Ok I’m ready to paint and ballast track I like rust for the rails instead of rail brown but i’m not sure what color to paint the ties and finally do you paint the cork road bed ? What Color ?
I see mostly black rail in southern California for the mainlines, but the siddingd are mostly a brown with a very slight rusty look.
I used rail brown on a portion of my layout and am not satisfied. I plan to repaint with an airbrush this time the teis a medium black with some brown added in and the railes for the mainline will be grimy black and the siddings will be the rail brown with a bit of rust in it.
Remember that you want a mild effect. I suggest you keep it all earthtone and subdued as too much color will stand out in photos.
Just my $.02, but what do I know?
[#ditto]
Im at the same stage as yourself. On my first layout i ballasted my track and then air brushed it but it was to solid 'a colour as the picture below illustrates. Ignore the loco but look at the track in the foreground, to much of the same colour!
This time i plan on air brushing the track first before ballasting and then adding a slight tonning down with the air brush afterwards.
Siddings and little used lines tend to have a more reddish colour of rust on the rails than heavily used lines, likewise the ties are more of a weathered wood look than dirt and grime from many passing trains. Heavily used main lines tend to be alot more of a subbtle colour. You may find it easier to hunt around for some good referance pictures of track/rails. The rule of thumb is to paint what you see in the picture not what you think you see.
Good luck.
Personally, I’ve found that a brown Sharpie is very good for rusting up the sides of rails.
I have heard of this before. Do you have some pics to share?
I used Pollyscale RR Tie Brown on my mains because it looked nice and grimy and dark, and I used Floquill Rust on the sidings. The former is the easiest to remove from the rail surfaces if it dries, and by quite a long shot. Two coats may be necessary here and there.
Testors/Floquil sells a three pack of rail weathering color paint pens. A bit pricey but a good way to color the sides of rail. A bit of oil on a Q tip on the rail head keeps it from becoming painted and thus an insulator.
I also take my flex track outside and paint it with a mix of Krylon camoflage colors (they dry flat) including brown and olive drab that looks like Floquil grimy black. You have to act fast to get the paint off the rail heads.
Another technique – Micro Engineering sells pre weathered flex track but they also sell their patina solution in bottles. Applied with a Q tip after several applications the rail is a drab rusty brown. And you can rust the rail head for sidings because it is a patina and conducts electricty.
Ties are all sorts of colors. Fresh ones are a very dark brown almost black. But the oldest ones are almost a silvery gray, like driftwood. And the areas nearest the rails and tie plates can get a rusty color to them as well.
Dave Nelson
I use Rust-Oleum Rusty Brown Primer for rails and Flat Black for the ties. It comes in spray cans and small regular paint cans, which I use to do touch ups with a brush. I do the switches with a brush for obvious reasons. Leave a day between for drying when spraying the different colors. Don’t worry about paint on the rail tops a sanding block will remove it easily after it dries.
When you glue the ballast down it leaves a little glue remaining on the ties, which gives an aged look to them.
Good luck,
Doc
I’ve used brown Sharpie. No pix though. It works reasonably well and is much less messy than spraying. But, I wasn’t completely happy with the way it looked on N-scale track. There was a tendency to “skip” at the rail spikes, so I had to redo sections. It could be that I just needed a finer point, but I used what was available.
It might be worthwhile trying a red Sharpie followed by brown, just to see how that looks. And you’d only be out a couple bucks and a section of track if you don’t like the results.
I have yet to weather the rails on my current layout, but I have a can of brown spray paint (won’t melt anything as I’ve tested it), a Sharpie and small bottles of brown and red acrylic paint and a mini foam roller. I’m going to try all three on a test section and decide what to use.
I use pretty much the same system for my N scale track. However, I use the cheap WalMart primer red oxide spray cans. After all the track is laid, i spray the entire track, as well as the cork roadbed and then let it dry for a couple days. When that’s done, I mix up a wash of black acrylic paint with about a 7:1 water to paint ratio. Then, I use a 1" wide soft brush to wash the entire rail and roadbed and let it dry. Next, I redo the ties and roadbed with a stronger wash, about a 5:1 ratio of water to paint and let that dry. This darkens the ties real well and also the roadbed, which helps add depth and shadow when you ballast.
For what it’s worth, I apply only a thin coat of ballast to the roadbed. I brush scenic cement from Woodland Scenics onto the beveled roadbed areas, then carefully sift a light layer of fine ballast onto it and let it dry. For between the rails, I use a small brush, and “paint” the section between the ties with scenic cement, then lightly sift the ballast into place, doing about a 12" section at a time. It’s tedious, yes, but I feel it gives a more scale look to the ballast when it’s all done, and you don’t have to shift it around with a brush, wet it, then drop glue on, etc. just my own prefernces, that’s all.
When all the ballast is dry, i then go over the rails with a sanding block and fine emory paper to remove the pai
I also use a spray can on the track, ties and WS roadbed after coating the rail tops with a light oil. Using a large cardstock mask next to the track, spray, dry for a few minutes, wipe rail tops clean. Let dry thoroughly.
When dry I use a 1/2" brush (HO) and apply varying intensities of burnt umber, grey, and black onto the ties. Just have a pallet, dip brush lightly and paint a foot or two of track. Randomize colors and mixes of colors. The entire process is very fast. Any overspray gets covered by ballast and scenery.
Ballast goes on last of course.
Good luck,
Karl
Terry, in addition to the tips above, you may also want to check out Joe Fugate’s article in How To Build Realistic Layouts.
MRR web has a downloadable PDF w/video of the article but you need the magazine for the access code.
Regards,