vasoline on the rail heads sparringly and then paint away. Once the paint cures after a couple of days, grab a cloth or paper towel and the paint wipes right off the rail head without too much effort. I've tried it on a small section of track work on my own layout and it works likes a charm. Too bad I didn't hear of this trick before I painted almost 90 % of layout though probably would have my life a tiny bit easier.

[Fluesheet]

I trick I learned from one of our club members if using an airbrush to paint your track work is to put a tiny amount of vasoline on your finger, basically a thin film of it

Good advice Tetters, thanks!

Made a bit of progress over the past week; some successful, some methods will need some additional practice.

One thing I'm a little disappointed with is that the airbrush covered tie detail. I'm using Central Valley Tie strips, which has wood grain detail in it. In some cases, this was covered, especially where I put an extra dusting of paint to give the ties some variation. Scotty Mason described one of the challenges of airbrushing with acryllics on his recent podcast: it can look "powdercoated"! (By the way, this is the backside of the rail; those feeders won't be easily visible). I may try solvent paints next time around.


Next was a new technique that I read about in Hornby's magazine (a British MR mag); using acryllic floor wax for securing ballast. I used Future Floor Wax. Advantages are supposed to be no wetting required, and a good, solid (and not shiny!) hold. My application results were inconsistent with Smith and sons ballast - in some places it wicked right in, in others not so much. It was much more consistent on Woodlands Scenics cinder ballast. I suspect that former's high dust content fouled the ballast and prevented the Future from easily wicking in. One disadvantage that I haven't dealt with yet is the stains that the Future leaves on top of the ties. My final pass of weathering may take care of this.

The left side of this image is where it wicked in (slightly darker), the right side it pooled up. I'll have some specific advice on application on this once I nail down the process.


One thing I am happy with is some of my "rotted" ties. These looked even better after the ballast went in:


Ballast comparison. Smith and son on the left, Woodland Scenics on the right. The latter handled easier and is much darker, but is almost too consistent straight out of the bag (color and size). My intention is to cover the ties in some places (two rails buried in cinders look) - I'll need something finer for that.


I got my Heki Static Grass applicator out for the first time. This is COOL. I've seen many photos of static grass, but until you see it in person, you just haven't seen it. The depth that it provides is aMAZing!

[mountaingoatgreg]

Well Matt if nobody else will comment I will

The track work is really coming along nicely I am really wanting to get to trackwork on my layout. I am told that sometime after the 23rd ME should have their switches back in stock, I hate waiting

The floor wax idea is interesting but I was wondering how it would react to different materials. I think the WS is made from ground up walnut shells as for the other it is probably natural material.

I made a homemade grass applicator but think I am going to invest in a "REAL" grass applicator. You are correct in how much depth and life they can give a scene.

[doctorwayne]

Your grass looks really good - what brand did you use? It looks much longer than the WS stuff which I have.

I'm curious as to why you used the acrylic floor wax to bond the ballast - I can see it if you have especially hard water and would otherwise be forced to use alcohol as a wetting agent, as that might have an adverse effect on the acrylic paint used on the ties. Other than that, though, water with some dish detergent added works well as a wetting agent and white glue and water, properly applied, will bond extremely well, without leaving a shiny finish. As an added benefit, it can be easily removed if you wish to make changes to the track at a later date.

Oh, yeah, that rotted tie looks really good.

Wayne

[Fluesheet]

The floor wax idea is interesting but I was wondering how it would react to different materials. I think the WS is made from ground up walnut shells as for the other it is probably natural material.

You're correct on both mountain, though I'm not sure what materials are in it. It may have some real cinder in it. Their Limestone ballast is real stone, and looks much better than WS stuff (in my opinion), though dusty.

Your grass looks really good - what brand did you use? It looks much longer than the WS stuff which I have.

I used two types; Heki 5/6mm summer mix that came with the Heki Flokstar static grass device. It's the darker green on the left. On the right is layered 4mm autumn and 6mm spring grasses from Silflor. Scenic Express was at a local train show this past November and suggested the combination to give extra depth.

I'm curious as to why you used the acrylic floor wax to bond the ballast

Curiosity. I was in the UK last year and picked up a couple of magazines - one of which was Hornby's. One of the articles dealt with ballast application and they recommended acrylic floor wax. The author's claim was that it it didn't need pre-wetting and it held well. I had some Future in the basement that I bought for another one of it's uses - as a clear coat. I'll give it a couple more tries before giving up on it. A guy on another list has had good luck with it.

Other than that, though, water with some dish detergent added works well as a wetting agent and white glue and water, properly applied, will bond extremely well, without leaving a shiny finish. As an added benefit, it can be easily removed if you wish to make changes to the track at a later date.

I've had good luck with that as well - It's on standby...

[dave_long]

Hi I'm in the UK and I use the Johnsons Klear acrylic floor polish, its basically a varnish, and it can be compared to matte medium, Which I think Lance M uses on his ballast for his layouts. There are a few ballasts where wetting still helps, but on my Miami layout when used with sand it soaks in very well and doesn't move anything, left overnight and it sets hard. It doesn't leave a shine either but even if it did that wouldn't be difficult to remove.

Dave

[Fluesheet]

Thanks for the feedback Dave. I've found what you've implied - the acrylic "wax" (it's not really a wax) seems to wick into some ballasts better than others. In the future (no pun intended), I may wet the ballast with wet water to facilitate the application of the Future. I did attempt to do the same with alcohol the other night, and that didn't seem to get along with either the ballast (discolored it) nor the acrylic floor wax. I'm sure somebody here can tell me why that is.

As an aside, the alcohol didn't wick well either - I suspect my suspicion of the fineness of some of this cinder ballast effectively fouled the ballast and wouldn't allow it to "drain". A problem faced by the real thing!

[tetters]

On the topic of ballast, I picked up some Scenic Express ( which sounds a lot like your Smith & Son's) light grey cinder ballast to try out. I like the product, however noticed that it needs to be whetted well before application of the glue and water mixture. Also, because it is so fine, I had to use it sparingly and be very careful around the critical parts of a turnout, frogs, guard rails, and points. It took some time before I finally got it all in place and was satisfied it wasn't going to impede the performance of the Wye I was ballasting.

In all honesty, the Woodland Scenic fine cinders ballast, didn't seem to take as much effort compared to this stuff.

I'm curious about using the floor polish to secure ballast. Is the application similar to applying the glue and water mixture, sans the whetting? Does it smell as chemical odors in the house make "The Boss" unhappy.

[Fluesheet]

On the topic of ballast, I picked up some Scenic Express ( which sounds a lot like your Smith & Son's) light grey cinder ballast to try out. I like the product, however noticed that it needs to be whetted well before application of the glue and water mixture. Also, because it is so fine, I had to use it sparingly and be very careful around the critical parts of a turnout, frogs, guard rails, and points. It took some time before I finally got it all in place and was satisfied it wasn't going to impede the performance of the Wye I was ballasting.

Hi Tetters. I believe you're right about Scenic Express being a source for the Smith and Son's ballast. I got my bag from a local hobby shop that closed a couple years ago after the death of it's owner. When writing about this in the previous posts, I did some (brief) searches on the product and the only reference I could find to it were in the Scenic Express catalog.

In all honesty, the Woodland Scenic fine cinders ballast, didn't seem to take as much effort compared to this stuff.

I think your assessment on relative workability is not far off the mark. In the case of the cinder ballast, Smith and Son's fineness is one thing I like, visually - it's what I remember about cinder ballast from when I was a kid. That fineness is also makes wetting more difficult though. The WS fine cinders were easier to work with (I think mainly because of it's granule to granule consistency - S&S has a mix of larger particles and the very fine ones mentioned), but to me, it looks too much like black "rock" ballast!

I'm curious about using the floor polish to secure ballast. Is the application similar to applying the glue and water mixture, sans the whetting? Does it smell as chemical odors in the house make "The Boss" unhappy.

Good question, and no, there are no objectional odors to the acrylic floor polish. I'm sure this was one of the product requirements as otherwise "waxing" an entire room would have been unbearable! Dave mentioned earlier that it is like a varnish - but it's important to know that it is not actually a varnish. THAT would stink!

Otherwise, application is similar - I used a device whose name completely escapes me right now (plastic, functions like an eyedropper) to apply it. I didn't attempt to mist it.

Today I'll be wetted water and dilute white glue to another section for comparison - I'm curious if my issues and successes were due to my application method, or the adhesive used.