Good Morning, Crew! I tried searching for an answer using the search box, but couldn't find one, so here's my question. Is the color on the weathered ME rail more on the opaque side or more translucent? Thanks!
Russ
Modeling the early '50s Erie in Paterson, NJ. Here's the link to my railroad postcard collection: https://railroadpostcards.blogspot.com/
Mine are a dark opaque grey. I bought them several years ago, but I would assume they are still the same color.
Joe
My preweathered Micro Engineering track is brownish and opaque for sure.
Micro Engineering also sells a liquid Rail Weathering Solution which in my experience is a bit more translucent and nowhere near as solid (or as brown) as their own track. Indeed with some makes of nickle silver rail the initial application comes out a bit greenish to my eyes. You wipe it on the rail (I suspect their own weathered rail/weathered track is soaked for a longer period of time, but the bottle you can buy is small and you'd need several to have enough liquid to soak the rail or track).
Dave Nelson
Thanks, Guys! In the past, when I had my Sn3 layout, I painted the rail and was never quite satisfied with the outcome. I've read comments about some difficulty with soldering the rail because of the chemical coating, but that's not going to be a problem. I only have to solder the underside of rail sections for track power/DCC. My concern was that the color wouldn't be opaque or deep enough to keep some of the nickel silver shine from showing through. This sounds like the way for me to go.
I currently do not have any ME weathered rail, but I have used it on a couple of previous layouts.
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It was always a dark brownish gray, and completely opaque. I was always satisfied with it.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
It is fully opaque.
I will be using it on most of my visible trackage on my next layout, as it does look very good.
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
I used ME pre-weathered rail on my N scale layout.
It looks good and is a dark grey-brown colour.
The issues I have is that the turnouts weren't weathered and it took several soakings to get it anywhere near the colour of the pre-weathered rail. Also I found scraping off enough to get a good surface for soldering and also to fit connectors to be a real problem. I wouldn't use it again for these reasons. Perhaps it would be easier to use in HO.
CN Charlie
Erie1951I've read comments about some difficulty with soldering the rail because of the chemical coating, but that's not going to be a problem. I only have to solder the underside of rail sections for track power/DCC.
I use a knife blade and just scrape the weathering off the bottom of the rail to get shiny metal underneath. Solders up easily.
For switches, I bite the bullet and hand paint the rails. Then I overspray everything with a light coat of weathering (some darkish brown works most of the time) before ballasting after taping over the bridle end of the points so they doen't get gummed up. It tends to look pretty good for the limited effort I put into it.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL