RSR new layout.

[RSR Engineer]

Again, thank you for your feedback, gentlemen. The chicken baster looks a good idea. I also have a lot of points and crossings to look out for, so a dropper will be needed as well. I must say, you guyz are certainly helping me to see the funny side of it.

Cheers,
Artur

[RSR Engineer]

The saga of the track continues. I had to lay off ballasting to get the colouring of the track right, starting with the rail sides. A paintbrush was tried first, with Vallejo burnt umber. This went on OK but I had trouble getting the thinning right, so some bits had to be done again to hide the shiny metal. It was also tedious. Then the postman delivered the Woodland Scenics felt-tip pens I'd ordered, so I got stuck in with those. Very nice in theory and in the Woodland video but American track has very small rail fastenings, so the pen glided along quite smoothly and left the rail nice and rusty-looking. Peco Streamline code 100 has very chunky "chairs", which prevent the pen from getting the paint into the corners properly, so there are little patches of bright metal showing through everywhere. To overcome this (with limited success - see pix) I had to abuse the pen.

The next stage will be to do as Steve suggested and colour the sleepers as well; for this it'll be back to the airbrush. (You didn't really mean blasting, though, did you, Steve? I mean, I've got a few tuppenny cannons left over from Guy Fawkes' Night.)

I might be moaning but I'm not complaining, coz an experiment that teaches you something has not failed. However this is a lesson that other members may also be interested in learning. The Woodland Scenics felt-tip track colour pen is great in theory but not much use with Peco Streamline, being neither durable enough nor thorough enough. Pix on flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@ ... 4145/page3

Cheers,
Artur

[Steve M]

No Artur, only resort to ‘blasting’ if it all goes completely wrong!
I meant chicken baster but autocorrect got the better of me.

I finished ‘basting’ my ballast a couple of weeks ago and left it to dry thoroughly while on holiday. I have now started weathering but it will all be done with the airbrush. I do have a small bottle of Vallejo rust wash which may find its way onto some of the rails - I added some to a siding about 20 mins ago so I’ll see what it looks like tomorrow.

[RSR Engineer]

I'd be interested to see the result, Steve.

Cheers,
Artur

[Steve M]

I'd be interested to see the result, Steve.

Cheers,
Artur

Photos will appear on my West Orton thread.

[RSR Engineer]

Good evening, fellow members. I hope you all had a pleasant Christmas and were able to ring in the new year nicely. Sorry about the ongoing radio silence but there hasn't been much happening on the RSR of late except marking time and playing trains while trying to iron out various technical problems that mainly arose on the old parts of the layout. I did however get the roundhouse set up and so far it's not looking bad. I did go back on one resolution, namely to makethe shed removable - this would have made it extremely unstable. Time now to browse the Forum and see what everyone's been up to.

Pictures, as usual, on flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@ ... 4145/page3

Cheers,
Artur

[Walkingthedog]

Welcome back Artur. Playing trains eh.How delightful.

[RSR Engineer]

Feeling a bit like Mr Toad at the moment, with the ballasting in abeyance and goods yard paving the latest fad. It's a feature I've been intending to tackle for a long time, and now, long after seeing Bandit Mick's model in a box file, I've finally got my finger out. Just a few bits done so far but I feel I've got the concept right.

Pix, as usual, on flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@N06/
And a few new videos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/188026976@N08/

Cheers,
Artur

[Bandit Mick]

Looking good Arthur. Your patience is paying off.

[bulleidboy]

You must need a lot of patience with a layout of that size Artur.