I decided to try a little leather dye mixed with alcohol for tie coloring. I bought Lincoln Black Leather Dye form Kent Shoe Repair shop for $10 this morning (price seemed a little steep, but I didn’t want to spend the day searching for leather dye.)
Results:
I think it’s too black and white without enough brown to warn it up. Next I’ll probably try railroad tie brown wash as base and maybe a very light shoe dye wash as highlighter.
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Wow! Both look great.
Ah the joys of outdoor model railroading! One less problem you have to deal with 😛
Same layout, different section (this guy is building literally a 5+ acre layout) and you can see the effects of the UV rays with the walnut stain http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8511/8576156754_d670ef1755_c.jpg
The shoe dye stain faded to this on my layout. https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/25804_362354396911_2280313_n.jpg
Miniwax Walnut looks like a great base I’ve seen that a couple times now. I might try the acrylic version. Maybe the dye will fade a bit as it dries, we’ll see.
Glad you tired it! I never tired different percentages other than 50/50 so that might lighten it up a little. I had the exact opposite problem, it got too light after being outdoors. The first couple of months it faded nicely. I’m going to try minwax ‘walnut’ stain for ties next. Something along the lines of this. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8087/8570449474_75120077f0_c.jpg (Not my layout, but a fellow GR)
Good to see progress of your layout! 🙂