Trying to paint my Atlas sectional track. I am using the tips in Kalmbach’s Basic Trackwork by Jef Wilson by painting the sides rail brown and then misting on grimy black. I had the track all assembled to make sure it fit, and then I took it apart in large sections for painting. I just left the rail joiners on and started painting. But I noticed the paint gets down into the rail joiners, which I would think would cause electric conduction problems. But if you take them off, then they look all bright and shiny and not realistic when you put them back on. Any advice?
Touch up the rail joiners with a small paintbrush after reassembling and laying the track.
Brad
When I paint my flex track (which I do outdoors) I put on insulated rail joiners on ALL ends of the track. that keeps the ends of the rail unpainted for good conductivity, and I use the same insulated rail joiners over and over again.
The other thing I do, by the way, is put some light oil on a q-tip and run it on the top of the railhead before painting. Then immediately after painting I rub the rail top with the rough side of a piece of Masonite. It removes the paint from the top of the rail without using abrasives or caustic fluids. If you let the paint completely dry it is harder to remove so this is something you do promptly after painting the rail.
Dave Nelson
Good tip! Insulated rail joiners! Why didn’t I think of that? I’ll still have to touch up the metal joiners when I put them back on (that’ll be tedious), but at least they won’t have paint INSIDE them, which was my problem. Thanks!