Grounded: Out of my comfort zone…
Last winter I avidly watched the creation of a master piece in trackwork. Not a finescale express race way, or a sophisticated set of turnouts, no, something more mundane and workman like, some light weight H0 scale track built by Chris for his Coy experiment…
 |
| From bottom to top in a week of experimenting… |
Since that experience I have hankered after creating something similar of my own, even diving into some of Chris’s inspiration on Mike Cougill’s OSTpubs blog. Chris mentioned that it was Mike who had driven him to look again at his processes for building up the track resulting in that beautiful look of track buried in years of ballast, plant material and soil. I loved the way the materials blended together in both their application and study, despite this I hung back from trying it myself.
 |
| Coy’s wonderful trackwork by Chris Mears (https://princestreet.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/img_9809.jpg) |
The nature of the artistic process, the journey to creating our models, is a personal one. Traditionally I follow quite a prescriptive step wise approach learned and honed from years of experience built up from teachings from my father before he passed away many years ago. These tried and trusted methods are my signature, or so I thought, the process I use to create the look I desire… but here I was admiring someone else’s art, knowing my process could never reproduce the same result. There was nothing for it but to ‘have a go’… and the code 55 track test from a few weeks ago seemed to offer a chance to experiment with a new approach. The question was, could I do it?!
 |
| Step 1: Paint the ties and rails. |
I quickly fell into my comfort zone and followed the usual path of painting the Peco sleepers with a mix of greys and browns, dry brushed with a pale grey and washed with an acrylic black wash. These methods practiced under my Dad’s careful and encouraging eye, evolving over the years, bringing plastic ties to life… the Atlas rails were painted with rusty dark brown and the tops wiped clean. At this stage I hesitated, the track looked amazing, the urge to follow that well trodden approach was very very very strong…
 |
| Step 2: Add the ballast… L-R Woodland Scenics fine brown, seived dirt, WS fine grey, WS fine buff. |
…so strong that I dug out some Woodland Scenics fine ballast and popped a little brown, grey and buff to evaluate the colours dry and wet (bottom edge)… what was I doing! That well trodden path was in danger of steering me off course, the result would be superb, I’m sure, but not the experience I wanted, the opportunity to work in a different way, with a new approach and new materials. I vacuumed this up before the glue set… and breathe.
I thought again, what else could I use here? What looks more like dirt than dirt? A few years ago I dug some up in the garden, squirrelling it away for ground cover in the future. This was raw, no plant detritus and all sizes with a few stray grains of rock mixed in… I dug out a sieve and graded it slightly, the danger was that the colour may change too much when it was glued as often materials take on a wet look. A quick experiment suggested that although it did indeed dry darker, it was not as bad as saturated.. I tentatively applied some to my test piece in the usual manner…
I was out of my comfort zone and I felt it…
 |
| Step 2 again: Seived dirt for ballast. |
The material was easy to manipulate, but dusty, and the granular size varied enormously. I felt the colour was a little too close to that of the ties. I persevered and finished off the short length of track before applying Woodland Scenics cement by pipette in my more usual manner, dropping it along the edges and letting it absorb in through capillary action. Unconvinced at this stage, things looked too dark, but the test piece (bottom edge of Step 3 photo) showed promise to I took a photo and popped it away to dry for 24 hours.
The result? A nice contrast to the ties in colour, a very natural variation in grain size, a rough yet smooth appearance that just looked so much more natural than a consistent grain of the usual ballast, I was pleased…
 |
| Step 3 - Gluing |
I was so pleased I found it very difficult to step beyond this first test, it was like I was being dragged back to my usual thought processes. I was worried this early success would be spoilt by adding further layers, further work… Trust in the approach shared by Chris, along with some encouragement I had no choice but to press on… using a blend of short static grass fibres and some adhesive applied with a Peco precision static applicator.
I hit another road block, the result, mixed with fine and medium turf in earth, burnt grass and light green blends looked very promising indeed, but it still lacked the depth of Chris’s result… I realised I had another layer left to consider, how could I tie the grass, ballast and ties together…What would work?
Tile grout.Coloured tile grout.The secret ingredient…
So I sourced a small bag of coloured tile grout from eBay, light brown… pale grey might be useful for a grey ballast, dark grey perhaps for a sludgy engine shed… anyhow, light brown for me, sprinkled on dry, worked in with an old brush it mixed all the colours and textures, becoming one yet still made up of several layers. I applied some water with a pipette and as the water washed the sleeper clean the grout sank into the earth, gathered around the grass fibres where they sprang from the ballast, the track came to life before my eyes, even before it had dried I could see such promise…
I made this…It wasn’t easy but I’m proud of it.
It has given me some fresh ideas for ground texture and trackwork on future layouts, be they Derbyshire canal side bull head or light weight flat bottom at a Canadian forest reload…
I share my experience with you because it’s important to recognise that sometimes the inspiration we find in others can lead to learning ourselves. Try something new and see where it takes you. More soon…
Interesting. I've long admired Mike's approach, and how grounded (sorry) it is in observation.
ReplyDeleteI still think we often get sleeper colouring wrong, not surprisingly given it can be complex, and even rust on the rails can tell a complex story. Is this a well used, well maintained line, is it semi-abandoned, or is it well used but uncared for, and it looks like it?
I think there is definitely room for improvement in my work here, and sleeper colouring is one thing I could look towards adjusting. I consciously tend to a palette of consistent colours in my scenery as they blend well and feel right to my eye, but James, observation of prototype is the best practice… and perhaps next I need to try and replicate a specific piece of track rather than something more generic like this… as always thanks for the comment and continuing the conversation.
DeleteIt is a balance isn't it? There is an art of compromise. And the real world is dynamic. In the UK rail can get a new layer of rust almost overnight, timber changes colour with how damp it is. My childhood memories of the slate in Corris on rainy days is of it being so dark are so strong that photos of it in sunshine look model-like to me!
DeleteThis isn’t just an art of compromise, rather an art itself. Realism comes from the artists hand, and through the interpretation of the scene by the viewer. We accept it’s a model, but realism can be a mix of colour choice, fidelity, textures, composition… all things I’ve talked about before… track is often rushed though, and I’m not sure there is any excuse for that. It’s the literal and physical foundation of our craft.
DeleteI think it is important to emphasis TAoC as a concept, not individual words. How do we take a 1:1 scene perceived on a certain day, or through a limited set of photos, and turn it into a model viewed under static conditions or captured by a photo
DeleteI just dislike it as a phrase… compromise is something that suggests loss of what may have been greater. The emphasis should be on the art of the cameo, or the art of railway modelling than compromise. Perhaps I’m just peculiar, but as someone who strives to find the right words I find the phrase and our comfort with it slightly problematic in this context.
DeleteWhen Roy Link first published TAoC plan it was a revelation for many of us. We cannot build a model without a compromise, but one of the skills is doing so in a way that makes the model believable. In that context compromise has nothing to do with the inexcusable "Rule number one"
DeleteI would still suggest you’re talking about the art of composition rather than compromise… ;)
DeleteI love that post. It made me think about labelling and commodification and assumptions. We ‘know’ that sleepers/ties are laid in ballast and we know that modelling supply companies sell bags of material labelled ballast so we apply it to our track and assume 'job done'. Similarly with the track itself: we know our model needs track so we look at what is labelled track in our scale and assume all is well. Rarely do we actually look at the thing we are trying to represent purely in terms of colour, form, and texture, and work backwards. It’s the equivalent of an artist who knows that artists apply paint to a canvas with a brush and never swerves from those materials and methods regardless of the subject they are trying to depict. It takes real imagination to see a link between ‘ballasting’ their model track and digging a hole in the garden.
ReplyDeleteI don’t model any more but I am a novelist and your post has left me questioning what assumptions I’m making and whether ‘trusted’ methods are always the best.
So much we "know" is wrong. But I guess it works both ways, an artist doesn't paint a picture the same way their subject is built.
DeleteColin I’m so glad that my thinking here has transcended the model boundary and has you thinking about your own craft. Wonderful! Let me know if you try anything differently and how it works for you.
DeleteRe 'The Art of Compromise':
ReplyDeleteI agree 'compromise' is problematic. It implies there is some state of perfection which cannot be reached and all one can hope to do is minimise it. That's a little like a race one can never win but only try to be as far from last as possible.
Not only is that a negative attitude but I'm not sure that undefined state of 'perfection' is all it's cracked up to be.
Is 'perfection' in modelling terms a perfect replica in miniature? If so then we've all seen model railways that are so 'perfect' there's no place for the creator's interpretation or imagination. There's a similar issue with the genre of photorealism in art were an artist attempts to paint a picture that looks exactly like a photograph. The skill is obvious, but one 's left wondering what the point is.
A much better word, I think, is verisimilitude, which means "the quality of seeming true or of having the appearance of being real," (Cambridge Dictionary) and the key words there are 'seeming' and 'appearance'. To take an image familiar to railway enthusiasts, JMW Turner's Rain, Steam, and Speed, is about as far as you can get from photorealism, but it does convey what it felt like to be there.
Colin, thanks for the further extended thoughts and a new word for my vocabulary!
DeleteYou make some very valid and pertinent points, it is only in recent years that I’ve realised that my artistic approach is my own, and it is that which I enjoy and others relate to, through their own lens, when declaring a model inspirational motivational or realistic.
Greeting James,
ReplyDeleteI’m gratified that my work provided some inspiration for your experiments. My approach is nothing more than try stuff and see what happens. The dirt I use often retains a dark tone after it dries. This can be a blessing in disguise but if the effect isn’t wanted, I simply apply a dusting of dry dirt and rub it in with my fingertip or stiff bristled brush. This blends everything together and gives a dry, dusty appearance. I vacuum up any loose material and have had no issues that effect operation.
Mike Cougill
Thanks Mike… in a larger piece I’d probably think about more liberal use of the tile grout as it definitely lightens the earth… and washes work well with the natural earth material too… you’re writing and Chris’s encouragement we’re big motivations with this test piece…
DeleteWhat a fascinating discussion. When does art look "too real to look true?" Or is this also a corollary to "truth is stranger than fiction" for a writer?
ReplyDeleteA recent example. DJs Trains is a great site for thinking about realistic ideas for track layouts and scenery, settings, and such. DJ creates some excellent aerial videos with his drone. The other day I noticed how, along the mainline he was showing, every so often a starkly black tie (sleeper?) stood out from all the more weathered greyish-brown ones. I realized that these had been replaced recently as part of normal track maintenance. Now, I'm wondering if one day I 'should' incorporate this feature in any future layout. In the aerial images it actually made the line look "less realistic!" It was visually jarring. Reality has created a creative dilemma - again! ;-)
Thanks again for sharing your artwork and ideas.
I would suggest that the artist would represent the replacement tie, but not model the stark contrast, rather tone things down. As modellers we are artists and it is our hand that paints these scenes - we make the decisions on how to represent the world we interpret in miniature, good luck!
Delete