Switch, Rail joiners, Ballast, Weathering ... part 8

 

Today, I continued on the ballast, just a small section:

Switch, Rail joiners, Ballast, Weathering ... part 8

 

Ballast ballast ballast ...

Switch, Rail joiners, Ballast, Weathering ... part 7

 

A while back I experimented on adding rust weathering to the tracks with the airbrush. Here's the link to the post. Not long after I found this video on Instagram that gives an idea of track rust:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cucajkcoxm4/?igshid=M2MyMzgzODVlNw%3D%3D

L'am96 n°455 entre en gare de Lille Flandres son terminus. Elle est en provenance de Courtrai. La rame auras desservie les gares de Mouscron, Tourcoing, Roubaix et Lille Flandres avec +3 minute à l'arrivée.

Switch, Rail joiners, Ballast, Weathering ... part 6

 

Another nice day to continue on the ballast ...

At some point, I need to do a short post about the various tools available for ballasting. Somehow, a plastic spoon and a tooth pick are still the best things for me ...

Switch, Rail joiners, Ballast, Weathering ... part 5

 An unusually warm day today, so I finished ballasting that small section of the three curves that I started before winter:

Switch, Rail joiners, Ballast, Weathering ... part 4

 

We keep going at it!

The red lines mark where I stopped before the vacations 😊

Switch, Rail joiners, Ballast, Weathering ...

 

Amazingly enough, I'm still able to work in the train room, yay! Typical work: detailing switches, adding missing sleepers, ballasting, and weathering. Some pictures of the current work:

Fixed alignment at C5/X5 and added sleepers 

Detailing switch C4

Detailing switch C3

Adding missing sleepers in various sections around C1/D3:

And some more switch detailing:

Track weathering - part 6

The bottom two sections are completely dry and are ready for further weathering. My first addition is to add rust on the ballast directly underneath the tracks like this in reality:

I did two tests:

1. Wash with a brush
2. Airbrush 

The wash is at the bottom and the airbrush at the top:

From further away, the difference is quite obvious:

The effect with the airbrush is more convincing, more homogeneous and uniform.

Ballasting - part 2

 

And here it is once dry:

I used the usual method of a stocking with the vacuum, and I actually didn't get much. It seems that the glue worked well.

So, I continued with the same technic on another section:

The upper section is not dry yet. 

Ballasting - part 1

 

Sadly, I have yet to receive my order of ballast from Arizona Rock and Mineral, so I bought alternative products so I can start!

Ballast

I bought the following items:

• Woodland Scenics B1393 - Gray Blend Fine Ballast Shaker - 57.7 in3 (945 cm3)
• Woodland Scenics B1394 - Gray Blend Medium Ballast Shaker - 57.7 in3 (945 cm3)
• Decapod 7052 Ballast gris [HO]
• Decapod 7053 Ballast gris foncé [HO]

I saw on YouTube someone mixing 70% of fine with 30% of medium to give a variation of sizes. I did the same and added some Decapod 7053 Ballast gris foncé, as I found the Woodland Scenics Gray Blend a bit too light. Here's the result:

Bed Track Sides

On a YouTube video, it was recommended to do a "pre-ballast" on the sides to prevent ballast from sliding down during the main "gluing". I used Mod Podge matte:

Main Track

It's now a patience game to position ballast between sleepers and on the shoulders. I used a plastic spoon to put some ballast - not too much - and used my fingers to spread it around. I found that using a brush makes the ballast to jump around.

I also used the brush to tap on the rails to create some vibration. This is actually very effective and tapping too hard will displace the ballast. Ultimately, you don't want any ballast on the rails or sleepers.

Gluing

It's now time to glue everything:

1. Wet with 70% isopropyl alcohol, 30% water
2. Glue with Woodland Scenics Scenic Cement

Here's how it looks during the process:

I went back and used a toothpick to move ballast that was displaced. It now needs to dry thoroughly.

Rail joiners - part 4

 

Continuing on adding missing sleepers:

Track weathering - part 5

 

For the last two tracks of this "test" section, I thought I would try the Brown wash - not the Dark Brown:

In the picture below, the track at the bottom received the Dark Brown and the one at the top just the Brown. I found it to be too light and switched back to the Dark Brown right after this small test:

Here are the six tracks: 4 with Dark Brown and 2 with Black: