I know sharpie brand markers come in a wide range of colors, I found a brown that is close to aged rail color, any thoughts about using in on N-Scale track. In my opinion it would save time and make clean up easier then using spray paint or painting by hand what are your thoughts or am I totally out in left field all alone.
My only concern would be whether or not it would stick to the rail?? Otherwise it’s a good idea, I use sharpies and art markers whenever possible. Silver is good for coloring chain, bells etc. On plastic building kits, I paint the walls primer gray or sand (tan) and then color the bricks with a reddish brown art marker. The gray remains as the mortar and just the top of the bricks gets colored. I’ve seen guys use art markers etc. for wood painting/staining too.
I used the Floquil paint pens for coloring the rail on my HO layout. The set for track comes with rust, rail brown and railroad tie brown. I was very happy with the results.
Sharpies should work just fine. Ive used them for writing on DVD’s I’ve burned, and also as a resist pen for drawing pc circuits (CRUDE pc circuits). Soluble in lacquer thinner. Gary
They will work and are probably not much different then Flowquil paint pens which do work nicely. I have used the rust color which isn’t too bad but trust me it doesn’t go as fast as you think. If your doing a lot of track it’s quite tedious. Spraying the rails is actually the fastest and easiest way. all you need for clean up is a briteboy to hit the tops of the rails soon after you paint them. I use the Flowquil railroad tie brown pen to hit a couple of ties here and there to simulate ties that have been replaced. Got that idea from Tony Koester in the new realistic reliable track book.
thanks, just doing a small layout, for now. 3x6