I’ve tried painting the wheels of my rolling stock using various shades of brown, rust etc and haven’t been all that happy with the results.
What color do you guys use and are happy with?
Dave
I purchased a small bottle of Floquil’s rail grime/rust colour (looks very unlike a good rail weathering paint when it is all separated, as in a new bottle), but wouldn’t Floquil make something suitable?
Did you clean your wheels in advance… is adhesion a problem?
Some fellows actually rust up nails and then rub their brushes on the rust, apply it, and seal it with Dull Coat or something else.
I use straight grimy black and it suits me. If you want accurate shades you should be advised that there’s a difference between roller bearing wheels and solid bearing. I strated working for the SP as an operator in 1964 when the transition from solid to roller bearings was still in progress and my duties includeded rolling trains by (they PAID me for this) I noticed that the solid bearing wheels tended to be black w/ grease streaks radiating out from the wheel centers on some cars, due, I suspect, to less than perfect grease seals while the roller bearing cars’ wheels tended to be grease free and a rusty brown color. So era counts (mine is '45-'55 so I can get away with the grimy black treatment)
Another little noted detail is that cars that aren’t run over a hump to be classified (intermodal, coal unit train gons, etc) tend to have wheels entirely the same color (except for the tread of course) while those that are humped have shiny “tire” sides from being scraped by retarders.
selector,
adhesion isn’t a problem, i just can’t seem to find a color that i’m happy with
jimrice,
Wow. It never occurred to me that the type of bearing would make a difference in the color, but now it makes sense.
Rust color always seems to orange, whereas the brown’s i’ve used seem to be too . . . well brown (yeah that makes sense).
I have been happy with FLoquil Oily Black. Lately I’ve added some rust. Usually use a number 2 shader brush, which is pretty worn now.
Regards
Peter
Conford
The best color to use is Floquils Railroad Tie Brown
Haven’t been able to go into that much detail yet as I’m still detailing my actual railroad and my buildings. I think that grimy black w/ a little bit of rust would work good though. Good luck.
Check out some of the camoflage spray paint colors at a hardware store. I use a camoflage brown that is a dead ringer for Floquil grimy black (a slight greenish cast). There are several shades that look appropriate. I use the same paints to weather track
I suggest removing the paint from the wheel treads.
Dave Nelson
I use grimy black for most,then sometimes an oily or steam black near axle centers to simulate grease. I use brown shades to simulate both dirt(mud) and rust, especially on brakeshoes of trucks. For cars that are new or less than a year old I use brown mixed with orange as new steel rusts easily. I use metal wheelsets, when finished painting I poli***reads with brush in dremel to show bare metal.
I’ve used Floquil oxide red - rail brown mix. Then a light overspray of earth color on some wheels, grimmy or oily black on others or a combinaion.
Use Floequil roof brown, but mix weathered black or oily black. Change mixes from time to time, so all rolling stock is varied. Sometimes on newer(dated) equipment, I’ll go heavy with rust/ brown.
When I buy a bulk pack of wheelsets, I will paint them all. These are ready to install when needed.
Bob K.
I like that Floquil roof brown. I checked it against some local tracks and cars and it’s really close.If you ever saw a car with a new, replacement axle on it, they’re a bright rust color since they haven’t been grimmed up yet.(a nice little detail to model)
I first paint the wheelset Grimy Black; avoiding the treads and journals, of course. Freight car wheels then get thin washes of casein that I mix separately for each batch of wheels. The color of these washes is some combination of black, burnt sienna, burnt umber, and sometimes raw sienna for fresh rust (new wheels). Passenger car wheels tended to be better maintained, didn’t sit in exposed locations for a long time, or were changed out more often. In any event, I don’t recall ever seeing much rust on them in service so my passenger car wheels tend to get more black and more dirt (burnt umber) with a bit of grease (gloss medium on black).
On a personal note, Dave, a law school class mate of yours asked me for your eMail address. If you will send it to me, I’ll forward it to complete the connection.