Hi,
How do you get that bleached railroad tie look. I am going to use roof brown for the mainline
rails, and rust for the siding rails.
Sincerely,
Chris
Mix acrylic paints until the mix looks close to what you have in mind. I start with a basic light gray, and then add a bit of burnt umber or cinammon, and experiment with what it looks like on a few dried ties. If it doesn’t seem to work, try another mix.
I think I know the effect you mean – an almost silvery gray similar to driftwood.
Try this on a bit of track before going all the way. It takes a bit of practice.
Get some acrylic white paint. Put a bit of white on a palette (or wood or cardboard or whatever) and swish a small brush in it. Then wash out the brush in a fairly small container of water.
It is that water, not the paint itself, that will be your weathering agent. Soak the brush in the “dirty” brush water and wash it over your ties. Wait until it dries before you judge the effect. If done just right this can lighten the color of the tie rather effectively and does not seem to affect the rail that much. I suppose you could also mist the water over your track for a quicker method. Adding a very small amount of white to matte medium might be yet another way to get this effect but the main thing is you are NOT painting the ties with white paint you are trying to lighten them.
By the way that same “dirty” brush water from white acrylic paints can also create interesting effects on plastic “brick” buildings or molded “stone” retaining walls.
Dave Nelson
Hello “selector,”
MR author Bill Darnaby does a very good job of weathering track, to my eye. He explained how he does it in an article in the November 1997 “Model Railroader.” See “Creating realistic track” on page 112 in that issue.
(If you don’t have the back issue, you can order it from the “SHOP” section of this Web site, or order a photocopy at the same place if the issue is out of print.)
So long,
Andy
Dave,
I like the “dirty water” wash that you describe, however sometimes I have found that you need to break the surface tension for proper application. Testing w/ alcohol, wet water or winshield washer fliud may solve any issues with the coverage desired.
Usually for tie weathering I still find that solvent paint adheres much better and I have much better control of washes and dry brushing. Many parts of our layout that have been painted w/ acrylics have had the paint lift if scratched or masked. even painter’s tape if in contact w/ the tie strips off the paint. This never has happened with solvent (Floequil or ScalecoatII).
Just like to throw that out there, I’m still not sold on acyl
Yes sometimes the method I mention results in dried “droplets” instead of an even finish if you do not add some alcohol or detergent. I wonder if a little Woodland Scenics scenic cement would also do the trick and help adhesion. I have not tried that.
Dave Nelson
Perhaps someone knows of a product that could go on like a wash and act as a primer to stop any problems with surface tension. Etching with solvents could cause damage especially the foam layouts.
Yo, cris…
If you don’t mind using solvent-based paints, I suggest you try Floquil Grime with a little gray Primer mixed in. I like the look…it has that bleached, “silvery” look of aged wood.
Hope this is helpful.
Bruce J.
Wood or plastic ties? Wood is easy; leave it outside for a few months and it will be perfect. Plastic needs paint; any of the methods described above will work fine. I use Poly S (gray mixed with a little buff or sometimes umber) thinned way down with Windex and lightly mist the track. I give it several applications over the course of a few days in order to judge the effect. Be wary of going to far, a little is better than a lot.
Shoot the paint from 4 or 5 angles to ensure you have full coverage. I normally don’t weather the rails separately, but leave them the color of the ties. Experiment, that is the only real way to get the job done!
Try using a wash with Bin primer instead of just an acrylic white, it sticks better to ties. I actually dry brush mine on, let it dry for a day then go over individual ties with some different acrlic washes to get the various shades of old ties. mike h.