The Rock!

The other day my order of Arizona Rock and Mineral Ballast came. Since I am modeling the area around the old BN I figured I'd go with something in the area. I picked up two different type of ballast. Mainline (#3) and Regular (#2). I figured I would use both in different areas to see what it would look like. I must say this stuff is 100 times better than Woodland Scenics. It costs more, but the look is well worth the investment.

The mainline ballast looks great. I have a point to point and there really isn't a true mainline, but i figured I'd put it by the bakery industry.

The color is lighter, but gets dark when the glue water mixture is applied.

I also took some time to clean up the weathering on the GP35s. I used a dark wash and it didn't turn out that great. In my other hobby, WW2 armor modeling, I have watched some techniques and figured I'd try on these guys. Turned out great. The wash was very blotchy when i did it, but i cleaned it up with some thinner on a Q-tip. I cleaned up the panels and some of the wash filled in the recessed areas a bit more and added some depth. Looks a ton better! I need to get some decoders in these bad boys and get them running on the layout. The patched out stuff needs a break!