South Oak Road

Track laying 2

The track detailing of course begins with the most boring task in railway modeling – ballasting. Using some scrap track I tested a couple of different ballast colours and then settled on Woodland Scenics Light Gray Fine, the plan being to start with a lighter shade and then add colour to the track once the ballasting was complete.Once the ballast had been carefully worked into position an eyedropper was used to flow matt varnish into the ballast. Having tried the water, washing up liquid and PVA method a couple of times in the past I found the matt varnish far easier to use and the end result is rock hard! With ballast fully set I used an old brush to apply a wash of diluted Tamiya Flat Earth (XF-52). Using photo references I then washed an even more diluted flat black and dark brown here and there to simulate general track muck. The next step was to use an old brush to wash and ‘scrub’ the ballast with pure thinner. This really helps to soften and blend the various colours and ensure that the paint has thoroughly worked its way down into ballast.

Using a fine brush I then very carefully picked out the rail chairs and other track detail as well as touching up any of the rail sides that were scratched in the ballasting process. The final touch was to paint the sleepers flat black and lightly dry-brush the rail details with a lighter rust colour. The rail tops were then wiped clean using a small piece of cloth soaked in thinner.