I can now add air-brushing to the list of things I have done. It was much easier than expected. I watched Cody paint track in the MRVP video and went to work. I masked the turnout like I saw, painted away, and removed the masking tape and it looked just like the video. I used the Bright Boy to clean the tops of the track and I was ready to test the track. I must not have adequately masked the turnouts because there was no power downstream from the points. I was going to come in and ask the experts the best way to clean the turnouts; instead I looked over, saw some steel wool, and said, "Hmm." I used a small piece of steel wool and a small screwdriver to scrub the sides of the rails, and now it works like a champ. Did I get lucky or is this an acceptable way to clean the points?
Richard
What works, works. Personally, I like to use a strip of fine emory paper to polish the contact surfaces where the points close and then give it a shot of contact enhancer.
Charlie
It is effective, but not efficient. By that I mean you got the results you intended, and for the reasons you intended. However, it is widely accepted in the hobby that using abrasives can end up costing us more in the long run. Sure, we get the job done using steel wool, hobby blades, Bright Boys, tiny grit sand-paper, and the like, but all those leave the surface you have just burnished with a whole bunch of tiny, even unseeable, grooves. Those grooves are gunk magnets, and they will be that much more resistant to getting clean the next time you go to get the shiny look. You'll end up scrubbing harder and longer next time...more wear, more time, and you'll still leave all those grooves.
I guess it depends on how you value your time, and if you don't mind replacing or repairing turnouts. I try hard not to use abrasives, but in all honesty, I do resort often to #600 grit sand-paper to get rid of the black crud near the frogs and to swipe the inside flat surfaces of the points rail tips. I do this as seldom as I possibly can, and only a light swipe is what I do. I often try alcohol first, and then Goof Off. If neither of those improves my operations at that turnout, I reach for a tiny swatch of black 600 grit paper. I have three or four of them all around the layout. I reach for one of them maybe once a month when I run trains two or three times each week. That's not so bad...
I wouldn't recommend steel wool near any area that a loco is likely to run. The fine bits of steel that come off when you are scrubbing the track can end up in the motor of the loco and mess up its electronics. Not sure how it would effect a decoder, suppose that would depend on what shorted out.
Some folks use fine abrasives successfully, others stay from them all together.
Good luck,
cowman I wouldn't recommend steel wool near any area that a loco is likely to run. The fine bits of steel that come off when you are scrubbing the track can end up in the motor of the loco and mess up its electronics. . .
I wouldn't recommend steel wool near any area that a loco is likely to run. The fine bits of steel that come off when you are scrubbing the track can end up in the motor of the loco and mess up its electronics. . .
thanks for the warning about the residue. I will make sure I blow out the garbage before I do anything else.
RideOnRoadthanks for the warning about the residue. I will make sure I blow out the garbage before I do anything else.
It would also be a good idea to pass a magnet over the area to get all those small steel particles that will remain after cleaning.
Joe
Never steelwool Richard. A tiney piece of that could also cause a short. I'd vac the area real good. I use mostly denatured Alcohol on the points and hinges and sometimes Areo-Car Track and Rail Cleaner. After the Alcohol has evaped, I'll put a small drip of Aero on the contact part of the point. Works everytime. Doug
I use my thumb nail to remove paint from the top of thr rails after painting, it works great, and after a while I get an indent in the nail the shape of the rail and it works even better.
As far as cleaning gunk and stuff in turnouts and other areas, I find the nylon wheel brush on the Dremel cleans well and doesn't scratch.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Thanks to all for keeping the novice in check!