Critique my work, please

[deemery]

This is my visible staging yard, plus the SG/NG interchange (along the back edge.)  The look I'm going for is 'yard trackage, reasonably maintained but well used.'  It's the first part of the layout to get scenery.

In terms of process, the first layer was screened paver granite.  I probably should have used a finer screen, the 'rocks' are a bit too big.  Then (Az Rock) yard mix for ballast on the yard tracks.  Next I toned down the light grey granite with fine Az Rock cinders, and sprinkled a couple colors of Woodland Scenics fine and coarse turf.  At some point, the last step would be to use my static grass dispenser to put some weeds on the yard tracks. 

But I think the grey still stands out too much.  A darker fine turf color would tone that down, something like a medium brown? 

Comments & suggestions definitely welcome!

dave 

[Keep It Rusty]

Dave, I think the issue you are finding is that the ballast itself is too clean. As if it's just come straight from the quarry. It's like putting down a Preiser straight from the box -- their colors are too fresh in most instances! For that reason, you'll forever be pushing and pulling with the colors of your various ballasts. I think the mix you already  have is good, just weather it with washes to represent oil, fuel, soot and general usage etc...

[PaulS]

Dave,
I will offer my 2 cents seeing that you asked ....
I concur with Craig in that it looks a bit too clean at first blush.  I would have applied some dirt first and then built up some areas of ballast on top of that.  you are well beyond that so I would suggest going over the areas between the tracks (not the rails) by sifting/sprinkling in lightly some dirt.  build this up slowly in areas so that to looks like the ballast has settled into the dirt there.  Then as Craig suggests I would add those washes but would also add earth tone wash(es) to those areas to tone down the strong 'all ballast' color and texture you have currently...
Again my two cents and let us know what you come up with,
--Paul

[deemery]

I tried an A&I wash.  That did tone things down quite nicely.  But also blew away the (unfastened) foam pieces.  So the lesson learned is get the base color right before adding foam :-)


In part this location is where I want to learn (from mistakes) what to do on the rest of the layout...


dave

[MartyO]

Dave,

The key is to get the scene harmonized though that visual part. There is always a slight transition between shades and colours down the track in the real world. As a modeller the key is decided what it would look like and then replicate that on the layout. Blend out the harsh transitions, add variation to the ties and let the rust and grime do their part in highlighting the track.

Ask yourself a few questions,

- how often is the track used
- how old is the track
- where is it come from and going
- what type of motive power and cars
- What park of the country
- is railway own or private
– etc

This helps to set the vision in your head  and then trial and error will guide you.

I hope the helps.

Marty

[vinceg]

Hi Dave,

I think the thing that strikes my eye is that the scene looks a bit too uniform. That is, you are using a lot of different materials - different colors of ballast, some other rock material, perhaps a couple colors of ground foam, but the random mixture of materials is rather homogeneously applied throughout the scene. I am thinking you might find more visual appeal if there was a more "micro-scene" aspect to it. That is, an area where there was just mud, no gravel. An area where some plant life grabbed hold and there were a couple of square inches of more foliage (bigger foam? static grass?). Maybe discarded ties or rusty rail or other rusty stuff....who doesn't love rusty stuff (not to mention Rusty's stuff  ). Maybe some old electrical or pneumatic piping running along track side.

I don't know if I articulated it well, but here's a small example of a pic taken from Markham Yard, from the old Illinois Central days:



The ballast here is even more uniform that what you have but, to my eye, the weeds and the guard rail add a lot of interest.

Perhaps this was all just another way of saying "too clean" as Craig and Paul did.

Of course, you did say this was a staging yard, not a "modeled" yard. So, maybe this is too much.

I have the same situation with two visible staging yards that I have not yet done anything with. We'll see if I eat my own dog food when I get to that.....

Vince

[ReadingBob]

I don't really have much to add since it's been ages since I've laid more than 12" of track.  For my own future reference I like to take photos like the one below that I can use as a guide.  I hope I can come close to this when the time comes.  I did watch all three of the old Great Model Railroads on the F&SM yesterday.  I like George's tips on inexpensive details like making discarded metal straps out of brown or rust colored construction paper cut into thin strips, broken glass, tie plates, etc.

[postalkarl]

Hey Dave:

Your track looks great. The only thing you might think about doing is adding some weeds. Between the track and also between them. Hope this helps.

Karl

[Rail and Tie]

Hi Dave, I would add some finer material such as sand or grout in the areas between the tracks where you have the light ballast. If you look carefully at ReadingBob's photo, it shows that the ballast is larger around the tracks only, the empty areas between the tracks have finer gravel/dirt and not the 3minus size ballast. One thing that always amazes me is that no matter how fine I make dirt and ballast, it is always too large for the scale. I use N Scale Ballast for HO and it looks great and more to scale. The HO ballast that I bought measures out at about 6" to 8" in diameter...


Darryl

[bparrish]

Dave...

Looks pretty good to me but the real question is .........do you like it?
My only observation is that you seldom see  ballast on the ties but that is easily broomed up later.
see ya
Bob

[deemery]

In the same area, I worked on the loading dock between the standard and narrow gauge tracks, for Laird Stone.  (Long loading docks sure do eat through stripwood!)  I need another dock behind the NG boxcar between the 2 NG tracks.


dave

[deemery]

Bob, I wasn't quite happy with how the yard looked, but I couldn't put my finger on -why-.  What particularly resonated with me were the comments that overall things were too uniform, that I needed to introduce clumps of color/texture. 


dave

[GPdemayo]

With a few different layers of dirt, debris, weeds & nature stuff and general messiness the yard will look great and the uniform look will disappear, just like in the great weathering you do on the structures.