I am considering painting my track and was wondering what everybody recommended. Which paint, how to do it any tricks, etc? I am using Atlas C55 and Atlas #7 turnouts.
I thought I had found a short cut and spray painted a bunch of track Rustoleum brown. Not a good idea...at all. I thought I'd never get the paint off the top of the rail. The paint foiled the electrical contact. In my attempts to remove the paint via fine grit sand paper, I ruined the finish on the track. I could never keep the track clean after that. Your local LHS (Local Hobby Shop) or internet Hobby Shops should have what is called rail paints. They come in bottles, tubes and/or in sticks much like a permanent marker. From one of our sponsors: http://www.fiferhobby.com/html/floquil_weathering_paint_pens.html Have fun.
Rick, had you tried gleaming/polishing the rails? The paint can be sanded off, which will actually help flatten the railheads, and then polished.... leaving the rails painted and intact. I tried the spraypaint method on a section of flex, then microsanded the railheads clean; afterward the track looked like the real thing. Now I'll be using some wenol polish (or similar) to repolish the railheads to a smooth glossy shine, which should give me awesome electrical contact..... (I used 200 grit then 600 grit, you could even hit it with 1000 & 2000 grit and have a near-gloss surface without polish! It's flatter and more uniform than when new, so contact with older solid-frame locos is better too) Oh, and Rust-Oleum makes a rust-brown textured paint; it looks like actual rusted metal! Sprayed onto both sides of the track from a 10-15 degree high side angle, it hits both rails well and dusts the ties. In some ballast, it looks better that any method I have seen on cr@ppy code 80 : ) I'd post pics but my iphone camera is awful at close-ups.... I will say, it shouldn't be painted until rails are laid and final; flex track will shift and show unpainted spots where the ties' "nails" were! That goes for any flextrack painting I suppose....
Just finished painting some code 83 track for HO gauge. On my one and only N gauge layout (way back in the Stone Age only code 80 was available) I also painted the track. 1. First take your track and with a Q-tip coat the top of the rail with Wahl Hair Clipper Oil. When I did my N gauge track I didn't know about the conductive qualities of the Wahl Oil. I used mineral spirits and with thorough cleaning had no trouble with electrical continuity. I prefer to paint the track prior to laying but have carefully sprayed track in place. 2. I use an inexpensive flat brown (whatever looks closest to rust to your eyes) from WalMart in the large spray tin. I've used a couple of different browns but all were in the rust family. 3. I do this painting outside on my patio, putting down news paper to take care of the over spray. Be certain to spray from several angles to make certain no silver color shows through. If you're painting sectional track, you're ready for the next step #4. If you're using flex track, let the first coat dry. Then, flex the track when it is dry. You'll have a "holiday" everywhere the rail is attached to the ties - spray a second coat to cover these paintless spots. 4. Then I use a soft cloth to remove the paint from the top of the rails. I've left painted track like this for several hours and while there were some tough spots to remove these were few and small. 5. I use a small file to remove paint from the ends of the rails to make certain of good electrical contact with the rail joiners, but I recommend a feeder wire to every piece of track anyway. Some people go back and paint the ties a different color brown. This seems like a lot of extra work because anyplace that there's a lot of rain or humidity, the ties will acquire rust run-off from the rail.
I liked how Dave Vollmer did it on the Juniata Division layout. Follow the link and page down half way to see it.
I used a Rusty Rails starter kit: JMT-103 Rusty Rails Starter Kit (Brown) I wiped off the top of the rails while the paint was still wet. Be careful around the points of your switches. Craig
I like to use the rattle cans or an airbrush for the ties and paint pens for the rails. Just be sure not to allow the paint to cure on the rails so its easier to clean off.
I prefer a dark grey for main tracks... and airbrush the whole track with Tamiya German Grey XF-63. Then the first coat is dried, I use some shades of thinned brown paint and accentuate some ties by spraying perpendicular on them. Brushpainting the rails with a different color IMHO emphazises the even to heavy code 55 rails too much. Side tracks get a dark brown color. And all of these steps are done before ballasting and scenery work!
Per ATSF_Arizona, use Micro-Brushes. IIRC the regular size will do the side of a rail in one swipe. At the very least, you can use them to touch up misses and around switches. New rail is gray-sided. In parts of the desert, rail can stay like this for many, many years. If you need an idea for a scene, have a section done in new gray rail with a tracklaying crew in place, as if they were finishing up. Bright orange rust is relatively new rust, very dark red rust is older, if you've noticed.
Spray Painting The Track - Not ecommended. I can't say that I have. John Paulson has quite often shared his procedures here for polishing the track, using NoOx and these ideas are fairly new to me. I did the deed almost 20 years ago on a N scale scratch built double track bridge. The black ties stood out from the brown trestle so I spray painted the rails and ties. I have to say it looked good. I was called away and wasn't able to wipe the paint off before it dried. Thus the problems as already described in a previous post. Thanks for asking. I do like and appreciate your step by step "How To".
Spray Painting The Track - Not Recommended. I can't say that I have. John Paulson has quite often shared his procedures here for polishing the track, using NoOx and these ideas are fairly new to me. I did the deed almost 20 years ago on a N scale scratch built double track bridge. The black ties stood out from the brown trestle so I spray painted the rails and ties. I have to say it looked good. I was called away and wasn't able to wipe the paint off before it dried. Thus the problems as already described in a previous post. Thanks for asking. I do like and appreciate both Daves and your step by step "How To". This information along with John's should be helpful to the newbies and some old timers on board.
I'm going to use a flat brown spray bomb on my track when I reach that point. I'll paint and then wipe the tops, and then use flitz polish on the top of the rail to get rid of any impurities left behind.
Danny, I promise- check out that textured rust color paint..... it's sheer awesome on the track! $6.xx @ home despot. (been experimenting- clean track b4 painting to make it grip like mad!)
