Sorry if this question has been asked before, and I know it’s a pretty dumb question, but I’m a beginner, and I tried to search the forum for answers, but couldn’t find any…
I don’t own an airbrush, but I want to paint my track, so I was thinking of maybe just spray-painting it brown (better than nothing, right?). But if I spray the track, is there any danger of the paint stopping electrical contact from the rails to the wheels?
Yes, paint will cause a problem. After you are done painting, you will need to clean the tops of the rails, which are shiny on the prototype, anyway. Some people will put a touch of oil on the tops of the rails when they paint them to prevent the paint from adhering there. Afterwards, they just clean the oil from the rails.
On turnouts, keep the paint out of moving parts or they will bind.
Also, take a look here: http://www.joesmodeltrains.com/painting_track_tool.htm
Maybe this can be of some help.
TOPIC THIS POST: Ballasting and weathering track by Joe Fugate
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?page=4&TOPIC_ID=32122
Yeah…alot of modellers spray paint their track (as well as rolling stock & locos using commercial spray paint) and get some pretty decent results. Some good choices are Red/Brown primer, Gray, Burnt Umber or Dark Tan.
Clean the top of the rails off, immediately with a cloth soaked in thinner (or at least before the paint cures and hardens - about a half to a whole day after spraying). OR you can lightly apply some oil or petroleum jelly on top of the rails and wipe it all off anytime (days or even weeks after painting).
You can also try some brush painting…heck even Pelle Søeborg does some brush work on his excellent layout featured in several past articles of MR. His article on track work in the July '04 MR is a great reference.
Painting is an ancient form of human techniques. Try it and see how it works for you (& if its fun)! Thats the whole point to model railroading.
HTH
Mark
I have used regular spray paint on tracks before and didn’t really have any problems once the tops of the rails cleaned, I found this worked best when the paint was still wet. Using tape of the points of a turnout works well to keep the paint from jamming them up. You can then go back with a paint brush and paint the track on the turnout. Make sure before you paint that the rail joints are tight otherwise paint may get down in there and create problems.
We’ve been doing a two-stage process using Polly-S paints (plastic safe, water based). First some RUST, then it gets brushed over (while still not completely dry) with TARNISHED BLACK. We’ve tried several methods of cleanign the rail tops - lightly brushing with oil and then wiping, wiping with a damp cloth before the paint sets up, and, after all that, what works best is simply wait a few minutes and rub the rails with a Bright Boy block. The paint comes right off with no problems, leaving a nice shiny rail top with a dirty web - and the light application of black makes the ties look a lot nicer too - kills the shine.
–Randy