How do you weather (paint) track?

[Anonymous]

I'm building a new layout and have most of the track laid and wired. The next step is to weather the rails and ties with paint.
On previous layouts years ago, I always used a mix of Floquil Grimy Black and Rust to do this with an airbrush. This time around, I'm leary of using Floquil because of the solvent base and the health and environmental risks associated with it. However, I'm not sure how the water based paints like Polly-Scale or Modelflex will work on rail. Does it stick and adhere well?

Anybody feel free to jump in with comments on how you've done this and the results of your experiences.

[Anonymous]

Hello, I just used artic acrylics, (Rust/orange mixed with Raw umber and brown,) used a brush and then wiped the top of the rail with a paper towel, you don't have to be neet as you will probably ballast afterwards, it just needed a little cleaning with a brite boy the next day!

[Anonymous]

Acrylic paints stick just as well on rail as everything else (i.e. good). It would be a good idea to put a drop of oil on a cloth and wipe it on the rail heads to make it easy to get the paint off where you don't want it. You don't have to, just don't let the paint dry of it'll be a pain to get off.

[Jetrock]

I prep the top of the track wiht a few drops of mineral oil on a paper towel, then spray Polly S Railroad Tie Brown. It sticks nicely to the side of the rail but wipes easily off the top of the track while wet--I just mask the live parts of switches and go back over them with a disposable bru***o touch up as much of the masked area as I can without losing electrical connections.

For my visible (not in-street) track, I go back over the track for a second coat of Polly S Rust on the sides of the rails themselves, normally applied with one of those disposable plastic fluff-top brushes. Having the rails and the track two different (but weathered and realistic) colors adds quite a bit to their realism, in my opinion. Most of my track is in-street so the track painting is mostly to make the track less visible from the flangeways in the street.

[ndbprr]

Anybody paint the ties?

[denny99]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ndbprr

Anybody paint the ties?

sure! I use concrete ties, and I weather them by brybrushing some brown powder.

[Jetrock]

When I airbru***rack I can't really help but paint the ties too--that's why I use Railroad Tie Brown. It greatly improves the appearance of black plastic Atlas flextrack ties, and track looks fine that color too--though, as mentioned above, I do add some Rust to visible tracks.

[Anonymous]

Tamiya X-26 Clear orange is great for rust. Its also acrylic.

[mls1621]

The last module I was invovled with was protable, so we could roll it outside. We laid all the track and used Floquil Rail Brown in a spray can to paint the rails and ties (Atlas Flex track and Peco turnouts).

The color is very close to the mainline track in our area. The most important thing to me, is getting the color and the size of the ballast right. I model in N scale and even the fine ballast is too large. Gary Hoover lives here in the St Louis area and I've been fortunate enough to see his layout during the 2001 convention, before he tore it down. Gary uses fine ballast on his HO layout and it looks great.

I'd recommend using oil based paint, such as Floquil, to paint the track, this prevents washing the color off when it comes time for ballast. I like to wet the ballast with alcohol prior to the application of the glue. Alcohol allows the glue to flow more readily into the ballast, preventing pooling between the rails.

I hope this is helpful

[EMDSD40]

I HAVE 900 FT OF TRACK AIRBRUSHED WITH FLOQUIL RAIL BROWN. I DID NO PREP WORK WITH OIL, JUST USED FINE SANDPAPER TO CLEAN THE RAILS AFTERWARDS. I ALSO HAVE 100 TURNOUTS, NO SPECIAL CARE IN PAINTING THOSE EITHER. CLEANED THEM THE SAME WAY, USE A FINE RAG TO WIPE OFF THE RESIDUE FROM SANDING. FORGOT TO MENTION , THIS IS BRASS TRACK AND HAS BEEN LAID FOR ABOUT 10 YRS. I CLEAN THE TRACK WITH BRITE BOY AND MDC BOXCAB DIESEL TWICE A YEAR AND I HAVE NO PROBLEMS RUNNING ANY OF MY 200+ LOCOMOTIVES. THE TRAINROOM IS KEPT VERY CLEAN FROM THE START, THIS ADDS TO THE RELIABLITY OF BRASS TRACK. AS FOR BALLAST... THE TRACK IS LAID ON CORK ROADBED AND I USE GRAY CAT LITTER BY THE TWENTY LB BUCKET. THIS HAS BEEN DOWN FOR ABOUT 8 YRS, NOT GLUED BUT LOOSE. I HAVE NO PROBLEMS WITH THAT EITHER AND IT'S FAR CHEAPER THAN USING THE 8OZ BAGS FROM THE HOBBY SHOP. ALSO, IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE ANYTHING-VACUUM IT UP AND CHANGE THE TRACK-PAINT-BALLAST AND YOUR GOOD TO GO. HOPE THIS HELPS YOU IN MAKING YOUR DECISIONS. MY LAYOUT HAS BEEN LIKE THIS FOR YEARS WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS

[ndbprr]

This is interesting because people who handlay track go to great lengths to die the ties different colors yet there doesn't seem to be any effort in the ready to run group of us that takes the time to paint the ties varying shades. I have a box of Atlas 3' lengths that I was thinikng of doing this to while watching the playoffs. I think I need to go trackside and look a little more closely at the prototype to see if this is necessary or needed and try one piece to see if it is noticebly more realistic.

[Jetrock]

Personally I prefer using several washes and drybrush coats, unevenly applied, to provide variation to ties. Most of my ties will be covered with street, so they're invisible except what can be seen through the flangeways--the main reason I paint the ties and MDF underneath them is to make the flangeways less noticeable.

[Anonymous]

I first air brush Rail Brown Flowquil on the rails and ties. Then I follow with a thinned down Rust color and focus on the rails, this gives the rails a bit of rust without affecting the ties. Then I lighty dust the track with thinned down black for some shadow depth.

In some cases you can go back with a medium grey for some high lights, but I prefer not too.

Lastly I use a small piece of 1/8" cork soaked with thinner and remove the paint from the top of both rails. The cork precisly removes the paint from the top of the rails only and is very quick. A paper towel may drop between the rails and remove paint where you don't want too.

Dave

[Anonymous]

This is the only time in my modeling that I use spray paint. I don't have an air brush and have never felt I needed one. Like some have previously mentioned, I use Floquil roof brown to spray the rails and ties. I love Floquil paints and am not concerned about using it. After the paint has dried and I've cleaned the tops of the rails, I go back and brush paint some rust colors at random locations on the rails, wing rails, guard rails. I also use grays and grimes to color random ties making some look newer and some look older. I am happy with how it turned out!