Im just about finished laying the track on my n scale layout. Before i start ballasting, i was wondering if anyone thinks it is worth the time and effort to paint the ties a brown color. Especially with such a small scale, does it make much of a difference. If it is worth it, does anyone have any ideas for painting, that would not get paint all over the rails. Any help would be great
thanks
Woody,
Most folks will tell you to paint them up. Some will even say you better! You bring up some good points, its N scale will it matter? I cant tell you what to do…only you know what you will like. But, painting is big step 'case you change your mid later, you will be kicking your self in the pants later…so…
It may worth the effort to take a section, paint it and try it. Maybe take a left over peice of track and expeirment to see what you think. Then you can do a side by side to see if it really makes that much differnce. Either way, it could put your mind to rest.[:)]
I am also laying track on my new n scale layout and have about 200’ of concrete tie and about another 175’ of wood tie mainline and the yard and sidings and…you get the idea. Even with all that, in my opinion, yes it makes that much difference.
This is YOUR layout do what you think looks best and be happy with it. You will probably get many answers that go both ways and many will have good reasons as to why, but it all comes down to …what do you want to do?
Good luck and have fun because if the track is down you can run trains and that in my opinion is the best part!
Guy
I alway thought N scale track looked so much more oversize when looked at from the side with a lokey on it compaired to say HO on code 83, and how much better and smaller N scale looked painted dark. I would do it, track and ties. Fred
I have looked at a lot of ties in the past year, and I recal seeing a few that were “brown.” I saw lots of black ones, and lots that were sun-bleached to a silvery gray with patches of creosote still showing. So, my advice, if you like, is to paint them all a grimy black, and then paint individual ones, maybe three or four in a row, the brown to indicate ones that have been inplace between 6-10 years. Sidings will have more of the bleached ones.
Paint it. You can paint a lot of track with a spray can of Floquil (Rail brown, Roof brown, your favorite rusty color.) You can apply a very light coat of oil to the top of the rails to make that easier to clean later.
Just spray the paint lightly. You don’t have to paint any track or any side of the track that you can’t see from a normal viewing position.
Then you can “highlight” ties and rail with rust, dust and oil colors.
Painting track really makes a difference if you take photos of your layout.
remember track is a model too,and a major one at that.
My opinion is that painting track is an EASY way to get an impression that looks more realistic. Actually hand-laying track in N scale, or using scale size track or superdetailing with four spikes to every tie, tie plates, etc. is HARD and less worthwhile for N scale. (I will not argue with people who do this kind of work in, say, O scale.) So yes, painting track is worth the time and effort in N scale.
I have heard of putting some kind of oil on the top of the rail so the paint will clean off the rail top very easily-- haven’t tried that. I have tried abrasive rail cleaner on the rail top immediately after painting before the paint really hardened, and that seemed to work faily well. There may be other and better ways of keeping the rail top clean while painting rail sides.
Frisket paper works well for keeping the railtops clean. You can buy it in a roll like tape. It’s a low tack paper, so cleanup is easy.
Rubber cement also works well and is cheaper. Just paint it on and peel it off.
And yes, painting makes a difference to my eye.
You can clean the rail tops easily after painting with a snap blade knife. Just drag it along the top at about a 90 degree angle and the paint goes a flying. Finish with a brite boy and then metal polish if desired. Fred
I have painted some of the track on my HO layout. It doesn’t look that different from the unpainted to me. I regularly operate on an O scale layout where the track is not painted. The scenery and the rest of it is so outstanding I just noticed the track was unpainted a couple of weeks ago and I’ve been operating there since last August. I think it’s one of those deals that if it’s important to you (or your operationg gorup) you’d better do it. If not, what the heck!
I think it is. Track is an important model on the layout, so it deserves the same attention to detail as anything else would. I just use a few different sprays. I lay out the flex track on newspaper and fog it with flat black, rail brown and a very slight touch of flat gray in a few spots. For variety, I will use a 1/8" brush and run down the sides of the rails with some zinc chromate or rust color. I just freehand the whole process and it looks pretty good. I like doing it before laying the track so the spray doesn’t go everywhere else on my layout. I take a q-tip and run a thin layer of WD40 over the tops of the rails. Then I use a single edge razor blade and scrape it off easily. I do the same with the turnouts, only I mask inside the points and drop some oil on the moving parts. You need to be cautious on the tunouts. That’s my story.
after some thought, i decided i will paint the track. thanks for all the tips and suggestions
Woody, You’ve got to paint the track,and it does show through and looks very authentic,I used a Acrylic paint color coffee bean to do rails and ties,then wipe the top only off with a rag/napkin,Bright boy when dry or after ballast,and it looks great,Paint dries fast,Ballast few hours later,Good luck!Paint is cheap.Brian
I’m probably in the minority view point, but painting track is not worth the time and effort to me. It’s not something I even notice unless I’m actually looking for it. I did paint the first 10 feet or so of my double track mainline and it hardly made a difference to me and that was before I ballasted it. I think it will be even less noticable after I ballast. The important thing about track is whether it operates reliably.
To me, painting and weathering track is one of those extra fine details that are nice but not really important. If had a small to medium layout, I might think differently but my layout will fill a 1200 foot basement when complete and there are simply more pressing tasks. I am big picture oriented at this stage of my layout building. I am looking for a great overall effect. Once I achieve that, I can always go back and start filling in the finer details. Then again, I might decide it’s time to just run trains.
UNPAINTED
PAINTED TRACK
See the differece painting track can make? (CLICK ON PICTURES TO SEE FULL SIZE) Fred
You generally paint the whole thing (rails, ties and all) before putting it on the layout. when the paint is still wet you can take something like a bright boy block and scrape the paint off the tops of the rails.