New layout in new house underway after several years and wanted to pick up on latest practices in track weathering since being away from the hobby for awhile.
Wondering about track weathering. Seems like simply spray painting a single rattle can color has become popular. That's appealing to me since I'm not so hot with airbrushing. Doesn't seem too prototypical however to have rail and tie the same colors but seems acceptable in the community. I've had some previous mixed success with WS paint pens but difficult to get consistent results across long track sections and the WS tie color is pretty dismal. Not looking for museum quality but would like suggestions for a simple, reasonable result for the average modeler. Thanks.
I was disappointed in the WS pens. They jumped over the tie plates leaving an unweathered spot on the rail.
I prefer rattle can (Camo brown) because it's fast. You can then paint individual ties or groups of ties grayish, or black either with a brush or rattle can.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
I have painted each tie individually since my third layout.
-Photographs by Kevin Parson
It is up to you if this is worth it or looks good.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Exactly! The pens leave a lot to be desired. Seems to me once I get the rails, web and tie plates looking good (and rail head cleaned) I can simply go back over the ties with an approriate sized brush and various color shades you mention closer to prototypical findings on main line vs spurs and indutry areas. Thanks.
BigDaddy I was disappointed in the WS pens. They jumped over the tie plates leaving an unweathered spot on the rail. I prefer rattle can (Camo brown) because it's fast. You can then paint individual ties or groups of ties grayish, or black either with a brush or rattle can.
This is what I do. I lay tracks (even turnouts) out on a large sheet of cardboard. I use rustoleum matte camo brown. I then wrap a wood block with paper towel and run it across the top of the tracks. After it dries, I brush some watered down railroad tie brown acrylic in a haphazard pattern and then use some rust colored charcoal in some spots. I was very nervous using rustoleum on the turnouts but it has no impact on the mechanics of the switch. Always been happy with the final product
No fan here about the pens. Instead, I use Micro Engineering weathered track. For unpainted track, I suggest you avoid paint on the track unless you want to start using a method to remove it from the tops. I also paint burnt umber or another rust shade on soldered spots to hide them.
I used a 1/2" brush to paint both sides of all rails (even those not normally visible), and every once in a while would also brush-paint some of the ties.
When that was done, all of the track was ballasted, using both Woodland Scenics material and real limestone, along with Black Beauty blasting medium and also real coke, collected (and size-graded) at the steel plant where I worked.
All of those materials are also used as loose (not cemented together) loads in open hoppers and gondolas.
I always found using a brush for rail-painting to be a relaxing past-time.
Wayne
NorthsideChi I was very nervous using rustoleum on the turnouts but it has no impact on the mechanics of the switch.
I tape over the points.
I start with weathered rail and use either rust all. or thinned paint of a rust color. over the weathered rail. The pics show examples of the results. variing the concentration depending on how heavy use the rail gets.
Shane
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
Sorry, but I forgot to include a photo in my last post about track...
...the photo above is of Atlas flex track, with brush-painted rails and ties, along with real limestone ballast.
I used a dry bush method on mine, as there is not a lot of track that is actually visable, so it was somewhat easy and quick.
Mike.
My You Tube
One of my NMRA clinics on track and trackside detail shows how the darkened colors/rust from rails, tieplates and spikes DOES in fact tend to color the nearby ballast over time. So a certain amount of slop in painting the rails is OK
In a few spots on my layout I also used Micro Engineering pre weathered flex track. However, I also tried to "weather my own" using the liquid patina fluid that Micro Engineering sells, or sold, and I found to my disgust that it does not in the least replicate their own pre weathered track. So now I have some green rail I need to address.....
For MOST of my layout I weathered the flex track BEFORE it was in place using rattle cans of various camouflage browns and dark reds -- one can in each hand so the two colors were being applied simulaneously, for a nice somewhat random effect. I built painting stands out of foam core so I could paint seven or eight pieces at the same time. I also built curved stands to my radii and the flex track I used (PSC and Micro Engineering) is still enough that it holds a curve
However I noticed that for final track laying any adjustment would uncover a little unpainted dot of nickle silver where the rail had shifted on the flex track. I had good luck using a painting pen that Testors offered in various weathering colors over the years. Originally a Floquil product then rebranded to Testors itself. Perhaps no longer made given how Testors buys up good companies, blows its nose in them like a Kleenex, and tosses them aside.
I did experiement with spray painting track once it was already in place but of course ran into a problem of paint getting where I did not want it to go. So I made a sort of little "stage" out of a cardboard box that could be moved along the track. The back and side "walls" of that stage would catch the errant paint.
In a different clinic I give on track laying for beginners, I pass around the room a small board on which I have mounted pieces of track in N, HO, HO from LikeLike with the molded on ballast and roadbed, and a piece of Lionel 0-27 track. Half of each piece is factory fresh; the other half the rail has been weathered as well as the ties (pieces of wood or cardboard for the 0-27 ties) and the improvement never fails to impress the audience. I think it is particularly important for N where the rail is really oversized to begin with.
Dave Nelson
I spray paint mine. Did a small section with added paints but they didn't look better unless you were going to do camera work. Some are adding powder weathering after the paint, if well done that can take it to the next level.
I weather before laying the track. I brush 'paint' the sides of the rails with Neo-Lube from Micro-Mark, which dries to a flat dark gray. Then with a small brush (like a small flat brush) I paint some of the ties brown and some dark gray, leaving about half black. Clean the tops of the rails with a Bright Boy.
doctorwayne Sorry, but I forgot to include a photo in my last post about track... ...the photo above is of Atlas flex track, with brush-painted rails and ties, along with real limestone ballast. Wayne
Hello Brother Wayne,
The track in the above photo is Central Valley. I have laid quite a bit of this stuff and know it well! I looks good though!
Cheers,
Donnell
kasskaboose I use Micro Engineering weathered track.
After several bad experiences trying to solder to Micro-Engineering weathered track I only use it on stub-ended sidings now and solder the feeders to the ends which I clean with a wire brush.
I do like the way it looks.
sd80macHello Brother Wayne, The track in the above photo is Central Valley. I have laid quite a bit of this stuff and know it well! It looks good though! Cheers, Donnell
My mistake...you are correct. A friend gave me a large bag of Central Valley tie strip, so I went to the nearest model train shop, and bought a bundle of code 83 rail and a small amount of code 70, too, for a planned small town on the partial upper level of my layout.All of the mainline track is in-service, but I still have a bunch of industrial sidings to add.
I've been using code 55 rail joiners (that was the only size that a nearby now-long-gone hobby shop had, and I quite like using them, as all it takes is a couple passes with a cut-off disc to alter the rail ends to accept the smaller joiners, which become almost unnoticeable.I'll be putting down the cemented-together tie strips using gelled contact cement, and likewise for adding soldered-together lengths of rail, too.
Time now to get back to finishing some boxcars, and maybe more painting of LPBs, as there are still a couple hundred to be done, not including horses, cows, and other wildlife.
By the way, thanks for the correction on the track photo.
I use a two-color rattle can application to the track after it is laid, wired and tested as the last step before ballasting.
First is a dark brown and the second is a control coat of black. I usually apply the colors in a light variegated pattern to create a realistic look when the track is ballasted.
Some of my track is buried in dirt to the point that you don’t see the ties. The reason I use rattle cans is that it is a quick and very effective method to paint large amounts of track.
Buried track:
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
I use a paintbrush as well, but I'm not sure about the relaxing part. I start with a base coat of charcoal grey. After, I use a thin brush to paint the track sides a dark rust color. After the ballast is applied, touch-ups are usually necessary to remove some of the marks left by the glue. After that, I lightly brush on a thin coat of chalk powder that is similar to the color of the ballast to harmonize the colors. Near the roundhouse, I also applied some black washes.
IMG_20220819_130059 on Flickr
Simon
In a similar thread here some time ago, the modeler described a two-stage process in painting the track.
1) With an airbrush held at near-ground level next to the track, he painted the sides of the rails with a reddish-orange-brown color to represent rust on the web of the rails.
2) When step 1 was dry, he painted the rails and ties a light medium brown - holding the airbrush directly over the track, pointed straight down. The rust color on the web being shielded by the top of the rail. The result being a sutble two-tone effect.
I have used this technique and its quite effective. I also paint individual ties various shades of browns and grays.
Jim
There was an older modeler that I knew years ago that used to preach that when weathering track the outsides of the rails should be dark gray and the insides of the rails should be brown.
Looking at pictures of the real thing, that does not seem right.
-All Photographs by Kevin Parson
Rail all seems weathered pretty evenly.
I paint by hand with a small artist's brush. Takes forever, a lot slower than ballasting the tracks. But, a foot here, a foot there, a few months later your main is all done.
I have used Floquil Rust:
And PolyScale 'railroad tie brown' ( I was surprised to learn how popular it was):
Finally, Tamiya 'red brown':
I use a chisel edge brush to hand paint the sides of the rails. Yes, going in both directions several times since the spike heads sometimes causes the brush to not fill in the backside of the stroke.
I mix up cheap walmart tube paints of brown, black, and gray as sort of a rail-brown, then brush a lighter brown gray down the enter of the ties to give that sunbleached/ballast dust aged look.
I've finished rail painting on the current layout. At some point, I will go back and paint some individual ties to give more variation...not a lot, but some ties will be a little different than the others.
And a paint mix that has orange in it represents newer rust.
- Douglas
SeeYou190 There was an older modeler that I knew years ago that used to preach that when weathering track the outsides of the rails should be dark gray and the insides of the rails should be brown. Looking at pictures of the real thing, that does not seem right. -All Photographs by Kevin Parson Rail all seems weathered pretty evenly. -Kevin
IMO, all of those pics show rail weathering that is more orange-ish than what I typically see. The sides of the rails near me are almost the color of the ties...as if the creosote splashes onto the rails and sticks over time. The center of the ties seem to dry out and either get covered with gray ballast dust or are sunbleached...or both.
I don't know if rails used by different railroads and locations/time frames are made from slightly different steel causing them to rust/wear slightly differently?
trainnut1250 I use a two-color rattle can application to the track after it is laid, wired and tested as the last step before ballasting. First is a dark brown and the second is a control coat of black. I usually apply the colors in a light variegated pattern to create a realistic look when the track is ballasted. Some of my track is buried in dirt to the point that you don’t see the ties. The reason I use rattle cans is that it is a quick and very effective method to paint large amounts of track. Buried track: Mainline Ballasted track Have fun, Guy
This is the color I painted my rails, a sort of dark brown/gray, as this is the color I typically see. Its not much diofferent than the color of the ties...the color simply goes from horizontal to vertical planes with a shiny surface along the top. Even the spike head detail gets a little lost in the mass of one-color.
This one color is easy to apply with hand painting by chisel brush aimed right in the corner of the horizontal to vertical transition.