Switch, Rail joiners, Ballast, Weathering ... part 3

 

Continuing on that section, I focused on this session on painting in rust color the side tracks for the switches. It is quite tedious, but once you know where to be careful not to paint for electric contact, it can be done rather quickly.

Once dry, I will have to clean the top rail and test to make sure I'm correct in my assumption before going around the layout 😁

Switch, Rail joiners, Ballast, Weathering ... part 2

Continuing on the same tracks ... 😁 I covered the critical areas of the switch points and ran the airbrush to paint the sleepers.

I then used a small brush to manually paint the sleepers in those covered areas:

I then started painted the sides of the tracks with the rust paint:

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:

Detailing a switch

I read an article in Loco Revue about the detailing of Peco switches to make them more realistic. It is based on BD-Concepts 3D parts.

Here's a link to the article:

It is using the "Kit de détaillage pour 3 aiguilles Peco avec système de réchauffage au gaz

Référence VOI-004:

I purchased directly from Loco Revue: https://trains.lrpresse.com/A-19177-kit-de-detaillage-pour-3-aiguilles-peco-a.aspx

The manual can be downloaded and is actually more helpful than the article:

Unfortunately, I didn't see that article before installing all my switches, so I'm not going to use their switch plate even though it looks much prototypical.

before

after

I also fixed my issue with the track right next to that switch. The transition is too tight and I need those nails to keep the two tracks in position. Not ideal ...

Ballasting - part 5

 Keeping at it ...

Ballasting - part 4

 

Not a lot done this weekend. After the recent work, I needed to vacuum away the excess ballast. As it turns out, there were several sections I have to fix. I believe there might have been not enough glue to really hold some pieces together:

Depending on the type of issue, I either applied Mod Podge and spred ballast over, or spred the ballast then the wet water and the scenic glue. I marked each section with a piece of blue tape for reference.

I also added several missing sleepers:

Ballasting - part 3

 

So far I've spred the ballast manually. It works but it is very time consuming. The main challenges are:

• Not putting too much ballast
• Removing ballast from the sleepers and tracks

I'm now trying two tools: a ballast spreader, and a 3D-printed "ballast vacuum".

Ballast spreader

This can be easily found online. The main issue was to control when to start spreading ballast. I used a small piece of cardboard and it worked perfectly:

From here, I further positioned the ballast with a finger going along the tracks.

Ballast vacuum

I found this on YouTube:

I followed the simple instructions for this Bexhill West's Ballast Vacuum:

This was quite successful and I will use this technic going forward. The only downside is that it removes a bit too much ballast on the sides, but this is actually the easier thing to fix.

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.