Down & Dirty

It's all about detail, nice job. Don

Here's part of a neighborhood I enjoyed giving a "well-worn" look...

FrankM

Moonson posted:

Here's part of a neighborhood I enjoyed giving a "well-worn" look...

FrankM

Your dirt in your scene is beautiful, Frank.

I have found a way to get a down and dirty layout without having to do anything on my own.......never dust!!...LOL!!

OGR PUBLISHER posted:

I have found a way to get a down and dirty layout without having to do anything on my own.......never dust!!...LOL!!

Agreed, not only do I not dust, I can't remember the last time I cleaned the track, and my trains still run pretty well. Probably a good idea to run them at least once every few weeks if one chooses not to clean the track.

Here are a couple of more down and dirty scenes on my layout:

Arnold

Real weeds can be down and dirty trees on a train layout:

Got these on one of my many walks at the FDR State Park in Yorktown Heights, NY.

Arnold

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Moonson posted:

Here's part of a neighborhood I enjoyed giving a "well-worn" look...FrankM

Your dirt in your scene is beautiful, Frank.

Thank you, Arnold. That is a really nice thing to say.

Here are other views..... into that grimy neighborhood, which is supposed to look old and well-used for years by the locals...

FrankM, Moon Township, USA, layout

What about down and dirty ballast?

Athletic long walks and model railroading can be a great combination.

About 10 years ago, I went for a long walk with my son. Low and behold, I noticed some ground up asphalt along the edge of the road. A light bulb goes off in my head: Free  O Gauge tubular track ballast! I started filling up my pockets with filthy asphalt pebbles; my son is mortified, afraid that someone will see us and he will be embarrassed to death.

No only did I fill up the pockets of my jeans with this stuff, when I get home, I grabbed a pot in the kitchen, drove back to my gold mine of ground up asphalt,  and filled up the pot with it.

Here is some of my ballast between and along the rails:

There is also some kitty litter added to the asphalt pebbles.

Since the rails of the tubular track is already so much higher and bigger than scale, my ballast the size of boulders compared to scale ballast is not so bad, IMHO, the price was right, and most importantly, I had a lot of fun gathering it and placing it on my layout. 

For me, it's all about having fun doing something as crazy as this. 

Arnold

Frank, something very cool about model railroading is that we can see the beauty in something most people think is ugly or disgusting, like grimy coal cars or oil tanker cars that may also smell awful. We model railroaders might like that awful smell as well as the filthy appearance.

Also, in my opinion, dirt on a model railroad like yours is beautiful, and that beauty is a very good thing; and dirt on a model railroad like mine is ugly, and that ugliness can be a very good thing. LOL

Speaking of ballast, its color(s) and the scale of it (which, for me, is a matter of observing how many individual rocks appear to line-up between RR-ties, on average = talk about doing something crazy !!!??!!)I have been collecting real-life photos for me to use as a guide. You may enjoy seeing these, too, Arnold, perhaps for reference.

FrankM

Moonson posted:

Speaking of ballast, its color(s) and the scale of it (which, for me, is a matter of observing how many individual rocks appear to line-up between RR-ties, on average = talk about doing something crazy !!!??!!)I have been collecting real-life photos for me to use as a guide. You may enjoy seeing these, too, Arnold, perhaps for reference.

FrankM

Love the photos, thanks for sharing, Frank.

I think I take a more Rube Goldberg approach to model railroading. LOL.

I, and many of our Forum colleagues, very much admire your painstaking and  skillful approach, Frank.

Did someone say down and dirty?  Here some trackside down and dirty!

trumptrain posted:

Did someone say down and dirty?  Here some trackside down and dirty!

Patrick, you have glorious beautiful debris in each photo, just like real autumn trackside scenery.  

Another type of down and dirty:

Actually, this little outhouse looks rather clean. LOL

Follow the grey-red brick road

Follow the grey-red brick road

  It's modeling the old morning accumulation of pre-epa steel mill fallout. Time to get the broom to dust off the car and drive to work. 

  I'm thinking the cement piers could look mossy or slimey if I can figure out how to tint the dust green while in place. I'm thinking thicker dust for moss first off and glosses for back up if it's too flat once painted Needs to be thicker for sure

   When I do dust, I use a paint brush, sweeping towards a nylon stocking pulled over and sucked into a vacuume hose. It's a trap for any tiny goodies trying to join Dorthy and Toto in the dust storm. (And Mothra caterpillar is less likely to wipe out the city if it's ready, still, and not squirming all over the layout doing The Worm.

    I was thinking trying some Velcro (ducktape?) arm bands and wearing a (medium/small) hose on my arm. ... like Ghost Busters crossed with The Evil Dead. (Yey! Bruce Cambell!) ( serious horror meets slapstick ) 

  Hang on to it or rubber band it TIGHT, ....and still hold it, lol. It WILL also try slither and squirm it's way out of of your awkward grip and begin is serpenty journy to the the Emerald City where tights and other funky and occasionally bromadrosis tainted stockings fill the fashion world.

The Emerald City is a green vacuumed bag 

That explains everything except why it doesn't go in the Green Bucket's on Thursday night, right? 

I get to put the brunt of the blame on 300lbs worth of dogs ....for a long while to come too     

Check out the Postwar oil tanker car below:

That brown, rusty discoloration on the left side is not the product of weathering efforts. It is the real thing: an old, stained train car. This was the condition it was in when I bought it at a train show about 5 years ago for a few bucks. It is my favorite tanker car.

As I recall, I found it by scrounging; it was under the table of one of the dealers at the show.

BAR GP7 #63 posted:

Very nice, Johan, I particularly love your down and dirty track, which you have weathered to perfection.

briansilvermustang posted:

 

Down, dirty and dark. Good one, Brian.

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

BAR GP7 #63 posted:

Very nice, Johan, I particularly love your down and dirty track, which you have weathered to perfection.

Arnold: Thank you very much. 

Johan

                thanks Arnold ...

A couple of junk heaps in the junk yard:

Arnold - thanks so much for your kind words!   Here are a few more photos.

A variety of some less-than clean-n-tidy.... sights around Moon Township, USA...

FrankM

I try to keep my layout "tidy". Have to look hard to find any track-side rubbish!

JackieJr, That is an interesting background you have there in that photo. To me, it seems like you have modeled an old builidng that had been partially torn-down or fallen-down, with some of its old stone walls remaining, which include some of the old components of the basement, such artifacts as old heating system/boiler parts remaining, left in the open to rust away. It would be nice to see more of that if you have a broader and closer view(s) of that feature, sometime.

FrankM

Moonson posted:

A variety of some less-than clean-n-tidy.... sights around Moon Township, USA...

FrankM

Incredible modeling!

Thanks very much, Gandydancer.

When I begin such vignettes, I don't always have a completed scene in mind; rather, I usually just array a whole bunch of ingredients around me on tables, usually focused on a building I have in mind, along with all the groundcovers and foliage, and simply begin. It all takes shape in front of me. When completed, I usually ask my wife to take a look. Thus far, she has approved every scene I have shared  on OGR (please, pardon when I may repeat a photo on more than one thread. I am trying to add something pertinent to the thread at-hand, as well as, perhaps, interest some of the new voices that have begun to appear on OGR from time to time.)

Thanks again.       FrankM

Hello Frank  In response to your question; hope Arnold doesn't  object. The stone walls are a retaining wall/tunnel wall and the "rubbish" is from the adjacent engine house. I like where your imagination was going! Thank's for the interest and I like your down & dirty.  

              Jackiejr

jackiejr posted:

Hello Frank  In response to your question; hope Arnold doesn't  object. The stone walls are a retaining wall/tunnel wall and the "rubbish" is from the adjacent engine house. I like where your imagination was going! Thank's for the interest and I like your down & dirty.  

              Jackiejr

No objection whatsoever, Jackie. I love your tidy scene and skillful modeling depicted in it.

Arnold

Interesting thread, Arnold!  I have plenty of “down & dirty” items.  Here are a couple for starters...

Some more down and dirty.

Now here's a place in one of my Moon Township ...neighborhoods that has a different kind of "down-n-dirty" dirty. Pretty clean but you have to watch your step. And given the tight-quarters, you have to make sure you don't walk into the back of something, too.

FrankM

Moonson posted:

Now here's a place in one of my Moon Township ...neighborhoods that has a different kind of "down-n-dirty" dirty. Pretty clean but you have to watch your step. And given the tight-quarters, you have to make sure you don't walk into the back of something, too.

FrankM

Haha, well done!

Down & Dirty for Labor Day weekend.