Track treatment

  When I got back into the hobby after a 15+ year hiatus I dipped my toe in using an app to find local train material. I would have loved to go code 83 on the mainline and code 70 for everything else but my wallet wasn’t very deep. With an empty basement, access to free 1 x 4’s and some plywood I was able to essentially build beyond my means which meant I had to make concessions with things like track. 

  I struck some good deals on used Atlas code 100. While not my first choice it allowed me to get up and running for pennies on the dollar. I’ve followed some techniques others have used to tone down the code 100. 

   Brown camouflage rattle can treatment is first. It gets rid of the black ties and shiny rail easily. Next I use gray acrylic paint to heavily fade random ties. I then pretty much dry brush the tops of the ties to bring out the wood grain detail. Finally, at the spots where ties were removed at joints I put wooden ties in to fill the gaps. 

  My track will never look as good as some of the code 70/83 out there but it looks much better than stock code 100 and the technique is cheap and easy, my favorite things!!






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