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Track painting

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  • Member since
    June 2007
  • 8,892 posts
Posted by riogrande5761 on Wednesday, December 19, 2018 6:11 AM

I've tried Rob's Rustoleum dark brown camouflage and liked it.  Here in the photo below is the track painted from the Rustoleum rattle can and it is rather dark; as Rob noted, it will need some weathering to lighten in up a bit.

Rio Grande.  The Action Road  - Focus 1977-1983

  • Member since
    November 2002
  • From: US
  • 2,455 posts
Posted by wp8thsub on Tuesday, December 18, 2018 9:41 PM

I used to go with the Floquil Railroad Tie Brown too.

DSC03134

by wp8thsub, on Flickr

These days I mostly use Rustoleum's dark brown camouflage.  I apply with the spray can wherever possible, but in tighter areas I spray some into an airbrush jar, add some thinner, and run it through the airbrush.  For secondary tracks I add some drybrush weathering on top of it with acrylics.

Rob Spangler

  • Member since
    January 2004
  • From: Canada, eh?
  • 13,375 posts
Posted by doctorwayne on Tuesday, December 18, 2018 9:41 PM

Well, even though it's gone the way of Floquil, too, I found Pollyscale to yield the best results:  easy to apply, a bottle goes a long way, and no stink.  I still have a fair amount of Pollyscale paint on-hand, so it would be my first choice.  I did all of mine, well over 200' of main line alone, using a fairly-stiff chisel-type brush.  Once fully-cured, it's very durable, too....moreso even than Floquil.

Nowadays, I might suggest Scalecoat, either I or II (chemically, they're very similar, using the same components but in different proportions).

There are several newer brands of paint nowadays, too, but many are airbrush-ready, which means that they're not very useful if one prefers to use a brush.  While I'm very comfortable using an airbrush, I wouldn't do so for painting rails or ties.

Wayne

  • Member since
    December 2006
  • From: North Carolina
  • 758 posts
Track painting
Posted by Aikidomaster on Tuesday, December 18, 2018 9:11 PM

I am hand laying track with Fast Tracks. Since Floquil is no longer manufacturing paints, I am at a loss with how to paint my track work. I used to use Floquil rail tie brown, either out of a spray can or airbrush. 

What are you folks doing to paint your track, these days?

Craig North Carolina

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