Cool (track) borders

16327 Views 31 Replies 13 Participants Last post by Difflock, Feb 22, 2004

JohnP

Discussion Starter · Feb 9, 2004 (Edited by Moderator)

The latest Scalextric borders and barriers look very good but for my own track I wanted something a little "greener" to reflect it's English countryside setting.

So, just for those who are new to this kind of thing, here is how I set about doing it...

Firstly, I removed the red and white strip and barrier fittings and gave the borders a thorough wash to clean off any grease. I then applied two thinned coats of green acrylic paint. For this I used Windsor and Newton Galeria Sap Green with just enough water added to make it paint on evenly.

Once dry, I added a brown (burnt umber) acrylic "wash". For those that are not familiar with this technique, a wash here is just regular acrylic artist paint thinned with plenty of water so that it just "washes" over the surface without obliterating the green. As it dries you will see how it emphasises the texture of the grass:

Next, I replaced the barrier and placed a strip of masking tape along the front edge.

Then I made a 50/50 mix of PVA hobby glue and painted it on between the tape and the guard rail. Now this is where it starts to get good! Sparingly, sprinkle on some static grass (this is a fibre like grass and not the traditional coloured sawdust type scatter material) and blow on it lightly. This helps it to stand up giving a nice realistic appearance. Don't overdo it though as if you make the grass too dense you will waste all your earlier work in creating the washed base texture which helps to give this it's uneven and natural look.

Now remove the masking tape and leave the border to dry out. Later, if you want you can add a second thinner coat of dilute PVA glue just to set the static grass a little firmer before refitting the red and white edge strip.

When it's all thoroughly dry it's ready to use on the track:

Incidentally, the static grass can be obtained from many model railway or war games suppliers such as Games Workshop. The nice thing is that even if you don't have a permanent track you can still add a little greenery to your layout this way.

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Mo55man

· #21 · Feb 14, 2004

I use the static grass on the bases for the Games Workshop figures I paint. It is so easy to apply and looks great. I hope to make a Blood Bowl stadium one day, complete with a grass and mud field with similar effect to the borders.

I did read an article once in one of the "White Dwarf" magazines where they actually used one of the static grass rolls you can buy from all good model shops. They painted an entire area with PVA glue and then stuck the roll grass side down. When it dried they carefully peeled away the roll to leave the grass. I would imagine this method would need a lot of practice and would prove to be more expensive.

M

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bigal2505

· #22 · Feb 14, 2004

Years ago when I built my tracks from scalextric gear, I discovered that carpet tiles were the exact height to sit flush with the track surface, therefore not requireing fencing as such. The carpet tile was also able to be shaved to add a path or pretend run off area. They were easy to use, cut and place in any area requiring flush mounted scenery. I guess I was lucky coz I found the tiles by mistake out the back of a cricket club that were replacing their bar floor, and they happened to be green.

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JohnP

Discussion Starter · #23 · Feb 16, 2004

Hi SinclairZX81

For some inspiration on muddy, snowy tracks you could check out this great feature in the SlotForum Resources:

SCX 1000 Lakes

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JohnP

Discussion Starter · #24 · Feb 19, 2004 (Edited by Moderator)

Mo55man, Blood Bowl is one of my favourite games too.

This is a selection from my Gridiron Bunny team:

These are metal figures, undercoated, basic colours painted on, shadowed and then highlighted. The bases are finished off with DAS air drying clay, painted sand and all set off with a little static grass.

They are a bit on the small side for pit babes tho'

P.S. these figures are made by Shadowforge Miniatures

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Mo55man

· #25 · Feb 19, 2004

John,
Do you live anywhere near Cambridgeshire, maybe we could arrange a match. I have a rookie human team called the "Well'Ard Warriers". I hope to post a picture of them next week under the "SRA" post to show off some painting techniques.

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JohnP

Discussion Starter · #26 · Feb 19, 2004

Hi M,

I live in the rainy north (although it's really quite nice today

).

Still, I look forward to seeing your "Well'Ard Warriers" on SlotForum next week. I reckon they would just melt at the sight of my "sublimely soft bunnies" though

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SinclairZX81

· #27 · Feb 21, 2004

QUOTE (JohnP @ 16 Feb 2004, 09:36 AM)Hi SinclairZX81

For some inspiration on muddy, snowy tracks you could check out this great feature in the SlotForum Resources:

SCX 1000 Lakes

Yes, that set looks pretty cool. I have the old SCX super sliding curve. There's perhaps a little too much mud though. I started an experiment this weekend, spraying an R2 curve and border white...

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JohnP

Discussion Starter · #28 · Feb 21, 2004

Nicely done SinclairZX81 - I liked the rocks shown in the link pictures too

How about misting a little white over the red and white curbing to give a little bit of a snow effect on there too?

Strange cars though, I was expecting to see a pair of 1/32 Sinclair C5's

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SinclairZX81

· #29 · Feb 22, 2004

QUOTE Nicely done SinclairZX81 - I liked the rocks shown in the link pictures too

Hah! My 'snow bank' you mean ...

They are the start of thinking about snow bank barriers...

QUOTE How about misting a little white over the red and white curbing to give a little bit of a snow effect on there too?

I'd actually like to lose the red altogether but when I worked on it with thinner it seemed to bleed red forever

QUOTE Strange cars though, I was expecting to see a pair of 1/32 Sinclair C5's

Now THAT would be cool! The best I could do right now is stick an original 16K RamPack on a chassis and whizz that about...

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Difflock

· #30 · Feb 22, 2004

LOL! But don't forget to use a cardboard spacer; as soon as you get the old, infamous 16K RAM pack WOBBLE, it would crash!!

Ahh...takes me back that does....I waited for a ZX Spectrum

Mark.

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JohnP

Discussion Starter · #31 · Feb 22, 2004

16K RAM pack WOBBLE? I like the sound of that!

We already have flexi chassis and rattler chassis in slot cars so why not a ram pack wobble chassis too

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Difflock

· #32 · Feb 22, 2004

Because, John the other two chassis allow continued operation of the device. The wobble phenomenon was extremely detrimental to the poor old ZX-81, especially when you'd spent the last 20 minutes waiting for the cassette tape to load the program - one violent sneeze and game over before you start!

ahem, sorry, this is sooo far off topic..

Mark.

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