PAINTING TRACK

[snowey]

I have Peco switch machines on my switches. When I paint the track, should I cover the machines, to keep paint from getting on them?[?][?][?][%-)][%-)]

[Anonymous]

Ill try and give you a little help here. I beleive the switch motors you are talking about are the ones that lay next to the switch, and are long and thin? Well these should be paint proof. Alteast all of the plastic. If there is any exposed metal, they might be paint sensitive. As a precaution put a light greese on all metal areas of the switches befor you paint. With greese applied you can paint everything and let dry. The paint will stick to the greese and when you wipe away the greese, the metal under the greese will be paint free. Also you might want to protect the contact points in the switch rails from paint. These points are electrical connections. ( don't use greese here though, use tape or a peice of scrap roadbed)

[snowey]

no, you're talking about ATLAS switch machines! I'm talking about the PECO ones. You know, they're all metal and go under the switch.

[Seamonster]

If the paint got on the armature (the part that slides back and forth inside the coils) it could possibly cause it to bind. Putting a drop of oil on that part should prevent the paint from sticking, but you'd have to wipe off the paint/oil residue afterwards which would be very difficult to get at with a swab. I would think that if you're just painting the rails with an airbrush, and not the ballast and ties, you could put a piece of cardstock over the open area above the switch machine to keep stray overspray from reaching it. Heed the advice from ntlange about protecting the places where the point rails contact the stock rails. That carries the current to the locomotives and getting paint in there would insulate it, causing your locomotives to stall. Another good hint that I've seen is to lightly coat the tops of the rails with oil before painting them. Then you can easily clean the paint off them afterwards. You don't want paint here for the same reason--that's where the current is picked up by the locomotive wheels. Good luck.

[Tom Bryant_MR]

I'm curious. What opinions are there on painting track ? Is this pretty much a general practice to cover the black/shinyness of the ties?

I saw this topic in several other areas/forums. I searched around for air brush equip. I've never used an air brush before and am not far enough into this hobby to justify expense at this point. I've only started on the model buidlings / bridges etc. A local shop suggested I just purchase a spray can of the roof brown I think it was called and use lightly on the track. I used the oil film trick on the track first and then wiped up. I probably did not use enough as I cannot tell a big difference on my N scale track.

[bikerraypa]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Tom Bryant_MR

I'm curious. What opinions are there on painting track ? Is this pretty much a general practice to cover the black/shinyness of the ties?

I saw this topic in several other areas/forums. I searched around for air brush equip. I've never used an air brush before and am not far enough into this hobby to justify expense at this point. I've only started on the model buidlings / bridges etc. A local shop suggested I just purchase a spray can of the roof brown I think it was called and use lightly on the track. I used the oil film trick on the track first and then wiped up. I probably did not use enough as I cannot tell a big difference on my N scale track.

You should be able to do a pretty good job with a spray can. Remember that not only do you need to spray from above, but also from each side as well to get the inside and outside of each rail. That is when you really notice a difference. When you only spray from above, a lot of the paint just goes right on the railhead and is then wiped off. I used a spray bomb from Wally World to paint the track on my N scale Brady's Bend Central, and it came out pretty good.


Ray out.