Track Painting Photo Tutorial (D/U Warning)

[loathar]

Another lefty! What do you do about all the ties?

[SilverSpike]

Nick, great technique and I like the step-by-step approach you showed in this tutorial.

It's also nice to get the item #'s and names for the products used in project.

It's nice golden "how to" gems like this that keep me coming back to the MR forum!

I have seen other similar techniques from other's who will wait to weather/paint the rails until after the ballast is applied so that it also gets some of the "rusting" and weathering effect.

Thanks,

Ryan

[nbrodar]

Several people have commented on how nice my track looks.  So here's a run down on my process. I hand paint my track with a 1/8" round brush, using Polly Scale paints.  Normally, I work back to front and right to left (I'm a lefty) to avoid dragging my hand over freshly painted track.  For simplicity, I use the same color for the rails and ties.  #414258 DRGW Freight Car Red for yard and industrial tracks and #414293 Zinc Chromate Primer for the mains.

Newly laid track for my engine service facility.

Painting the outside of the far rail.  Most times there is enough slop from painting the rail to take care of painting the outside ties as well.  If you want more color, you can go back over the outside ties.

Paint the inside of the far rail.

I keep a piece of paper towel handy to immediately clean up any paint the gets on the railhead. Although, often I use my bare finger.  So by the end, they're all rust colored.

Paint the inside of the near rail.

Randomly wipe the brush side to side across the inside ties.  Don't worry too much about hitting every part of each tie.  This gives each tie a slightly different look.

Finally, paint the outside of the near rail.  Again, touch up the outside ties if desired.

And the finished engine terminal.  I added some Engine Black over the still wet Freight Car Red at the engine servicing areas, and used straight Engine Black, with no Freight Car Red, for the track that will be covered by the engine house floor.

A couple other yard and industrial areas with DRGW Freight Car Red.

Here's a few shots of the Main Line using Zinc Chromate Primer.

Nick