I’m trying to match the the color of the Kato concrete ties on the rest of my track. Any tips or techniques would be welcome. Thanks.
Hi there. I would take a picture of the color with my cell, go to a hobbyshop that stocks acrylic art paint, and match it against the closest color. Doesn’t need to be perfect.
Simon
Better yet, take a piece of the track to the store and match it.
Rich
But if you can, test it against the DRY color of a swatch – the color of the paint while wet may not be the same.
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Ah, of course!!
Great minds think alike!
Rich
Thanks. I should have thought of that. I’m thinking that I should airbrush the rails then hand paint the ties. It will be a long process but worth it to get a consistent look.
Just some thoughts, don’t mean anything but my opinion… but…
If your intention is to paint wooden ties the color of concrete ties, I think they’re going to come out looking strange.
A wood tie is pretty “straight and rectangular” in shape.
A concrete tie is very different – shaped differently. The contours are all different.
My advice would be to let the concrete ties be concrete ties, and (assuming you’re using Kato Unitrack, which I use myself) let the wooden ties remain “wooden” ties…
Good point. The Kato concrete ties with turnouts and crossovers with wood ties looks a little strange as well.
“concrete ties with turnouts and crossovers with wood ties looks a little strange as well.”
But that’s the way it actually looks in “the real world”. In many locations, it’s much cheaper to install switches with wooden ties, even if the “straight track” is concrete ties. I’m thinking easier to maintain, also.
Or… during the concrete tie project – just leave the wooden-tie switches “in place”…
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Yes, from what I’ve seen, it’s not unusual for a mainline to have concrete ties but the turnouts, crossings, sidetracks, etc. are still wood ties.
That being said, wood ties are only black when they’re new and freshly coated in creosote. Ties do tend to fade to sort of a grayish / brownish color, so painting the ties of the wood pieces might make it look better. I use Unitrack; I ‘paint’ the sides of the rails with Neo-Lube from Micro-Mark, which leaves them a flat dark gray. Then I paint some ties flat brown, and some Rail Tie Brown (which is more gray than brown to my eye), leaving a few black.
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That makes sense. I think I’ll leave them as they are. Thanks for your input.
A wash of water and black or brown paint with a little alcohol mixed in can be used over the track pieces to make them look better.
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