01-19-2011, 12:50 PM
Hi Wayne. It's always to good to have you comment on these things. We all learn so much for fellows like you! 
Let me see if I can explain with out sounding like a goof... :?
As you may remember on the last layout I did stain the ties and then pre-ballast the track before spiking. This time around I decided to get the track work down before doing any staining or ballasting. During my searches on the net I came across a couple of layout threads where the authors hand laid and then spray painted the rails, ties and spikes all rail brown. So this time around I decided I give it a go and see how I like it. Unique to this situation though is that the new track work was added to replace the area the pier once occupied. All the track around the pier had been painted and weathered and ballasted while the pier was in place. As such if I don't want to make a big mess with over spray I need to mask off the "finished" trackwork, lest I ruin it while painting the new section. From areas that I have finished I think I prefer this new-to-me-method as the brown provides a good base coat for other paints or what not to adhere to... especially in the case of my turnouts with the copper clad ties the brown provides some uniformity for the PCB ties and the wood ties and it doesn't require as much effort to disguise the difference. It's also tons easier to spray paint my turnouts then try to hand paint them as brush painting does not seem to agree with the PCB ties and get more consistant coverage with the spray paint. If anyone is worried about the points sticking once the paint is cured, they don't. Provided an excessive amount of paint hasn't been used its simply a matter of "breaking" the seal and the turnouts operate just the same prior to painting.
For the water, the plan is to use Magic Water. My measurements show that I'll need about a 1/4" depth of it. I will then finish the water by adding some gloss medium to create some slight ripples to the water. I was going to use Envirotex however, it smells reeeeeally bad and I don't want my wife kicking me to the curb in the middle of winter. The MW is apparently less offensive in the odour department and is easier to work with. I was going to do most of the scenery at the waters edge first and then turn my attention to doing the other things like trees etc further inland. I want to have a sandy shore littered with rocks of various sizes, dead fall, old grey groups of piles and discarded lumber "sticking" along the shores and also out of the water like in photos I've seen near the slips. Don't forget, one of my primary design goals will be to have the water at the base of the rail where the slip just meets the shore. This is important to me and I really want to emulate the feel of the scenes I see in the photos I've collected. Please understand that I know with enough care I can pull this off, I just have to try it. While my locos won't be axle deep in the water, the wheels will be damn near close to it. It will also mean that the car float and slip will become permanent parts of the scenery... and honestly I am okay with that. I don't think I'll be satisfied if it looks like the structures are sitting on top of the water... they were in the water for the prototype they will be in the water on my layout.
Whether or not my methods are questionable or simply the wrong way of doing things to quote Bill Joel, "You may be right. I may be crazy." So if hand laying one layout and ripping it up within a year just to start another one and then change a major design aspect in favour of a completely new one insn't the sign of a lunatic then I don't know what is?
Let me see if I can explain with out sounding like a goof... :?
As you may remember on the last layout I did stain the ties and then pre-ballast the track before spiking. This time around I decided to get the track work down before doing any staining or ballasting. During my searches on the net I came across a couple of layout threads where the authors hand laid and then spray painted the rails, ties and spikes all rail brown. So this time around I decided I give it a go and see how I like it. Unique to this situation though is that the new track work was added to replace the area the pier once occupied. All the track around the pier had been painted and weathered and ballasted while the pier was in place. As such if I don't want to make a big mess with over spray I need to mask off the "finished" trackwork, lest I ruin it while painting the new section. From areas that I have finished I think I prefer this new-to-me-method as the brown provides a good base coat for other paints or what not to adhere to... especially in the case of my turnouts with the copper clad ties the brown provides some uniformity for the PCB ties and the wood ties and it doesn't require as much effort to disguise the difference. It's also tons easier to spray paint my turnouts then try to hand paint them as brush painting does not seem to agree with the PCB ties and get more consistant coverage with the spray paint. If anyone is worried about the points sticking once the paint is cured, they don't. Provided an excessive amount of paint hasn't been used its simply a matter of "breaking" the seal and the turnouts operate just the same prior to painting.
For the water, the plan is to use Magic Water. My measurements show that I'll need about a 1/4" depth of it. I will then finish the water by adding some gloss medium to create some slight ripples to the water. I was going to use Envirotex however, it smells reeeeeally bad and I don't want my wife kicking me to the curb in the middle of winter. The MW is apparently less offensive in the odour department and is easier to work with. I was going to do most of the scenery at the waters edge first and then turn my attention to doing the other things like trees etc further inland. I want to have a sandy shore littered with rocks of various sizes, dead fall, old grey groups of piles and discarded lumber "sticking" along the shores and also out of the water like in photos I've seen near the slips. Don't forget, one of my primary design goals will be to have the water at the base of the rail where the slip just meets the shore. This is important to me and I really want to emulate the feel of the scenes I see in the photos I've collected. Please understand that I know with enough care I can pull this off, I just have to try it. While my locos won't be axle deep in the water, the wheels will be damn near close to it. It will also mean that the car float and slip will become permanent parts of the scenery... and honestly I am okay with that. I don't think I'll be satisfied if it looks like the structures are sitting on top of the water... they were in the water for the prototype they will be in the water on my layout.
Whether or not my methods are questionable or simply the wrong way of doing things to quote Bill Joel, "You may be right. I may be crazy." So if hand laying one layout and ripping it up within a year just to start another one and then change a major design aspect in favour of a completely new one insn't the sign of a lunatic then I don't know what is?