This is for N scale, say a Bachmann 2-8-0, but I guess HO steam locos apply also. Can you paint (weathering) side rods and the outside wheel rims for steam loco models? Can you even paint the whole wheels?
What is the best modeling paint color to use for a weathered/blackish look?
The method of coloring depends on the material the rods/wheels are made from. If the wheel center is metal, A-West makes a chemical blackener called (appropriately) Blacken-It. It’s also conductive so not a problem getting it on the electrical pickups. For an overall weathered look, I’ve used Floquil paints, which you can choose the level of weathering: Engine Black (just painted), Weathered Black (maintained, but it’s been a while since painting), or Grimy Black (little maintenance of finish, been a long while since it was painted).
The rods usually aren’t painted, it hinders inspection (hides cracks), but do get an “oily patina” about them. A thin wash of Weathered Black would probably look good in N scale.
Be very cautious with Blacken It - it seldom blackens uniformly; even worse, it causes corrosion. Use Neolube (check the exact name) to darken siderods - plus it is a great lube.
Be even MORE cautious with Neolube. It will make connections between the wheels. It will conduct electricity. Please read below, it was taken directly from Micromark
Neolube is a water-thin graphite/alcohol solution that brushes on metal surfaces smoothly and levels perfectly without streaking. When the alcohol evaporates, a thin, tough, dark matte-gray coating is left behind that works like a dry lubricant, a metal blackener and an electrical conductor all in one. It is ideal for blackening locomotive wheels, steam locomotive side rods and other model linkages for a more prototypical appearance and improved electrical contact. 2 fl. oz. jar includes in-cap brush.
Note: Please use caution when coating insulated model railroad wheels with Neolube. Neolube may electrically bridge the insulation, causing the wheels or driver rims to short to the axle. Running the tip of a knife blade across the gap is one way to open the short if it occurs; it would be better to avoid applying Neolube across the insulating gap.
i don’t wan’t to start an argument so if one is afraid of something, then stay away from it.
surely the people who make and sell the stuff should know more about their product than we do.
that having been said; Sprerandeo said he painted it across the gap in pc ties and noticed no problem. as for myself, i have used it on the rods, valve gear and drivers of 18 steam locomotives with no noticable ill effects. if i ever have a problem, i’ll scream like a lutheran farmer and quit using it.
grizlump
As a Lutheran pastor, I am curious as to how a Lutheran farmer screams. And what Synod?
“As a Lutheran pastor, I am curious as to how a Lutheran farmer screams. And what Synod?”
sorry, i let that one slip. you would have to have known my uncle August from Seward County Nebraska to really get it. i used to work on the farm for him during the summer and all he did was scream at me and my cousins. we got all the work done, we just never did it right. (his way) Missouri Synod, i think.
when he let go with a bunch of expletives, he always pulled his punches around the young folks and toned down the vulgarities. (guess he didn’t want to go to heck)
he lived to be 101 and i loved him almost as much as i loved my grandfather (his brother) who could curse in english and german for five minutes and never use the same word twice.
when the pastor asked grandpa why he didn’t come to church by himself and only showed up when i was there, he said, “you always have the service when the Lutheran hour is on the radio and i don’t want to miss that.”
grizlump
Heeeey, good ole Uncle Augie!!! I used to know another feller like that, big ole sailors mouth an all. He was younger, average height, little on the big side, brown hair…oh wait, that’s me [:I] Hey griz, next time you boys are runnin a tractor round, remember to fill the [soapbox] gas tank! And quite chasin’ aft’r those pigs boy! Just in case that wasn’t a long enough trip down memory lang here’s a few more strikers, '87 Steelers, American Graffiti, rookie coach Vince Lombardi, F-M H15, Hiroshama, Studabaker, “You can get it in any color you want, so long as it’s black”. And just so know one feels too old, how can anyone into football not like the '80’s Steelers, American Graffiti was one of the best car movies ever made, I really don’t think I need to add much about Lombardi, it could possible be my all-time favorite train, I just got interested in that war more than the others (ok ok the planes, tanks, and boats, what can I say I was a boy), and, well, who made cars like Stude. Ah ah, keep your Packard Super 8’s, your Deusenburg J’s and Cords, and Auburn Speedsters. No wait, don’t keep em give them to me.
Now just to give an incling into my true age, the Cords were made 45-50 years before I was bo…shoot they were made 20-25 years before my parents!!
Now what was the post about again [#offtopic][#dots]
Griz, can you explain what this means?
Sprerandeo said he painted it across the gap in pc ties
andy stated in an earlier thread about neolube that he experimented to see if it would indeed conduct enough electrical current to cause a short circuit. he said he had painted in across the gap that is usually cut in the center of copper clad pc board cross ties which are often used when building switches. (the rails are soldered to the copper on the pc board) he stated that the neolube did not cause a short circuit when it bridged that gap and therefor he deduced that it was not capable of conducting enough current to cause any problems.
if you search neolube in the “search community” box on the right side of this page, you can probably locate his exact post.
if you are unfamiliar with the use of pc board ties, then check out building turnouts. the bronx terminal piece details it pretty well.
grizlump
Thanks, much. I have a few troublesome spots on my layout where a rail joiner will occasionally flex when a locomotive passes over thus creating momentary power loss. Not a problem unless the loco is sound equipped in which case everything stops and then starts again. I realize that solder is the solution, but I wondered if this stuff might be a quicker, easier fix.
Any thoughts?