After many tries with different kinds of paint, I have discovered what it takes to make track look real to me. When real track and ties are new they are nearly black so I paint my newly layed track and ties a slightly watered down poly scale grimmy black. This goes on very fast with a small brush. Then I make a wash using poly scale railroad tie brown and paint it on the ties rather, kind of “smear” it on the ties. When it dries the ties look that uneven weathered gray/brown color. I use a thinner wash on main line ties where they are newer so the black shows more. Then the final touch is to use a wash of cheap acrylic oxide or rust and paint it on the rails depending on their age and location. More rust on sidings and less on main lines.
Sounds like a good plan to follow. Different parts of the country have slightly different looks so you need to consider that, but we’d love to see a picture if you get a chance. J.R.
I wonder if I got a bad bottle of Polly S railroad tie brown? Mine just looks grey. Not a hint of brown in it. [%-)]
Might be, because I used that and it looks very good (and very brown) to me.
Does it look grey when you apply it, or grey in the bottle?? Paint sometimes will ‘settle’ in the bottle and look very different than when you shake it up and use it. I’d try putting it in a little paint shaker for a while and see how it looks.
I have two bottles of Polly Scale Railroad Tie Brown, one is grey the other is brown. I went back to the LHS and checked to see what they have on the rack and the Railroad Tie Brown was indeed brown. They me have had bab batches or changed the formula at some point.
Dennis
I had a bad bottle of Poly Scale Railroad Tie Brown too. It was a blue/purple color. Did not look good at all. I bought a new bottle and that is a dark dirt brown color. Now I always give the bottle a few shakes before I buy it.
Looking at a local rail line near the house where I grew up, which sees probably less than a train a day, the ties and rails look pretty brown to me. I picked up a gallon of OOPS chocolate brown paint at Home Depot (I know, that’s lots of paint, but at the time I thought I could use it for benchwork, maybe cut with some white). I mixed up a few ounces of this brown with a little red, black, and white craft paint. The result looks close to my observations. I haven’t ballasted yet, so I hope it ends up ok.
I hand painted the first module I built and decided hand-painting track was a drag. On this last layout I did, I washed track pieces in detergent, assembled the track pieces into sections, and sprayed the sections lightly with automotive rust-colored primer. Then I airbrushed the sections with the brown mix. It was MUCH faster spraying first. The paint stuck and covered MUCH better too. It just takes patience to force myself to take the extra steps befory laying the track.
Jim
Ah, the key to success. Hopefully you’re more successful at that than I am at times! [:)]
Depending on your preferences, neat and orderly well maintained track by the RR, or a RR that has neglected its maintenance, there are lots of ways to go about this.
Joe Fugate has some good methods using dry tempura paint and plaster.
I want the unkept, neglected maintenance look in some areas.
After track was laid, I airbrushed a mix of rust using cheap acrylics on track in these areas. Then I used three washes, again using cheap acrylic craft paints, of medium and light grey plus black and painted randomly down the centers of the tracks and along the ties on the sides.
Last, in between tracks, after laying down ballast, dirt etc. I mist with alchohol and then using a pipet and watered down acrylic paints, go back and “drop” areas of paint. These fade and spread randomly due to the alchohol.
I’m still working in this area with grass etc.
Regards,
Tom, what did you use and how did you get the rail to have that brown color on the right side of the picture?
Two questions-A lot of you are using acrylics to paint your rails and alchohol has to be used to wet the ballast before adding glue to the ballsts but how do you avoid the alchohol lifting the acrylic paint? Also has anyone ever tried using low tack painters tape to cover the tops of the rails during painting in order to minimize cleanup?
Thanks for any help-Bob
That brownish color was obtained by painting all of the track first before any ballast etc was put down. I mixed my own color up using el-cheapo acrylic craft paints, thinned down, airbrushed on.
I think I used some type of honey brown, added a little grey. It looks a rusty color to me.
With painting, I do not mark down what ratios of anything I use - probably laziness or simply not knowing if I will end up using the concoction. I get it to the color I want and paint away - in some cases I may toss it. I do not worry about having to mix more. If I do mix more, it may be a little off from the first color. To me, that only adds to the variety.
Regards,