Model Railroad Scenery Techniques for Creating Rotted Ties
George SelliosDescription
For master modeler and kit builder George Sellios, there’s no big secret or unorthodox technique necessary for creating a realistic scene, it’s all about keeping things simple while adding as much detail as possible.
In this segment, host Allen Keller sits down with George Sellios to find out what model railroad scenery techniques he uses to make wood look old and rotten. George goes through each step of his unique method for creating rotted ties as well as presents a list of materials you will need to represent rotted ties. You’ll learn how this technique can also be used to represent rotted wood on any old building or bridge. We’re excited to see the rest of George’s layout, and we were glad to have a chance to learn how one of the greats goes about his work!
You've got a really neat method for making wood look old and rotten. Let's see how you do that. Here is a list of materials that you will need to represent rotted ties. By the way, the technique can also be used to represent rotted wood on any old building or bridge. You will need 3/32nd square wood for HO scale. I normally work with eight inch long pieces. A tube of raw sienna acrylic color. Other colors will be used and I'll explain this later. The black alcohol stain. A razor saw with fine teeth. Make sure they're fine teeth. You don't want one with heavy teeth, because it'll make out-of-scale cracks and splits. And a wood-chopping tool. I'll take my razor saw with fine teeth and then just run it over the strip wood several times. And that will depend on how weathered you want the wood. I usually work from halfway and work outward. And make sure you do all four sides. And then do each corner. You don't want square sides on old rotted wood. And don't worry about the large splinters because they, in some cases they look very nice but you'll probably wanna wipe off the larger ones. Then I'll use a stain of raw sienna. This is a very heavy stain. I want it to show through the alcohol stain later on. I'll just brush it like this. A lot of raw sienna, a little water? Yes, yes. And I get a lot of the pigment onto my brush. Wow, that looks, yeah, real dark. Then I'll do half of it like that, then turn it around. And you want a lot of stain on there. And just cover it like this. And then let it dry completely. Then I'll take the piece of strip wood and put it in my wood chopping tool. You can see it's set for eight and a half scale feet which is the normal length for a tie. Then I'll start cutting the piece down like this. I normally do several at these lengths at a time, because I would like a large pile of ties. And I'll take the ties with my tweezers and dunk it into the alcohol and ink. And then just glue it in place. Here is a good pile of rotted ties. You can either use these by themselves along the right-of-way, or just pile them up as you see here.
Interesting.