It is obvious that after spray painting track you want to get the paint off the top of the rail heads.
What about the inside of the rail heads? If you are meticulous about it will you improve electrical contact? What about paint transfering to wheels if you don't?
Rick
I never worried about cleaning the inside of the railheads. Didn't have any electrical problems without doing it. Also no problem with the dried paint coming off onto the wheels.
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
When I paint rail I first take a Q-tip or other cotton swab and put some very light oil on it, then run that along the top of the rail right before painting. Just a tiny bit of oil is enough. You don't really event want the top of the rail to be oily. It makes it much easier to rub the paint off the top of the rail immediately thereafter, either with a cloth wrapped around a flat stick of wood, or a bit of an old t-shirt wrapped around my index finger. I suspect a bit of oil gets onto the inside of the rail head when I do this but I do not obsess about it. Appearance - wise just about everything but the top crown of prototype rail darkens, and from an electrical conducting model standpoint, again it is the top crown of the rail that matters. To the extent the flanges rub against the very upper portion of the inside of the rail head, it does not appear to cause any meaningful problem of paint rubbing off on the wheels or flanges. I wouldn't worry about it.
Dave Nelson
I'm about ready to paint track and this thread is helpful.
Pruitt = Thanks for sharing your experience.
dknelson - Thanks for posting the tip about the use of oil. I'll definitely keep that in mind.
DEW
I painted all of my rail (except that in my five staging yards) using Pollyscale paint and a 1/2" brush, and even though my layout is an around-the-room style, I also painted the normally unseen side of the rails, too, as I'll often take layout photos with the camera on-layout, facing the aisle (and, of course, also showing the back-side of those rails). I'd guess that to be about at least 700' of rail.I usually did 15' or so (both rails) at a time, then used a rag over my fingertips to remove the dry, but not-yet-hardened, paint from the rail tops.I might have done only 15' of track or one turnout during some sessions, but other times might have spent four or five hours at a time, as I found it to be a very relaxing pasttime. The 1/2" brush eliminates having to go back to the paint bottle after doing only a few inches of inches, so the process is quite a bit faster and easier than you might expect.I've never much cared for spray cans, so brush painting with acrylic paint eliminated masking, overspray, paint smell, and dried paint dust from settling on pretty well everything within the layout room. Also, of course, painting the backside of the rails with a spray can might cover both the rails and at least part of the painter, too. The other benefit of brush painting is that you can do it anytime, even if you come home from work and have only 20 minutes before suppertime....that's easily enough for 15' or more, then cap the paint, rinse out the brush, and go eat. On the other hand, stop and go with a spray can usually doesn't get too far before the nozzle plugs-up, and if you can't clean it, it's headed for the garbage can...wasted.
To each their own, I suppose...I could have used an airbrush, but that would require masking, too...another time-waster.
Wayne
I brush-paint the rails before installing the track on the layout. I use Neo-Lube from Micro-Mark which dries to a flat dark gray. I clean off the top and sides of the railhead after.
I also paint a random number of ties brown or dark gray so they aren't all the same.
I use a thin artist's paint brush and one of two colours:
Tamiya 'Red brown', or Polyscale 'Railroad Tie Brown.'
I try to anticipate where I am likely to place a camera and paint the outer surfaces, minus the bearing surface, accordingly. That leaves probably 35% of the rails unpainted on the layout.
I found cleaning the inside edge of the railhead to be somewhat important, especially on curves. This was usually after cleaning the paint off the top of the rail, I would note some random stuttering in the curves. Cleaning the inside edge eliminated it completely.
Mark.
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Thanks for the feedback. I did about 60 feet of double track over the past few days. My method was to spray a few feet and immediately wipe the top of the rail with a rag wrapped around my finger. Then spray a few more feet, wipe, and then go back to the earlier section and wipe it with the rag wet with paint thinner.
I am now waiting for it to dry for a while before hitting it with a bright boy. After that I will run some locomotives over it. If I notice any stuttering I will go after the inside of the rail.