Westlake Publishing Forums

Going down the basement to put away some trash, I made a wrong turn and ended up in the workshop.
This caused a tiny flicker of inspiration, and I decided to do a little work on some track test pieces I never finished.
One is for the mainline and the other for a rarely used siding.  The mainline needs a fair bit of weathering, but concider it a freshly laid length of prototype track.
I am a bit unsure about how successful the exercise was, so I would appreciate some feedback. Dont hold back, they are test pieces of only a feet length or so.







By the way, the track is 0-scale (1/45, 22,22mm gauge)

I'd say it's very believable, and looks very nice.

Track varies a lot, so you'd have to know the prototype to judge whether it is well captured. 

Locally, I'd say that sleepers in that condition (captured well) would likely be less brown and more grey as the preservative has weathered away.  Likewise, the ballast is maybe a little large, thought it looks like great material.  Again, locally, quality ballast should all pass a 1.75" screen and be mostly larger than 0.5" according to the 1958 permanent way handbook that I have.

Track often looks inconsistently weathered with the areas next the rails typically a rusty shade, with the centreline collecting staining from traffic, though that varies with all sorts of factors. Not something I've done to my own track yet, I admit.

What is there to criticize? -- Russ

Precisely what is there to criticise !! just looks perfect to me - in fact just looks like the wood at the bottom of our garden sort of holding the fence up - it just gets to me that some critics always see it differently and feel it should be slightly a different colour its like the old debate on what is box car red - and the man who lives there said it all depends on were the Box car is left eg under the trees / half in the shed / by the river / on a sunny day /on a dull day and on and on we go!
So Its fine in fact its perfect it looks like ageing wood - so ignore any negative critics which there appears to be many and give non constructive views on other peoples work
with there long winging views of what they think
Barney
 

Thanks for the feedback!
Yes, the mainline ballast is a bit too course, and the ties a bit fresh. And new creoste treated ties is indeed a more black than brown. But with some weathering it might be fine.

The siding should probably have rust on top of the rail, too. Track in that condition didn't get a lot of traffick, I think.

And of course it all depends were it is and what the weather is doing !
Barney

Excellent, Hauk!
Given the crusty rust along some of the bottom of the inner side of one siding rail, you could take advantage by making the adjoining sleepers there a bit rotten with perhaps a wet hole developing under them and a spike or two working loose.   

Maybe also part of a sliced torso and a pool of blood .... -- ssuR

Hi Håvard
I just found your test piece on the Internet   


Cheers, Peter
P.S. Hope you found my PM.

That last photo is definitely his test Piece
Barney

Hauk,

did you take the pictures inside or outside with natural light? To me it seems like the light might adulterate the colors. And the color impression might benefit from a slightly bigger camera dictance. My first impression indeed was that the sleepers in the first picture seem too monochrome brown, but I do emphatically second what Barney said about the box car red debate, too. Maybe a second wash with a whitish or blackish tone just to darken or lighten the fibre's gaps a bit?

Cheers,
Volker, his majesty of creosote drenched grooved rail sleepers

Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

The pictures were indeed taken indoors with a complete random floor lamp for lighting.

I took the pictures with my iPhone as I was too lazy to fire up the Fujifilm camera with its excellent fujinon macro lens. I need to get my shit together...

We are working a bit backwards here, but I also started to think if I had seen some prototype track that matched my tests.

Here are some shots I took at Jädraås in Sweden a couple of years back:






Not entirely without likeness to the old track test, I dare say.

Looks almost as good as your modeling. -- Russ

Both look great to me. The first piece, if the ties are supposed to be relatively new, I do think they could be darker/blacker.

The ballast size really depends on the prototype. During my Nevada trip last year I spent some time around modern mainline tracks and was surprised at how large the ballast was. I didn't take any measurements but I'd estimate the stones were about 3".

Hawk -- how was that rotten look achieved on your first photo - I presume it was plastic sleepers to start with
Barney