Can anyone help me with realistically weathering my HO scale track? It is Atlas brand and has brown ties.
Fastest and real cheap way - spray it with Rustoleum Camoflage Brown. Rail comes out with a really great dirty brown color. Wipe off the top of the rails before it dries and you’re done.
Larry
There are weathering pens and many of us use them. I, personally, just use a small artist’s brush and apply Poly Scale “Railroad Tie Brown” or Floquil’s “Rust”. Roof Brown, by Poly Scale, is also a good choice. Some spray their tracks, but I find the effect to be a bit too uniform to be convincing…if convincing is to be at least part of the aim of weathering in the first place.
Your ties and ballast should also be weathered, and that makes the choice of tie colour essentially moot. For the ties, and I have not done it yet, I would paint them a Burnt Umber mixed with plain Black and add a dab of gloss medium. Acrylics will dry flat and you want a greasy/tarry look to the ties…hence the addition of just enough gloss medium to achieve a shiny look that such ties would have. The ballast is probably best sprayed with an airbrush and I would use a darker colour than the rails so that the greases and oils flung off bearings of all kinds can be accurately depicted.
Crandell
Welcome to the forums.
If you go to the light gray line at the top of this page, click on Shop, then Special Issues, Special Issues again and it lists Realistic and Reliable Track. It gives tips on getting your track down for best operation as well as weathering both track and ties.
There are also paint markers, that many folks seem to like. They are much like a magic marker, only they have weathering colors of paint in them. They are available from Walthers, Micro-Mark and local hobby shops. You can also find paint markers by Elmers and others at office supply and craft stores. You just have to select the color closest to the ones you want.
Good luck,
years ago when i finnished laying track on my old layout, i masked off the point contact areas, turned off the pilot lights and put a fan in the basement window. then i donned my respirator and sprayed everything with floquil grimy black using a number 3 tip in a paasche air brush.
after cleaning the rail tops and ballasting, i thought it looked pretty good for atlas code 100.
grizlump
I do what Larry does. Then using a 1/2" flat brush with short bristles, I dry brush between the rails with shades of black, gray, umber, and sometimes siena. I try not to make it too uniform. I also hit the outsides of the ties in similar shades. Sometimes a light over coat of india ink wash too. This also can be used on the ballast. Don’t forget to burnish the rails after cleaning them. It does help keep the crud away.
Karl
I like the Atlas product because it is so reliable to work with. Having said that, the spikes are pretty oversize. To downplay this problem, I prefer a darker color for painting the rail and ties. I first spray both track and ties with rattle can Floquil Grimy Black and then immediately follow up by fogging on rattle can Floquil Roof Brown.
Lance
Books on layout construction, design, and track plans
This is what the track looks like after a shot with the Camoflage brown and some ballast.
I really like the grungy dirty look from this paint.
Larry
Has anyone had experience with the “Rusty Rails Painter” from Joe’s Model Trains? I ordered one yesterday as the video on using it looked pretty good.
Brent
The most important thing is to paint the shiny rail sides rust or rail brown. The bright shiny rails look bigger than they are, and real rail is always rusty except on the rail heads. I wiped the rail down with mineral spirits or alcohol to get the oil and grease off and then brush painted the sides of the rail. Doing the entire layout used up a single bottle of Floquil “Rust”.
Then the plastic ties will look better with enough paint to kill the plastic shine. I like to use a different color on the ties than I do on the rails, sort of to emphasize that ties are wood and rail is steel. I feel if I use the same color on both it makes the rail and the tie look alike.
Final operation is ballasting. I have not got there yet, but down at the club we just spread the ballast out by hand, shaped it, brushed it off the tops of the ties, and when all looked good, glued it in place. Glue was white glue diluted 1:1 or maybe 2:1 with water and applied with a plastic spray bottle. We would let one coat dry well and then give it a second coat to nail everything down well. Before gluing we wet all the ballast with “wet water” (water with a few drops of dish detergent), also applied with a spray bottle.