Ground Cover Over

Mark this day as it is the first time in 2 decades I ever complete ballast and ground cover on any layout I ever built.

Ballast is a mix of various dirt, sand, sandblasting sand and charcoal. It's only a starting point as I'll have to adjust coloration here and there with washes, pastel powders and various material. Harlem Station was a very dirty place to be. Some weeds will also be needed here and there.

Landmark

Lot of stuff happened during the last two days. I won't waste my time struggling with futile words.

First, I painted the carfloat. After a basic coat of Krylon camouflage brown, I decided to try a method I once heard but never really applied. Instead of building the weathering pattern with several layers, I just used heavy washes of cheap acrylic paint including burnt umber, burnt sienna, Payne's grey and yellow ochre. Those water-based washes were really liquid and I dabbed and stippled thinned paint here and there. The idea was that those "floating" colors would merge together instead of drying. Some colors pool here and there. The nice thing is that the puddles leaves a very realistic weathering pattern. So far, I did the operation 3 times. I plan to lighten the overall color a little bit again with more drastic contrasts. I was once told in my teenage years that my drawing skills were good but that I was too shy to add light and shadows. Since then, I try to fight that natural tendency! With little success! Other weathering technics will be used, but I feel this technic is worth using. Very fool proof, no real talent needed, physic laws do the job for you.

Next project was to build the iconic Erie bridge crane (not sure it's the good name for that thing). Getting the thing right was very important because this crane is visible and easily recognizeable on every Harlem Station pictures. That's the mascot! I used Central Valley bridge parts. Well, I completely depleted my stock and had to butcher my CNR Courtesy and Service bridge! Oh well, you can start throwing rotten tomatoes! Wood used was custom cut cedar patio planking leftover from my last week home improvement project. I stained the wood with tea and coated them with my steel wool/peroxyde mix. The mix is now more than a week old and works even better. The black painting was done with India ink and alcohol. The "Erie" lettering was drawn to scale from picture. This is the REAL thing, not some "quite similar" font. I printed them on Walthers decal paper, coated with dullcote. My first try was a few years ago when I did my QRL&PCo gondolas and hoppers. Back then, I used Krylon flat finish and the decals ended very thick and hard to work. With dullcote, they stay very thin. That's the way to go. Still a long way to go before this crane is completed, but the basic work is now done.

 

 

Finally, I also started to ballast tracks with several material taken in the backyard: sand, dirt and some wood coal. My first mix add too much fine powder. It really makes it hard to glue. I finally decided to resift the dirt several time outside in the wind to get rid of the fine particles and keep the rocks.

Harlem River Waters

A few days ago, I decided to complete the water body. It's my first time modelling water even if I've been doing model railroading for over 25 years now. Harlem River waters are your
typical greyish/brownish color found on any urban setting According to pictures, the surface is moderatly rippled.

The first step was to add the bridge pontoon. It's basically a block of MDF. I rusted it using acrylics and cosmetic sponges. These work wonders. I started by applying a base coat color mixed with chocolate brown and green. When dry, I airbrushed the seawalls base with a mist of alcohol and India ink. I made sure the water near the walls was darker to give the impression waters are deep there.

Next step was to apply acrylic gloss medium gel. After a few minutes, when starting to get thicker, I dabbled the surface to create the ripple. A lot of air bubbles got trapped into the mix and it was really annoying to remove them. It wasn't perfect, but still decent. The next morning, another coat was added and dabbled. For this second coat, I added some acrylic paint to the medium to get a darker shade of my base color. I used it to create shadows on the water. I often saw that kind of shadow when St. Lawrence river's waters are muddy. Some highly were also added and I dramatized the shadow near the walls.

 
Finally, today, I added two coats of Future Floor finish. I heavily diluted Citadel washes to make this layer muddy. It really helped to subdue my crude painted shadows. They are quite cartoony I must say. At least, when the tug and carfloat are there, it looks better. I'm aware it could be better, but show must go on. I have to fit against my improductive perfectionnist state of mind for once. Anyway, the layout is already beyond Jérôme's expectations.

I also built concrete walls with cardboard. These will surround the property on 148th Street and Exterior Street. They were painted with Krylon flat camouflage beige then weathered liberally with oil paints. When dry, I dullcoted them. I love those easy technics, they really bring life to the most generic structures.

The carfloat is also getting a coat of paint and rust. More to come.