I tried my hand at weathering track. I have atlas code 80 n-scale track.
First I airbrushed a coffee bean brown on the ties and rail and then dry brushed white on the ties…
CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE
What do you think. Ant suggestions to further enhance the look?
looks good, but the outside of the rail needs to be painted, they are normally completely covered in rust. make sure to keep the tops clean. If you have any pictures of track, compare it with them. DD
Quite honestly, I’m having trouble seeing the weathering in this photo. I think seeing it with the ballast would also help.
i’m using acrylic paint. I have to thin it down to use the airbrush. It does not want to stick to the rails. Any suggestions??
Don
it’s hard to tell looking at a photo , but i think the white on the rails is a bit much , needs to be toned down . however , viewing the photo on my screen it looks about the size of HO track so the effect may be exaggerated .
I just sprayed about 10% of my trackwork with a mix of brown,black and red on the rails here is the result:
CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE
I think I’m happy with it. ereimer, I think it is because of the extreme close up the white seems a bit harsh so close. It softens as you back off.
Don
Try polly S paint., water soluble and easy to use, I use rust mixed with a little engine black or grimey black on what little track I needed to paint, started using micro engineering code 70 weathered flex track no muss, no fuss just ballast and add a little grime later.I would cut the polly S with water about 30%, seems to stick to the rail well.
Radioman2
Don,
Everyone had different standards on what looks good. And alot can depend on whats in the real world too. Someplaces down in the southeast, rust is so thick, you could scrape it off in 2 months. Down here in Arizona, well, rust can take 50 years.
As far as modeling goes, you need to do atleast enough to show others what you did was intentional and that work was put in to it.
What shown in your second picture looks fantastic! I’d spray the rest and call it good!
Big John thank you for the compliment. I think I will finish with that technique.
Don
That second pic looks better. What you want to do is spray the track with a brown color and then use a rust color for a high light on the rails. It takes a lot of practice. Your getting there though…Practice,practice,practice…
Once you get it ballasted, you can use chalks and weathering powders for even more highlights.
Looks good to me![:D]
All it needs now is ballast.[:)]
Radioman, do you remove the pre-weathered stuff from the top of the rail somehow? I haven’t figured out how to do that.
Carrfan, I use a bright boy to take the weathering off the top of the rail, works pretty good but takes a little elbow grease, I also found out if you solder the rail joiners you have to remove the weathering where the rail joiners go together otherwise the solder won’t take to well, I do this with a small fine file, you only need to take it off the bottom of the rail., then the joiner will make better contact.
Radioman2
as i suspected . sometimes digital photograpy is too good [:)]
the rusted rails look real good , which leads me to a question … how do you spray the rails without getting any on the ties ?
I have found that solvent based paint adheres much better to the ties than acylics. Many areas of our layout had the track weathered with model flex, however during scenery work the painter’s tape would pull the paint off some of the ties if it was allowed to make contact. I realize that spraying solvent paints in a confined area (on already laid track) can be hazardous, but the Floequil or Scalecoat II does an excellent job on the ties and rails- and will stay there for good.
Bob K.
another method is to just mix together flat grimy browns, greens, and greys with some of the krap that collects at the bottom of a can of brush cleaner, and airbrush it onto the track. when i eventually get an airbrush, this is what ill do, and paint the rails and teiplates and spikes with this:
http://www.joesmodeltrains.com//ho_scale_rusty_rails_painter.htm
GEARHEAD426
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