The past few days have been spent working on the track......
After several washes of Humbrol 'Light and Dark Earth' enamels, plus a little 'Track Colour' thrown in for good measure, the track is coming to life. Certain areas have also been dry brushed with mixes of the same colours, with more to follow.
This is a cruel closeup of the point which leads into the goods yard. As previously mentioned in an earlier post, the sleepers were stained with thinned 'Humbrol Gunmetal Metacote' enamel. I think the silvery grey, weathered sleeper effect has come up nicely, unfortunately the wood grain can't be seen from normal viewing distance. The old Will's point rodding is still in place, but not for much longer, as I'm now preparing for its replacement.
I've also been making some grass tufts, I've been criticised before by a certain gent, for referring you to other blogs. But to hell with him, if you want to find out how do make them, then take a look, here, and here, Whilst you are visiting 'Jose's' blog, I would strongly recommend that you take the time to study his wonderful modelling, and the techniques that he uses to produce such stunning results.
Rather than use PVA for securing my scenic bits and pieces, I've switched to using 'Hi Tack, all purpose, very sticky glue'. Its white, and dries clear like PVA, but remains flexible, so its ideal for jobs such as planting grass tufts. My wife came across this product in our local craft shop, and now needs a fresh supply for her own needs :-)
Weeds, and long grass first began to take root around the buffer stop, funny how I spend hours weeding the garden, and even longer planting them on the layout! I could have sworn that those rails, and the buffer stop had been fully painted in rust, but the camera has picked out several areas that I've missed! I mix my own rust colour from 'Light Earth' and 'Signal Red' enamels, adding more red to the mix gives a darker rust colour.
Another area where long grass and weeds are beginning to take hold is between the siding, and main line. Once a supply of tufts have been made up, they can be planted at leisure, who knows how far the grass will have spread by this time next week?