i’ve noticed that the MR staff painted their “Beer Line” track, railroad tie brown. i allways thought that painting the rails was not good especialy from a dcc stand point. was wondering how i could do it and what the secret is.
There are several methods for painting track. They include airbrushing, spray can, brush, roller and felt tip pen. Each has its advantages and drawbacks. The key to success is to really clean off the excess paint from the rail tops when you are finished.
Joe
Agreed. I didn’t mind painting my rails by hand using a smallish artist’s brush and the Poly Scale RR Tie Brown mentioned above. I will say, if this one paint is something you’d want to try, that it seems to have some variance from batch to batch. Mine came out a bit greenish-grey (for my eyes and camera), while others’ imagery using the same label seems to be significantly more ‘brown’.
No matter what you use, you do 12" and then go back and wipe the rail surface and inner flange corner specifically with a damp cloth wrapped around an index finger. This must be done carefully and deliberately, and then you can go on. If you forget, you’ll have harder work ahead of you after about five minutes of drying time. A piece of square-cut stripwood left over from a scratch-build rubbed against the top of the rails with the end at an angle will help a lot.
-Crandell
Painting the rails seem to make the over size codes look smaller. I paint my modules code 100 rail with a small brush and it looks better than non painted rail.
Pete
I’ve painted the ties of my Atlas Code 100 snap track / flex track brown, and it is a HUGE improvement in appearance. I’m using DC, not DCC, but I don’t have any operating issues after taking a brightboy and some denatured alcohol to the rails.
I used a #4 fine shader and Testors Modelmaster Acryl “Panzer Schokoladebraun”, because most of the ties on the New Haven were treated with creosote and are dark brown.
I have had great sucess using the air brush and rialroad tie brown, only painting the sides that are clearly visable and in some cases both sides. after painting I go over the track with a bright boy and as mentioned just plain old H2O on a soft cloth. All you neeed is the top of the rails to be clean for good conductivity. I have also seen but never tried it great results using rattle cans of automotive red primer
I agree, painting track is easy and makes a huge inprovement in appearances. Even a simply spray can dusting of light brown and black improves the look of track tenfold. Clean the rails of paint and you’re good.
mask the switch points, spray it then clean the rail tops. unless your therapist recommends it, hand painting track on a large layout is like cutting your lawn with nail clippers.
grizlump
For sure. I use Rustoleum Camoflage brown, quick and easy. Krylon dries too fast to get a good wipe off.
Larry
What do you do about the paint fumes and isn’t this an solvent based paint?
I haven’t painted track yet but am investigating the best way. There is also some kind of a roller but can’t remember where I saw it.
I use “Neo-Lube” from the Micro-Mark catalogue, applying it with a small brush. It’s an electronics lubricant that dries to a flat dark gray. One nice thing is it conducts electricity unlike paint…although that does mean you have to be careful about accidently bridging gaps in trackwork with it.
Painting the track is one of the single biggest inprovements you can make. The key, as mentioned before, is to clean the railhead afterward.
The next time you are down by the railroad tracks, take a look at the head…The traffic on the real deal keeps the railhead shiny. So our shiny railhead for good electrical contact is completely prototypical.
Here’s a construction pic. Everything is operational, but without painting and ballast it doesn’t look very good: Compare the unpainted crossovers, to the painted and ballasted track in the foreground.
Here’s the same area after track weathering and ballast:
If one’s goal is to improve the look of the bare metal rails to make them appear more realistic, how far does one wish to go? It is open-ended, itsn’t it? For those of us who opt to hand-paint using a brush, I won’t argue that it takes a lot longer than running upstairs, out the back door while shaking your spray can vigorously, and then spraying the item(s) for a quick paint job…and an effective one to be clear. It is just that one of the improvements you can make is also to the ties and the adjacent ballast nearest the rail foot, and that is bleed-down of the rust and grime. Painting using a spray method won’t be much faster if you do it finely enough to get just the right amount of bleed-down, except perhaps with a very steady hand and a fine airbrush…but I would challenge anyone to say an airbrush doing that fine detail would be considerably faster than dipping my brush and running the tip along the rails.
Here is what painted rails should look like if they are to compare favourably with images of the real thing.
I’ve used this rail painting tool and their paint and have been happy with the results.
http://www.joesmodeltrains.com/Rusty%20Rails%20Painter.htm
- Nevin
I wholeheartedly agree.
Dave [banghead]
Nice work!
Inhale deeply and ENJOY!!!
Phil
Dude, do you paint your ENTIRE layout that color? Because checking your pics, theres a ton of areas that have this nice dusted gray look that I need for the track on the D&RGW that I’m modeling.
Pretty much the whole thing, about 99% using the Rustoleum. I did try different colors/methods early on, did you have a specific picture in question?
One good thing I’ve found to “mask” switch points is to cut a small piece of pipe cleaner and place it in the open points.
Larry
Another endorsement. If you have a lot of track, get extra roller pads. Joe’s weathering dyes are pretty good also.
Disclaimer: I’m not Joe, I don’t know Joe, and I don’t owe Joe any money.
