Hi,
I believe weathering your freight cars or track gives your layout character.
You have something that no one else has.
I was going to use 2 pts Poly S Roof brown, and one pt Poly S rust.
The ties, I was going to use 2 pts Poly S Grimmy Black, and one pt. Poly
S Railroad tie brown.
For yards and sidings, I was going to use 2 pts Poly S Rail Brown, and
one pt. Poly S Rust.
The ties, I was going to use Poly S Railroad Tie Brown with a wash of
alcohol and Poly S Dust.
Chris
I read this thread with great interest yesterday. When I first started this hobby a few months ago I used scraps to try everything out. When working with roadbed I first glued (latex caulk) a short section of cork roadbed to some plywood. Later just before laying track I glued (again latex caulk) a piece of track to this "test bed". Then when I was ready to solder feeders I tried it out first on my test bed. I figured it was better to mess up my test piece than my layout while I was learning.
So yesterday, after reading this thread I thought I'd give track painting a try for the first time. I have limited supplies so I simply used some model paints my wife had kicking around and with a brush I painted the rails and ties with "Brown Metal Oxide" acrylic paint. I couldn't believe my eyes. It looked amazing! So little effort really produced noticeable results. I will definitely be painting my track when I get to that point. I would suggest if you have doubts to try what I described and see for yourself.
I paint trackwork with a simple can of spray paint. Any flat brown or grey works well, usually there is a good variety of primers that work well for trackwork colours.
Once the track is laid in place I paint everything with one colour, immediately clean the top of the rails with a piece of scrap wood (this works very well) and let it all dry completely.
Once dry I manually paint some ties with slightly varying shades of the same colour, either with a brush or an airbrush. Then everything is ballasted and glued, including surrounding ground colours.
Once completely dry, usually overnight, I free up any stuck switchpoints, which is easily done if everything is completely dry.
I brush a wash of diluted black leather dye mixed with alcohol down the centre of the rails. A very diluted colour is used here, too dark and it will ruin the job. A darker wash is used around the switchpoints and frog area.
Next I paint the sides of the rails with Floquil rust. This can be very quickly done using one of their PaintPens, otherwise a brush works fine, but takes a bit longer.
Thats it, the results usually look great!
A collection of finished trackwork for various displays I have built over the last few years.
HaroldAThanks. Does the Rust-O-Leum affect the plastic ties?
Thanks. Does the Rust-O-Leum affect the plastic ties?
No, but it will likely attack foam. This would be bad if you painted the track over foam roadbed. I used cork roadbed on wood bench work, so no worries there.
I picked up a set of paint markers at Hobby Lobby today in Rail brown, tie brown, and rust, with their 40% off coupon, it came to just a little over $3 for the set. I've been using bottle paint, but I think this will speed up the process considerably.
HaroldAI tried Polly S Rust and it looks to orange to me
Rusty rails come in a wide variety of colors.
Get a photo of your prototype's track and match the paint color to that.
There's never time to do it right, but always time to do it over.....
Most darker brown paint will do. Paint the ties at random with different shades. You can use spray or brush. ( it's just weathering!)
I like to paint my track and I find it easier before ballasting. I reckon red oxide mixed with black goes pretty well. Also some raw umber. I mix it loosely and I slap it all over the ties and rails with a brush. When it's dry I run some grey along the ties with a brush that fits between the rails without painting them and I use the edge of a bit of hardboard to clean the rail head.
Mike
Modelling the UK in 00, and New England - MEC, B&M, D&H and Guilford - in H0
Painting the rails gives a nice look but I ran into contact issues with it. I use gun blueing on my rails for the freshly lay look. I did a section in my rail yard for a test and found no contact issues with it. Now that I have some operating hours on it it has a neat shiny inside edge just like the real thing.
4x8 are fun too!!! RussellRail
I paint the rails and ties seperately with an air brush but I have seen it done with rattle cans. Several different colors were used, I believe red oxide primer and dark gray primers also.
I brush paint my track after I have the track installed, all the joints smoothed out, and the feeders dropped.
For the main track I use Polly S Zinc Chromate Primer:
And for the yard and industrial tracks I like Polly S. DRG&W Freight Car Brown:
Nick
Take a Ride on the Reading with the: Reading Company Technical & Historical Society http://www.readingrailroad.org/
I agree with Joe Fugate when he says that the rails should be painted, and most of the ties, too. In fact, I ballast first, weather the ballast per Joe's method, and only then do I hand paint the rails. I would not use Polyscale's Railroad Tie Brown again...seems to vary hugely from batch to batch. But Roof Brown looks good in photos.
I paint the rails last so that the rails, tie plates, and the wood and ballast near the flanges on the foot of the rails gets some rusty bleed-down...very prototypical.
To build on the post above, I think well ballasted, well weathered tracks stand out for me as much as rails painted the wrong/garrish colours, or rails not painted at all, stand out. To me, the job isn't done unless some attempt has been made to weather rails.
-Crandell
I have wrestled with this question since I began my current layout about 7 years ago and so far, I have opted not to paint. I do think this is an outstanding effect when I see the work of others, but when it isn't there, I don't think it stands out. It just doesn't grab my attention when I run my trains. This is in keeping with my overall philosophy regarding fine details. Things that are missing are not as noticeable as things that either don't belong or have been done badly.
I may someday decide to add this effect to my rails but I have far more important things to do. Obviously, this means manually applying both the primer and the top coat rather than spraying. I have done a few experiments and so far haven't got a result I really liked. My own observation is that the sides of rail in my area is a fairly uniform dirty brown. I think Roof Brown is a little too dark to replicate that look so it would need to be muted a little.
I too painted my track with polyscale rail brown with an air brush set I bought from harbor freight store. It is a dual action spray unit complete with the air brush attatchments. All for around $90.00 with tax(NY). I am very satisified with the outcome. good investment. I wondered if I should ballast the track first or paint so I decided to paiont first then ballast. dont really know what is best just my preference.
LooseClu I like the looks of Micro Engineering's weathered track (code 83) which is painted with an annodizing agent that conducts electrical current. They sell the solution (which I have ordered because my turnouts now look out of place). It should be easily applied and won't effect tie color like paint will (at least that's what I was told). I do know it does help to file off the color where you want solder feeder wires. Roy
I like the looks of Micro Engineering's weathered track (code 83) which is painted with an annodizing agent that conducts electrical current. They sell the solution (which I have ordered because my turnouts now look out of place). It should be easily applied and won't effect tie color like paint will (at least that's what I was told). I do know it does help to file off the color where you want solder feeder wires. Roy
Micro Engineering sells bottles of the patina fluid they use to preweather their track. It needs repeated applications but is one way to darken rail that is already in place.
Don't ignore the paint sticks from Testors/Floquil, a couple of colors of which are intended to weather rail.
Dave Nelson
Roy Onward into the fog http://s1014.photobucket.com/albums/af269/looseclu/
I've only ever cleaned the soldered rail and feeder joints to remove the flux, (I use isopropl alcohol fand a toothbrush or this). If you have good ventilation you can use spray cans of mineral browns to medium browns, mix it up, track is not uniform in color.
Spray the rail from the sides, then spray the ties from above, you'll get a natural color separation. If you're painting by hand, paint the rails, don't worry about being too neat, afterward come back with a flat brush and paint the ties with different shades of black/gray.
Jay
C-415 Build: https://imageshack.com/a/tShC/1
Other builds: https://imageshack.com/my/albums
A light spray with a can of automotive primer - brown or grey probably, reduces the need to hyper-clean the track and allows brushed-on acrylics to stick much better. I think painting is worth doing. The last batch of track I laid was sectional - not flex - and I washed it with soap and water, let it dry, assembled with some joiners, lightly sprayed with primer, let dry, then airbrushed with some brown latex. It needed only a little touchup after laying and wiring.
Jim
Rustoleum Brown and Krylon Camoflauge Brown sray cans look pretty good too.
Welcome to the forum!
On a small N-scale layout I airbrushed on a roof brown color and it looked good. On my current layout under construction, I will have to brush paint the rails because I am using concrete tie flextrack. I am going to be using a very dark (almost black) grimy color because that seems to look best in some of the layouts I have been looking at lately. Jamie
CLICK HERE FOR THE CSX DIXIE LINE BLOG
When using acrylics, is it necessary to clean the rails before painting? If so, what do you use and how do you do it?
73
Bruce in the Peg
I used Rustoleum 'Rusty Metal Primer'. You can purchase a small jar (instead of the standard spray can) to brush on.
Hello H.
After I painted some of the most obvious track, I was really impressed with the improvement of the appearance to the layout. Instead of seeing shinny rails which grabbed your attention the rest of the layout stands out. To make a comparison think of a female smiling (I have to be carefull here) wearing braces and one who isn't. You will find that it's worth the effort. I try to do a little everyday and usually do more than planned. As for color I use Badger roof brown but there are a lot of colors and brands that work well. I tried a couple of colors that were avaiable locally and they wee either too red or too dark. Also I tried painting a piece of flex track before laying but when I put it on the layout when it was flexed the paint popped off. I do wear trifocals and have dry eye syndrome.
Good luck, Bob
Don't Ever Give Up
HaroldA Ok - I have my trackwork done but now am faced with the decision to paint or not to paint track. I don't own an air brush for starters, so I am looking at the proverbial brush. What colors are good? I tried Polly S Rust and it looks to orange to me so what would look good without having to resort to trifocals and days worth of work?? H
Ok - I have my trackwork done but now am faced with the decision to paint or not to paint track. I don't own an air brush for starters, so I am looking at the proverbial brush. What colors are good? I tried Polly S Rust and it looks to orange to me so what would look good without having to resort to trifocals and days worth of work??
H
I recently painted my rails using Poly-S roof brown using a OO brush and added hints of rust in places as highlights. I too think the actual Poly-S rust color looks too orange for general use so I only "streaked" in on in various places (my preference only). I was sure to do this well before ballasting. My layout is only a 9 x 11 around the walls so the job was not too tedious but I'd not want to do a whole lot more by hand. I was very satisfied with the results however, and I do believe weatherd rail is one of those touches that greatly add to the believability of the layout.
You might look into the 'Rusty Rails Painter' gizmo. I haven't tried it yet, have one on order, and it looks like it might be a handy little device. Also, from what I've been able to gather it can be used with already laid track - at least easier than with a brush.
Dave
'there's something happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear' Modeling the Hard Knox Valley Railroad in HO scale http://photos.hardknoxvalley.com/
Rail brown or Roof brown make good colors for painting track.
Well if you're going to paint by brush, it's best to do it before laying the track...but I guess that doesn't help you now.
I use "Neo-Lube" from MicroMark's catalog, an electronics lubricant that dries to a flat dark gray. Then I remove any from the top of the rails with a Brightboy. I usually clean the sides of the head of the rail too. Unlike paint, Neo-Lube will conduct electricity so you do need to be a little careful around turnouts and such where you could accidently cause a short...but I haven't had any problems like that with it.
I leave about half the ties black, and paint the rest different shades of brown or gray for contrast.