Fantastic answers and ideas. Thank you so much to all of you. I really apprciate every single answer I received!
This dead tree is copper wire. I hit it with a spray balm and sprinkled foam on it. Years later the paint is still sticking.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
I would do all the wiring and soldering connections first and paint it any color you want.
Frank
Another alternative is to buy the wire "painted." The craft store bog boxes offer assortments of different colored wire for use in jewelry and other crafts. A few of the colors may be unusable, but most will work for something, especially if it's a colorful amusement park. I'm not sure if it's enamel or what, but you can scrape it off to solder. I use it on my light standards to bring the power up the pole. You can see it barely on the left side of the pole in this pic.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
I think you should be fine doing that, but if you are having trouble getting the paint to adhere, try spraying it with some rattle-can primer first. Take some blue painters' tape and mask off the part you want left unpainted before you spray it.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Welcome to the forums.
No, this should not be a problem. You might want to clean the wire surface after it has been glued on with some 91% alcohol and a paper towel. If brush painting, it might take a couple of coats.
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
I am building an HO scale theme park (complete with train of course!) and I am finding many times I am in need of painting copper wire. Is this possible?
For instance, I am lighting Faller's log ride and need to run a positive copper line down the left side of a chute and a negative line dowth the right side. I then insert overhead signs with leads down the left and right to come in contact with the copper wire. Because of the way this is set up, it is not possible to leave the insulation on the wire as it must make contact with the signs leads.
Will painting bare copper wire using DC power to light LEDs be a problem?
Thanks so much. Have searched everywhere for the answer but only come up with an answer for AC.
Don S.