Ethan, Raw or Burnt Umber makes great dirt, add a little Ochre Yellow to the mix to kind of give it a "muddy" road look. Also "Chocolate Milk" color latex paint is great to simulate dirt. George
I just checked and the other 4 road #'s are still available. Six would really look impressive at that big elevator!
Speaking of grain... Next time I come back will I be able to do that? I don't remeber any industrial switching at the op sesson on the 19th.
Ethan: I took care of part of the Industrial switching during that session. The other part was handled by whomever was the Ft. Scott local. I switched the hill. I believe you were a road engineer. Bob
I am pleased to report that the yards in KC are all painted now, the railhead has been cleaned and we even had an operating session to test it all out. Key points I have learned along the way are1. Best to paint when the yards are empty. The era switch for me was an excellent opportunity to paint and not have to work around the car fleet. It could have been done with cars on the layout, but it would have been tougher.2. Use a large piece of cardboard to catch overspray and protect important things like (a) the painted backdrop, (b) structures that won't be moved, (c) scenery, etc. Mine was about 20" x 36" more than enough to protect things.3. Paint in phases. Painting track is really boring work so I inserted other work around my painting sessions. I unboxed cars, worked on car cards, started Glenn Young's cabooses, etc. Anything to break the boredom of painting a lot of track. I also painted in small phases because I was using Floquil in the dead of winter and I did not want a cloud of flammable vapor in my basement with the gas hot water heater and the gas furnace. (I also opened my backdoor several times to help clear out the basement and I had my paint booth fan on constantly.) 4. Wear breathing protection. I have a Sears charcoal filtered mask. I really hate wearing it but I like my lungs and my nervous system. I would like to say that painting track made a big difference on my layout but after a few days of it being completely done, it is hardly noticeable. It was like scenery that has been in place for awhile and you have gotten used to it. Hmmmm . . . Maybe it was a big deal afterall. I didn't want my track to be noticeable.Mission accomplished.
I have wondered the same thing. Think about the senario, you got track that is rarely used so it rusts on the top too. You model this on your layout and then you cant give the industry service. I had though that maybe putting flakes of copper or nickle silver in the paint might work, but I havn't tried it. Any one got ideas?
Exactly, your mainline and frequently used trackage would have it's paint worn off over time, while the branches and spurs stayed rusty.
Micro Engineering makes a rail weathering solution that replicated their weathered rail on their flex track. You might want to give it a try as I believe its some sort of a chemical blackener.
Rick were did you get the slsf 600249 seems like Ive seen several of these cars thought years. the white sure seems like a good place for the cars to get taged like a canvas to an artist with a brush in hand. .
When I was working on my N scale Frisco layout, I used Floquil paint pens to color my track. Painted the sides of the rails Rail Brown, and the ties Tie Brown. I removed whatever paint I had on the railtops with a Bright Boy. I came back & ballasted the track with WS fine ballast, and a little fine ground foam (those secondary lines on the Frisco weren't exactly high-speed affairs). Looking back at it, I'll used a darker color on the rail sides. That track in the forground is ME code 40, while the track under the Baldwin is code 55. After cleaning the track & clearing flangeways, I haven't had any problems running on the smaller rail, and I like the look of trains running on less-than-well-maintained track.
The |-|SLSF 600000 |-| series insulated boxcars are Athearn Genesis. I got several and changed the numbers because I saw lots of these cars coming through Springfield. After doing this work, Athearn came out with more car numbers and a car with less (underbody) detail. Just my luck. While the SLSF was independent, these cars were in dedicated service to the Schlitz beer plant in Memphis (pooled with SOU, ICG and MP). When you see these cars on my layout you know that a party is about to happen somewhere.
