painting the ballast

[bluedepot]

hi everyone

i don't like the colour of my ballasting.... so could i spray paint another colour?  say a lighter grey or buff?

or is it best to scrape if off and start again...

any suggestions?


tim

[Newportnobby]

hi everyone

i don't like the colour of my ballasting.... so could i spray paint another colour?  say a lighter grey or buff?

or is it best to scrape if off and start again...

any suggestions?


tim

Hi Tim - IMHO you've done the hard bit so I would go for a respray. Dunno about going lighter though, you may need more than one application

[Pengi]

Have a look at the picture by 4 x 2 from Sydney Gardens Bath on the earlier ballasting thread. Adding buff/light grey to the outsides may be something to try.

[SD35]

If you want to go lighter, have you tried dry brushing it so you get lighter edges but retain some depth with the dark bits inbetween?  I'm not saying it'll look good but I am curious and it might be worth trying on a bit of spare track glued to a piece of wood.

[Mustermark]

I would go slightly lighter grey colour away from the track and then go with a darkish sleeper grime/dirty weathering color by and between the rails.

[painbrook]

Tim, I'd have a bash with dry brushing which would still have to do after spraying, this will bring out hilights and shadows which is a must in our scale. Cheers john.

[Karhedron]

I have seen several layouts that have the ballast sprayed along with the track. Stoney Lane Depot is one particularly well done example so there is no reason not to.

http://www.farnhammrc.org.uk/StoneyL.htm

Much easier than starting again IMO.

[bluedepot]

thanks for the replies

so i could try:

a). dry brushing with a waterered down lighter grey all the areas apart from inbetween the tracks

or

b). spray painting it all a lighter grey (a grey primer maybe???) apart from area inbetween the tracks which i could mask off

and then do

c). also could spray or paint in between the tracks a brown / oil black between the tracks in areas where the loco has been standing...


what do you think?

any suggestions on what colour grey to dry brush or spray?


cheers


tim

[Mustermark]

With option B you don't need to mask anything off.  A graduated border between colours will be much more realistic than a masked line of colour change.

You might have to spray brown-ish dirt colour along the track (including the outside near the rails) carefully with a small nozzle (e.g. airbrush rather than aerosol?) so the dark colour of C doesn't spread much further away from the track than you want it... but the effect needs to be diffuse and blended and not have a masked line.

Also for A (which I would probably do as a final touch in places after B&C) wouldn't be watered down paint.  For dry brushing you use thick paint, get a little bit of light grey paint worked into dry bristles and then wipe most of it off till the brush is almost dry.  Then you lightly brush the bristles over the top of the ballast and it will pick out the top surface with the light grey colour as highlights that will contrast with the dark you just put on (as B). 

You may consider some oily black on top of the sleeper-grime brown between the rails to make that even darker where oil would be, especially in the station and on depot track.

That's what I'm planning to do, anyhow.

[bluedepot]

that's an excellent answer thanks mustermark

i don't have an airbrush is one problem, so i might be better off using a paint brush between the track with sleeper grime and track dirt paint, and then oil brown / black in some areas where the loco stands...

this is a test i just did....

it's tamiya light grey brushed over the ballast (very light coat) and then oil brown is sprayed down the middle (quite heavy to represent an area where a loco might stand)

paint still a bit wet, but you get the idea i hope...







if this test works out i'll try to get a spray can of light grey paint... or just use a brush to paint the ballast, see what looks best...

cheers,


tim

[Mustermark]

Looking really good Tim.  I like what youve done there.  Thats a good colour for the track dirt.