The Little Rock Line

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Got some more ballasting done yesterday.



This is where I cut into the abandoned branch line to make the new connection for the Gavilon complex.



Also threw down some earth and grass ground foam to see what the crossing would look like with some vegetation.
The blotchy spots came from the alcohol I sprayed to wet the ballast. 



This is the first time I've used real ballast, gotta say I'm liking it.

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I've finished ballasting all the tracks in the Haskell section.



















For the elevator tracks I used an old bag of John's Brown ballast to simulate dirt and lightly sprinkled some of the ballast over it.  I'm hoping that when I'm done with the elevator tracks they'll look as if they're sitting in dirt and not just ballast.  I also placed an order with Scenic Express for a large variety of ground foam that I'll use as scenery base.  I plan to lightly sprinkle some earth and turf foam over the elevator tracks then come back with some static grass to help weed it over a bit.

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Been a little busy since my last update.
After getting all the ballast work done in Haskell, I pulled out the ground foam for the scenery base.

I started with some blended Earth next to the tracks.







I followed that with a coat of blended Turf leaving a bit of the Earth showing.





Then I came back with several different shades of ground foam and blended things together.  I left one area uncovered as it will be a graveled parking lot for Gavilon Fertilizer.







Once the ground foam was dry I started applying the static grass.











Next project: Finish working on the Gavilon buildings and get them painted and positioned then add some trees and shrubs.

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Progress has been a bit slow lately, but with tax season behind me hopefully I can find a little more time?

I have the main building assembled and painted and most of the stock detail parts applied but still need to get the rest of the downspouts put on. I also want to add few things like a sign, some light fixtures and an A/C unit for the main office, then some Gold Metal Model safety ladders and walkways on the four white tanks and a few other minor details. And yes, I need to trim the downspout on the small elevator yet.

Next step is to attempt to weather the building. I'm still noodling how's the best way to approach this, but I have some ideas so we'll see.
For the pictures, it's just a rough guess on the placement, but it's close.

[soo]

Frigging sweet!!!!! The industry just Looks "right"
 I know I am not looking forward to doing scenery on mine.
GMB out

[milw12]

I agree, the industry is just "right." I like the grass and all too, well done!

Lucas

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@soo & @milw12
Thanks!

[DKS]

Nice ballasting, very natural-looking. Blended well with the scenery. I especially like the bits of abandoned track--too often overlooked.

[Bendtracker1]

Nice ballasting, very natural-looking. Blended well with the scenery. I especially like the bits of abandoned track--too often overlooked.

Thank you David.
Some of what I've done (and trying to do) can be traced back to your little Trenton Transportation layout.  In the video when the loco comes out from below the bridge, there's a spot where it brushes against some grass. That's always been a favorite aspect, weeded over track.  Whether it's abandoned or in use.

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Several weeks ago I picked up some Water Color pencils to try some weathering on the buildings that I recently built for Gavilon Fertilizers. Going off some advice from others I first tried some washes but it didn't look quite right to me. Then I stumbled across a video where a guy was using the Water Color pencils to weather a water tank, this had me intrigued as it didn't look real heavy liked I've done on some rolling stock and locos and didn't want my buildings to look like they were ready to be condemned.

I found a cheap set on Amazon and started playing around.
They are very easy to use, just draw on some colors and then with a clean brush that was damp with water, you start brushing the lines out until they dissolve, then just work them around.
If you get it too heavy you just keep brushing until the color is gone.

I'm not 100% finished with them yet but I think it's the look I'm after.









The elevator shafts were first sprayed with a base of Red Oxide then sprayed again with a lighter coat of Old Silver so the Red Oxide could show through which is visible on the tubing.
I then applied just a thin line of all three colors under each one of the seams on the elevator shaft and worked the pigment in a downward direction.



There's more pics on the blog...

[Philip H]

Wow Allen. Just

 

[jagged ben]

Yes, very nice job.  Very realistic how the roof obstructions create dirt patterns.

[Vince P]

Really liking this Allen coming along great.

[Bendtracker1]

Thanks guys!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Wow. That's fantastic! I had never even heard of that trick. And I thought I had seen almost everything!