I have spay painted track with Floquil Roof Brown on previous layouts and really like the effect. I see no reason to change just because this time around the track and roadbed are glued to blue foam.
I understand that Floquil paint is solvent based and only latex based products should be used directly on blue foam. My intent is to apply several light coats of the spay paint outdoors to the track/roadbed only, but I’m sure there will be some “friendly fire” hits on the foam unless some precautions are taken. Since its a small layout I’m thinking about covering the foam with something like tape and cardboard, rather than prematurely painting the foam with a latex paint for protection.
Any others suggestions to protect the foam, besides ones to switch away from Floquil.
A 2 dollar can of Tan Latex Paint along the tracksides on the foam to protect the track will serve you well.
Without a picture of your proposed area of painting with Floquil, I cannot make a decision more precisely to answer your question. Im assuming that you are at bare foam, no scenery and just roadbed/track here.
Have you tried a test with the Floquil paint being sprayed onto some Blue foam in the same manner that you intend to use to paint your track? The reason I ask this is that if you are applying it with an airbrush and aren’t out of control while spraying, the overspray will likely have nearly dried by the time it has hit the surface of the blue foam… depending on your pressure settings etc. and may not interact with it in such a manner as if it was applied quite wet. You may want to find a scrap piece somewhere (construction site) and spray it in a manner similar to how you will paint your track.
An alternative may be to really wet the foam with water so that it absorbs and dilutes the overspray.
Dustin, your suggestion to try it on a scrap piece of foam with a test section of track and roadbed is a good one. I have foam left over and will give it a try after I pickup the paint.
I really think the overspay is going to be miminal and I don’t think it will take much to protect the foam, especially when working only on a 3 ft section at a time. The paint dries very quickly if applied in light coats.
masking tape should work just fine . a small amount of overspray probably won’t do any damage , and if you mask and use a small airbrush you’re likely to have very little overspray .
if you’re going to do a test be sure to do it outdoors , i have no idea what kind of possibly toxic substance you get when combining solvent based paint and blue foam , but it can’t be good for you !
You’re correct in needing to protect the foam. This is true with not only floquil paint, but with most can spray paint. The aerosol propellants used can melt the foam. I’ll assume you plan on painting with an airbrush. Just use masking tape on each side of the track. If you want to be extra careful, use some newspaper in addition to the tape to cover larger areas. The best practice is to paint the track before it is laid.
Chartiers, you found out some of the things that drive me nuts about this forum, people who don’t read the question being asked and people who feel the need to post a reply but fail to answer the question posed.
Thanks. I believe tape, shirt cardboard, newspapers, wetting agent, etc, are all good suggestions to protect the foam until the paint dries. It’s no danger to the foam after it dries. I think the “China Syndrome” can be avoided with a little care.
I tried to paint the track before laying once and didn’t think it was worth doing and went back to painting after the track was down. I found pre-painted track was harder to work with, had to be scrapped for rail joiners and power drops, inserted ties at flex track endings still had to be painted, holes in Atlas track still had to be filled (personal choice).
But I have been known to miss the point sometimes. It happens when you get older and have had kids.
Chartiers, your profile indicates that you live somewhere “South of Pennsylvania”; I will assume that to mean “North of Tierra del Fuego”. I am equally certain that within a reasonable driving distant there can be found some kind of a craft or art supply store - Michael’s, Hobby Lobby, etc; these stores handle acrylic paints in containers considerably larger than Floquil’s 1 ounce size and considerably cheaper per ounce than their $4.49 plus tax. These acrylic paints can be blended to produce close to exact color matches.
Barring that, my perusal of Walthers’ catalog indicates that several of the acrylic paint trademarks are labeled as “Roof Brown”. I know that you said you didn’t want any suggestions of giving up Floquil’s solvent-based formula but all those “hobby” paints are ridiculously expensive; they work great for use on model railroad equipment but neither track nor structures for that matter can be properly categorized as equipment. Reconsidering your use of something other than hobby paints could save you some money.
There is nothing wrong with the picture. I have tried some new and different things with this layout so far that I have not done before, but I will also stay with some techniques, skills and knowledge that have proven themselves to me on previous layouts. Using Floquil to paint track is one of them - that will not change. Period.
Foam is only a support material that will disappear when scenery is applied. The color and weathering of track will not, so it’s not something I want to change from a known good solution.
Your reasoning for staying with Floquil is the same for why I stay with hardshell scenery; I am comfortable with it. You could not prevail upon me to go within a hundred miles of blue foam. I use Micro Engineering Code 55 track; I used to use the pre-weathered track but recently I have been using art store bought acrylic paint to weather mine. I don’t even consider Atlas Code 55 as a viable alternative to Micro Engineering. Switches are always a problem with Code 55 rail, especially in N Scale so, for the past twenty plus years I have been making my own. Old habits can truly die hard!!!
I am always willing to try some new things: I have, for instance, built virtually all of my trees using the copper wire armature technique. Before I get started on scenery on my new/next layout I am going to go up to Eastern Idaho and ship back a hundred pounds or more of Big Sagebrush clippings to serve as armatures for trees.
I spray painted my trackage on WS roadbed and Blue/pink foam without any trouble. I masked off the foam with masking tape and newspaper, gave the track several VERY light coats of the Floquil mixture I normally use (boxcar red/rail brown/black), it hit the track so that the paint was almost dry by the time it reached the rails. I immediately wiped the railheads down with a cloth, then later went over it with a Brite Boy. No problem with the solvent attacking the foam at all.
However, later, I had carved a coal load out of foam for one of my tenders and before gluing the scale coal to it, I ‘hit’ it with the Floquil black. Darned thing melted into a little lump! So you have to be careful as to how you use the Floquil with foam. But masking and ‘dry’ spraying seems to work just fine.
Some old habits should NOT die just because there are newer ways, as we have both said. Anyone who can hand make their own turnouts has a skill that many others do not.
On the last layout I used Peco 55 track and turnouts which worked OK - but I don’t want to start a best track/code war.
If you have the time and haven’t done it already, you should start a new topic on how you make your trees. I would like to see the process and some pictures of the results.
p.s. I used “South of Pennsylvania” instead of saying “West Virginia”. Figured it was close enough. No offence to the natives of WV, it is a beautiful state.
Thanks, the technique of wiping the railhead with a rag right after painting and then hitting it with an eraser type cleaner is what I have done before. I read where some have put a light coat of oil on the top of the rail and at switch points, but I never tried that.
The wrong paint can surly melt things. A foam layout top also does like a hot soldering iron - but don’t ask how I know that…
OBOY, you too, LOL? I can’t tell you how many little soldering ‘pot-holes’ I’ve got on the Yuba River Sub, my friend–before I ‘filled’ in the yard at Deer Creek, it looked like pink Swiss Cheese!
I have been diplomatic but I might comment that I personally am very hard-headed when it comes to construction habits on railroads. I would have gone with window metal screening with newspaper dipped in plaster if that stuff was not so heavy. Sometimes such things change for better and lighter materials like foam.
Personally I have a problem knowingly using chemicals or paints that actually damage foam. And I will leave it there for this topic.
You were not diplomatic in the way that you first answered my question. You seem to only value your opinion and did not read the question. The key word that you missed in my question is “NEAR”. Just like you have to be careful in using a soldering iron near foam, certain cleaning chemicals near foam, solvant paint near foam, heat sorces near foam, nail polish near foam, etc. I am surprised that using foam on the layout top has worked out so well and I have not really seen any problems with it as long as you are careful. Enough said on this topic.
I enjoy a good argument over nicky picky details but wont waste your time with it as it is clear from the beginning you intend to do your foam your way.
I was checking out your layouut webpage. I see that you’re using slide switchs for turnout controls. That should work well for you in N scale. Don’t forget to take advantage of the switch contacts to power the turnout frog and for turnout indication either on your control panel or as a signal.