Fluesheet's Shelf Layout

[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!