Hey Russ,

I just found this thread...Jeez! Am I observant or what? Had fun going over your plans & lighting up a couple of stogies. So when does the track gang get together next to add the 3'x4' section?

Of course I'm still going to try & convince you to hinge the back side of the layout to the wall for stability when you lift it up to wire/etc, especially with the additional 3'x4' section.

The pre-fab turnouts came in today fromRailway Engineering and they're sweet. These are pre-gapped for DCC allowing me to power the entire turnout with an isolated frog. You can see the gaps in the pcc ties. Now I need to start getting my track gang out of the saloons and back to work. [:-drunk]

Nice looking turnouts, Russ.

Russ,

Turnouts are GOR-GEEE-OUS! I'll bet you're one happy camper since they showed up. Will you be doing a bit more tweaking on the plans now that you have the actual turnouts in-hand? When do you want to get together to smoke some....errr, work on the layout?

He meant get together to smoke cigars, everybody...we both like cigars! [:-bigmouth] Maybe next weekend. We can pick up another piece of foam, some Liquid Nails, and a can of Pliobond and put the working surface down. From there we can spot the turnouts. Ya think? :up:

Somewhere I read about using acrylic paints as a medium for staining ties. Because my ties are pine, they will take a color readily but I like the idea for batch control. In this case, batch control consists of a batch of 1 tie at a time! My initial process concern was color control. Can I get a deep enough black-brown color? What about consistency? What about grain show-thru for that 'real wood' effect? Is it a time monster that will be more of a pain than it's worth? Well, here's what I came up with. I call this the Catskill Creosote 2 Step! [:-bigmouth]

I'm starting this project by working with the Fast Tracks unfinished pine Sn3 ties. I used just plain ol' black and brown tempura from the craft store. I mixed the two colors together in a small plastic tub until I got a very dark brown. I then placed a group of six or eight ties into the mixture and made sure that all of the surfaces were covered. I then removed the ties after a few minutes of 'soaking' and wiped off the excess. Here's the result of Step 1.



You can see that not all of the color penetrated into the wood because of a 'hard spot'. To correct this, I hand wiped each tie again with a cosmetic sponge dabbed in the paint again wiping off the excess until I got the result I wanted. Here's what I came up with after Step 2:



Not bad. There's a range of thoughts over uniformity, color, etc. I want my ties to not look new, but not grey-ed out and partly rotted, either. This color is the base that I will use for weathering after the track is spiked. At that point, I'll lighten the color a bit with weathering powders.

I like the look, Russ. You should be able to get the variation you want with the weathering powders.

Russ

You're on the right track. I like the look of semi new but a little variation in a color works well.

Peter

Thanks, Guys! I'll have my hands full getting the turnout ties ready for a couple of turnouts. Next weekend I want to solder on the feeder wires, glue on the rails, and spike 'em down. This is an important part of the track engineering. Although the ties are cut very precisely, I'll check the height of each turnout tie group with a straight edge. I'll make them level by sanding down the lot and then putting the sanded side face down. There's a heck of a lot of variety in technique to doing this...I'm borrowing ideas from everywhere. Peter...I read your hand-laid track tutorial last night and got some solid direction from you. Thanks!

I always sand after gluing the ties down; that way the sanding takes care of little roadbed irregularities. But that rules out the kind of care you're taking with tie coloring. What I've done instead is hit a few ties afterwards with darker stain or a lighter wash.

Ties looks good Russ!

I put together my tie placement jig for the RH turnouts. The turnout ties will fit neatly in between the styrene strips with a few slightly skewed. Can't be too perfect, now! [:-bigmouth] The space between the ties is large enough for power wires to drop through and down to the power bus. I also have to allow for jumpers between the point rails and the stock rails. Next weekend I should have the RH turnouts completed.

That jig should simplify things nicely, Russ.

It does simplify things, Bruce...Here's a shot of the jig loaded with ties ready to have the turnout glued down. Hold on...Hmmmm....one seems to be missing. [:-bigmouth] [:-paperbag] I checked the level of the ties and they are perfect. Fast Tracks does a great job of milling ties to exact dimensions and without variations in height. No sanding here! Hafta get a can of Pliobond next to glue the rails down onto the colored ties.

Hey Russ,

I really like what you've done with the ties. I'm assuming that this is a well-used junction, and as such would be well-kept up, so the ties wouldn't be in bad dis-repair. What are you doing this Saturday (11/14)? I can come over with some cigars & tools and maybe get some stuff done on the bench work. [:-jump2]