what is the best way to clean the railhead on micro engineering weathered rail so as not to scratch it to the point where the rail will oxidise quickly. i have sanded it with 1200 grit waterproof paper but there is no shine on the railhead like the unweathered rail this leads to the rails get very dirty very quickly. any help would be appreciated.
Dan
I’ve built these two modules with ME H0n3 code 55 weathered track.
For cleaning the top of the rails I’ve used the Roco Cleaner, like Bright boy, for soldering I used a file.
Wolfgang
I have been using Rail Craft/MicroEngineering Noble-Scale Code 55 for more than a quarter century now but never have had occasion to use the pre-weathered stuff–I have developed my own weathering techniques. As it is therefore I can only suggest you might try using naval jelly–be careful, however; this stuff will remove paint from just about anything.
R.T. - Naval jelly is a BAD choice. Too acidic.
Yes the Micro Engineering weathering is not real rust but rather a chemical darkener. Thus it is the actual metal that is dark, not a coating (more importantly, not an insulating coating) on top, and to get down to a shiny surface you need to remove actual metal, not a layer of corrosion or rust.
That much said a carefully applied wire brush in a Dremel tool would remove the top layer of metal down to something brighter but maybe not shiny like fresh rail. But I think the whole idea is to model rail which is rusted and not shiny.
Dave Nelson
When i did use M/E weathering solution I cleaned it first with alcohol and then an acid cleaner used for gun bluing. I used to do mine a bit different as I weathered it off the layout. I took a 38" long piece of 2" pvc tubing and glued a cap on one end. I then glued a screw end on the other After all my flex was washed with soap and water dried and then cleaned with the acid I took a bunch and threaded a string through the end. I lowered the bundle into the tube which was full of the M/E solution. The screw on cap had a hole in the end so I could thread the string through it. I just stood it up in the corner and check it ever couple of minutes until I got the shade I wanted. Once I removed the bundle I rinsed the solution off with cold water. I picked that up form working on guns, if you don’t the chemical reaction is still going on and it may get darker then you like. I haven’t used M/E weathering solution in a while since my friend turned me on to Neolube. Really great product.
I use 600 grit sandpaper to clean the tops of the rails. Removes the chemical blackening and leaves the railheads nice and shiny. Here is a shot showing Micro Engineering N-scale code 55 flex track in both the concrete tie and wood tie variation:
Jamie
Gleaming will leave the rail tops nice 'n shiny, but I find that just running trains seems to eventually get the rails shiny.
-Crandell
This all confirms the soundness of my choice to always use plain NS rail. It is easier to weather rail with paint rather than removing that chemical treatment to permit electrical conductivity for feeder wires and so on. Even the so-called weathered rail will need to be painted for effects other than the chemical blackening.
Mark
i am unfamiliar with this gleaming… could someone please explain the process.
Dan
I decided to go with the weathered rail because I am in N-scale and need concrete tie track for my mainline. Painting rails without getting paint all over the concrete ties in N-scale would have been a real challenege, so I just chose the weathered rail instead. For consistency, I selected weathered rail for my wood tie sididngs and spurs also. The weathered rail (blackened) looks great and so far hasn’t required any additional cleaning or maintenance as opposed to non weathered rail–I clean the railheads and prep the track for soldering the same way with wetehered and non-weathered rail. I don’t plan on doing any additional painting of the blackened rails–they look great right “out of the box.” In fact, I had to paint the sides of the rails on my Atlas code 55 turnouts toblend the rail in with the ME weathered rail. If I had to do that with all of my flex track, I would probably still be painting! Jamie
Dan, I did an archival search using “gleaming” in “Search Community” at the right sidebar. This link, if it works right, shows what the first results page looks like.
-Crandell
http://cs.trains.com/trccs/search/SearchResults.aspx?q=gleaming+AND+groupid%3A8&o=Relevance