Hey ya’ll, how you guys doing. First off, I am finally finishing the track laying on my layout, ok, I want to airbrush my track what is the best in your own opinions cause I know everything does 1000 different things, way to do it. Second, I have a PCM SD7, Ok it is most likely my favorite loco (diesel). It has a bag with some parts in it, sunshades is the only things I can identify, there is a bit more, but how do I put this on? CA? Next where do I find CA cause i have been useing that one spaceage plastic welder, its awesome for building but real delicate, not real good. Thanks Mike
For painting the rail, I’d recommend using PollyScale paint, applied with a fairly stiff 1/4" brush. The water-based paint won’t stink up your train room (or the rest of the house), and the stiff brush will allow you to work the paint around the moulded-on spike heads. If you use an airbrush, you may need to mask parts of the layout and even then, the dried dust from the overspray is just more dirt that’ll eventually end up on your tracks. You’ll also have difficulty painting the normally unseen back sides of the rails, but if you intend to do any creative photography with your camera place directly on the layout, you may wish that you had. [;)] Working with a brush means that you can work on this task any time that you have 15 minutes to spare - you can work longer if you wish, but you can quit at any time, with just a quick rinse of the brush for clean-up. I did my entire layout, over 300’ of track, and the job went surprisingly quickly. With some scenery and structures in place, there was no need for any masking. I painted about 10’ or 12’ at a time, then wiped the dried, but not hardened, paint from the rail tops, using a dry cloth stretched over my fingers. You don’t have to be particularly neat, either - any paint that ends up on the ties will not be noticeable by the time you finish ballasting.
Wayne
Yep!! DoctorWayne is right. That’s how I do mine, and have for years. I use Roof Brown for the color.
Should I ballast the track first or paint it first? [D)] Mike
Paint first if you can in my opinion. Ballast will cover mistakes.
Karl
hey do you have any pictures you could show? I’ve been really curious as to what roof brown looks like when painted on track.
Make sure you let your track paint dry real good before you ballast. I’d say at least 3 or more days so it toughens up.
Ok Thanks everyone, Mike
PAINT on rail tops can be removed easily with a 'Brite-Boy. Prototype rail rusts first, the turns dark-brown.
TIES weather differently from one to another, and are all one color (creosote) when new. Spray painting makes them all look alike.
Making a pallet of browns to gray will color ties realistically.
I do 'bout exactly the same as Wayne. The only difference is I mix 3 parts Floquil “Rail Brown” with 2 parts of Floquil “oxide red” and get a darn good looking effect IMO. I didn’t get any odors using this method with a stiff paintbrush.But had I used my airbrush ;the Mrs. would have been yelling! [(-D]
Boy guys I mean I am new to all this, and being only 15 I have plenty of experience but I think mine looks pretty awesome. I will post pics, who ever was talking about ties I painted all my the same color, but how do you go about making them random? What is your technique? Thanks Mike
Once again, back to the paintbrush! [:)] Paint the individual ties as desired.
Around here, it seems like the ties fade from the dark black of newly creasoted ties to a medium to light grey for older ties.
Most of the ties on a section of track will be about the same age, but they will vary slightly in color. Every once in a while, I’ll see one that has been replaced. It stands out like a sore thumb!
Also remember…your ballast will cover much of the tie. I don’t think I’d spend too much effort on something that will be mostly hidden.
Rotor
Joe Fugate has a great video on his DVD series about painting and ballasting track. He even illustrates how to discolor random ties for a great effect. These videos do a great job of showing what all of the procedures described above actually looks like and how it turns out when finished. I also believe the videos can be purchased and downloaded off his website as MP4 files (link below). Jamie
How-to DVD Volume 5
http://model-trains-video.com/volume5.php
TENMILE CREEK SERIES - Part 9: Track ballasting and weathering - video download
http://model-trains-video.com/MTV-0009.php