02-12-2011, 08:53 PM
So I stopped by the local Michael's to pick up some craft paints and matte medium. I sure hope matte medium is 10x better than white glue, because for the price of a small bottle of matte medium I can buy a gallon jug of Elmer's. Unless there's a REALLY good reason not to, I'm going back to much more affordable Elmer's for the rest of this project.
I can see this taking, oh maybe a year or so to finish - ok maybe not that long, but I am not a super patient person, and painting the rails is incredibly tedious, so I will only be doing short sections at a time. I am being picky and getting even the back side of the back rail - the one you's have to have your head inside the wall to see, but I'd know it wasn't painted the same as the others so I do it. I did manage to keep it off the railhead, but the downside of the small brush is I get about 3-4 ties distance per load of paint on th brush, after that it's like I'm drybrushing the rails. So it goes slow. I did about 6 feet plus a short siding in 2 hours - got a LONG way to go. That's about my limit before I start trying to rush adn then I'll mess it up for sure.
Ballasting too - definitely NOT somethign I find 'fun'. Shaping it, trying to get every grain off the ties - a small foam brush seems to work well, but sometimes it picks up too much. I only got a short section groomed to my liking so I tried to glue that much down. I previously had ballasted with 50/50 white glue and 70% isopropyl alcohol. It soaked in no problem, no puddles, no runoff paths. I started with 50/50 alcohol and matte medium - it just puddled on top. I added more alcohol, about 70/30 now, and it soaked in, but slowly. Maybe that will make the matte medium not as expensive, if I need somewhere around an 80/20 alcogol to medium mix for it to soak in properly. I couldn't find dropper bottles at Michael's so I got a small bottle of mustard at the grocery store that has a nice twity to open pointy spout for easy control. That worked out well. We shall see tomorrow after it all dries. It did soak in to the ballast so I don't think I'll have a crust on top problem. And I'll add even more alcohol for next time.
--Randy
I can see this taking, oh maybe a year or so to finish - ok maybe not that long, but I am not a super patient person, and painting the rails is incredibly tedious, so I will only be doing short sections at a time. I am being picky and getting even the back side of the back rail - the one you's have to have your head inside the wall to see, but I'd know it wasn't painted the same as the others so I do it. I did manage to keep it off the railhead, but the downside of the small brush is I get about 3-4 ties distance per load of paint on th brush, after that it's like I'm drybrushing the rails. So it goes slow. I did about 6 feet plus a short siding in 2 hours - got a LONG way to go. That's about my limit before I start trying to rush adn then I'll mess it up for sure.
Ballasting too - definitely NOT somethign I find 'fun'. Shaping it, trying to get every grain off the ties - a small foam brush seems to work well, but sometimes it picks up too much. I only got a short section groomed to my liking so I tried to glue that much down. I previously had ballasted with 50/50 white glue and 70% isopropyl alcohol. It soaked in no problem, no puddles, no runoff paths. I started with 50/50 alcohol and matte medium - it just puddled on top. I added more alcohol, about 70/30 now, and it soaked in, but slowly. Maybe that will make the matte medium not as expensive, if I need somewhere around an 80/20 alcogol to medium mix for it to soak in properly. I couldn't find dropper bottles at Michael's so I got a small bottle of mustard at the grocery store that has a nice twity to open pointy spout for easy control. That worked out well. We shall see tomorrow after it all dries. It did soak in to the ballast so I don't think I'll have a crust on top problem. And I'll add even more alcohol for next time.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad of the 1950's in HO
Visit my web site to see layout progress and other information:
http://www.readingeastpenn.com
Visit my web site to see layout progress and other information:
http://www.readingeastpenn.com