Sorry, I know this topic has been posted but I need to order my airbush paint ASAP. What color (I believe it is black but is there a certain type of black) do I use on airbrushing the rails? Also can I use 3-in-1 oil on the rail heads before I airbrush? Thanks
Tie brown, roof brown, etc. are the favorites. I use brown paint on sidings (rust rail), and black magic marker on the mainline (newer rail). All are eventually dusted with grimy black. I usually just paint the rail heads and then clean later. Some type of oil/lube is probably better.
I recently airbrushed some Floquil rail brown (thinned down) and liked the results. How is the Hokuriku (Nagano) shinkansen line coming along?
Depends on where you railroad is supposed to be. Where it rains, roof brown. Where it doesn't, tarnished black. I'm in the southwest, Santafe and SP, so our rails aren't brown at all, but a light black. If you use PollyS acrylic paint, you don't really need to treat the top of the rails. Order a Peco cleaning block (it's black with much heavier grit than the Bright Boy) to clean your rails. It'll take off paint and the odd solder blob slick as a whistle. Don't use it for regular cleaning, since it'll remove the top of the rail head eventually! Tony Burzio San Diego, CA
I used rail tie brown and mineral red for the rails. I first used black as a base. Stay cool and run steam.....
Hi Don, The Hokuriku (Nagano) shinkansen line is coming along well. I've laid about 95% of the track, have wired 1 main line. (There are 4 main lines in all.) I think I've solved the problem of wiring the Bullet trains for DCC control. Right now I need to put in 6 bridges (have temps right now) but having a blast doing it. How is your layout coming? Tony-Thanks for the information on the Peco block, that will save a lot of time. [ June 17, 2005, 01:45 PM: Message edited by: Bernard ]
I've had the discussion before, and this photo is the perfect example. When painted and ballasted, Kato track looks as good as anything. Nice, I would not ever had guessed right!
Loco1999 - your track looks great, can you use flex track with the Unitrack? And with unitrack are you limited in the radius of curves that you can use. (That's way I wonder if flex track can be mixed with unitrack.)
Bernard: You can mix flex track with Unitrack. Unitrack has a good selection of radii. You can also cut sections of track to get the pieces you want. The JJJ&E is all Unitrack. Stay cool and run steam.....
Powersteamguy Have you ever cut any of the Unitrack viaduct double track? Also are you limited in the radii on a double viaduct curve? I see Kato sells inside 15" outside 16-5/16.
Sorry I should have said, "The pic is from my old atlas code 55 layout". It was the first painted track pic that I found. Loco1999
Bernard, My layout is still under construction but I NEED to run trains, so I have a combo of Unitrack and Atlas code 80,000 mixed as a temporary set-up and it works fine!
Bernard: I never used the Unitrack viaduct double track on the JJJ&E. I've cut straight and curved sections. Stay cool and run steam...
espeeman I can relate to that my layout is also under construction but I too also needed to run trains especially to see if I had any problems in the track I've already put down. All my bridges are temps. But for me, you can only look at the trains in their boxes for so long, Ya gotta run 'em. Airbrushing the rails is one of my next projects. P.S. Just saw the blueprint of your track plan in layout forum--WOW!! it look beautiful! [ June 17, 2005, 08:46 PM: Message edited by: Bernard ]
