"Painted Tracks"?????

[Anonymous]

In the current issue of MR on page 51 there is a question about spray booths and painting tracks. Now I'm a real newbie to model railroading so I guess I have to ask a basic question. Are they really dicussing painting the RR tracks or is this some other terminology that I'm misunderstanding? If this guy is painting his tracks, why? How does one run a RR on painted tracks?

New and confused,

Don

[Anonymous]

Don,
The interest and the urge to paint your track will most likely come in due time if you stay active in the hobby.
If you look at prototype track, you will see that the top of the rail, where the wheels of the train actually make contact, is shiny and the sides of the rail, known as the web, are rust color. The track you buy, HO scale, is either brass or nickle silver on the tops and sides. You can paint the web of the rail rust red by putting tape on the top surface of the rail and on the ties so that only the web is painted. Spray painting works better than paint brushing. Look closely at the track in close up color pictures in Model Railroader or any other model railroad magazine and you can see how painted rail adds to the detail.

Ken, D&J Railroad, Stafford, VA

[Anonymous]

Ken,

Ah ha, that makes sense to me. I was wondering what the purpose would be to paint the entire track, now I know. You don't paint it all, just the sides....

It then seems to me that it would be a lot easier to paint the track before it was laid down wouldn't it? It also seems that having nickle-silver tracks would certainly be more realistic than brass, but I have not seen any in the shops that I've been to.

As you can tell, I've got a lot to learn, but I'm eager to do so.

Don

[Anonymous]

Most hobby shops will stock NS track along with brass. Usually the rigid track, 9" straight and fixed curved track is brass while flex track can be either brass or NS. Atlas turnouts are sold in brass and NS so look closely when you buy.
A benefit of NS over brass is that it doesn't tarnish and corrode as fast, thus not as much required maintenance. There is another thread about track cleaning on this site you have probably already read.

You are right about painting it before installing it. A lot of modelers want to get track nailed down so they can get trains running. I did the same thing and had to go the extra mile to paint it without coloring the road bed and surrounding scenery. One of the benefits of painting rail after it is installed, though small, is that you only have to paint the side that faces the observer.

When painting turnouts, you need to be aware of electrical contact points and do your soldering of electrical leads before hand.

Ken, D&J Railroad, Stafford, VA

[Anonymous]

Thanks again. I've checked what I have and find I have some of each. Some sections are NS while the flex track I bought is brass. It shows you how easily one can screw up when they don't know better. There is a world of information out there, I just have to take the time to assimilate it.

I can see the impatience with wanting to get the trains running and skipping a few steps along the way. My excuse is that I didn't take the time to learn. Call it impatience if you want to. :-)

Don

[Anonymous]

Learning more about the hobby comes with trial and error. Joining a local model railroad club, either modular or fixed layout can be very beneficial for you. There is a resource of associations and clubs on this web site that may be of use to you. Going to your brouser and typing in "model railroad club" may generate more leads. Model Railroader magazinelists activities of many clubs state by state that may help too.

Ken, D&J Railroad, Stafford, VA

[Anonymous]

Don, I found a technique that worked very well for me and very fast and cheap. The most time consuming part was taking all the track outside (I don't have a spray booth) to help protect my health from paint fumes. This was particularly tough for me because I had already soldered large segments of sectional track together before I decided to do this!

Materials: 1 can -cheap- RED auto primer spray paint. 1 can BLACK barbecue spray paint (this is just what I happened to have - it's very black! - but I imagine other flat black spray paints would work well too!) Drop cloths or other coverage to protect what's under the track. Masking tape. Suitable eye and breathing protection.

Mask the critical parts of any turnouts with masking tape. Then start with the red primer. Get down to the level of the track and spray from the sides at a very shallow angle. This puts a lot of red on the side of the rails to simulate rust. Of course it also colors the ties but that's OK as we'll see shortly. You're not trying for a solid color, just a dusting. If it varies from place to place that's great!

Now take the black can and spray DOWN on the tracks from a higher angle. Instead of spraying with the direction of the track, spray across the track perpendicularly. Go ahead and miss some spots where the red primer will show a bit more.
What this has done is to prevent your ties from looking red: with the red and black combination the ties take on various 'almost brown' shades, depending on how much of each color you hit them with. In any case, the two paints will color the ties enough to eliminate the non-realistic plastic gloss.

Remember not to put so much paint that you create puddles anywhere. The color would not be realistic and the paints might damage the plastic ties.

I made no attempt to protect the rail tops from paint. I just cleaned them all later with a Bright Boy cleaning block. This was tedious. Perhaps a simple trick like lightly coating the rail heads with oil before painting would have worked better.

Well, that's just my idea. I'm sure by the standards of some modelers here it's a crude approach, but I'm happy with the result. Those large spray cans can paint a lot of track VERY FAST.

Stan

[Anonymous]

Stan and Ken,

Like I said, there's a world of information out there, but if you don't know what questions to ask, you don't get answers. MR magazine prompted me to ask this one, and I'm glad I did. Right now I'm in the experimenting stage. I've got some HO equipment, accessories and other material to get some experience with techniques that I see here and read about. Once I get use to building a few things and making some scenery, I think I'm going to then go to N scale. I just want to be sure of what I'm doing first.

I have been in touch with the Arizona Model Railroading Society. They have a permanent setups in HO, N and G scales, but they are about 60 miles away from me. I plan on visiting there soon.

Don

[dknelson]

Using spray paint in cans might be a reasonable alternative to airbrushes. Ventilation is still vital and most spray paints are solvent based, not water based. Another thought might be the chemical blackeners that some modelers use to darken underframes of brass engines.
Stan's method would be less tedious if he had a rag soaked in "Ooops" or some other paint remover and attached the tops of the rails while the paint was still wet.

By the way it is not the cheapest stuff on the block but Micro Engineering makes a very credible pre weathered flex track.
Dave Nelson