Chicken or the Egg? Painting track
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Trucula
Drum Driver
One fast way is to spray the track (alone before laying)with rutty brown primer (very rust like) Roadbed can be painted (ballast color) gray, so once you start that process it wont take as much ballast.(any lightly missed areas will go un-noticed) Then simply clean the rail top with a bright boy or such. Ties can be touched up with different shades so they are not all same rust colored. ( a Q-tip and diff shades of paint, every few ties, good to have friends/club to help) Some paint after in place but its time consuming and if you have access to both side of the layout, you'll need to paint all sides. (which makes it feel like you did it twice.
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stationmaster
Crusty Old Geezer
I paint before laying ballast.
Bob
Bob
funnelfan
Member
Actually you paint both before and after laying ballast. Here is a step by step guide.
Before you start, it's best to visit your local yards, branchlines, and mainlines, and make mental notes of the color of the rails and weathering effects on the track.
After your track is down and there are no problems with it.
1.The first thing you want to do is to "grease" the tops of the rails so paint won't stick to it. I take a old freightcar truck and spray it with CRC 2-26 electrical contact cleaner. I then run the truck on all my tracks, leaving a thin film of the cleaner on the railheads so the paint won't stick.
2. Next take a rusty reddish-brown color (like boxcar red) and paint the rails with a airbrush. You want to shoot the rail at a low angle perpendicular to the track. Use the paint cup instead of the bottle attachment to get the low angle. Take care not to paint electrical contact points at switches (mask them to be safe)
3. Next take a tie color (like rail tie brown, or grimy black) and paint the track with a airbrush at a high angle parallel to the track. This will paint the ties and mostly avoid the rails. You can spray the rails here and there to weather them. Mainline rails are closer to grimy black in color than rust, so they should be weathered a lot.
4. Switch points are greased with motor oil or similar products. weather your switch points with engine black to represent this.
5. Now do your ballast work and let it completely dry. Clean up any loose ballast or ballast stuck to the side of the rail or in flangeways.
6. Now it's time to weather your ballast. Use Rail Tie Brown and go down the center of the track spraying at a high angle parallel to the track. You are looking to represent the mud and grime left by passing trains.
7. Next use a mud or dust color to make muddy spots in the ballast. Randomly select spots on your trackage and lay down the mud color thick.
8. Now take a paint brush and some engine black, and put down oil spots at regular intervals down the tracks. You also may want to spray engine black down the center of your mainline to represent a heavily used mainline.
9. Finally use a brightboy to clean the tops of the rails off. Take care to not clean to the tops of the guardrails off.
I hope this helps
Before you start, it's best to visit your local yards, branchlines, and mainlines, and make mental notes of the color of the rails and weathering effects on the track.
After your track is down and there are no problems with it.
1.The first thing you want to do is to "grease" the tops of the rails so paint won't stick to it. I take a old freightcar truck and spray it with CRC 2-26 electrical contact cleaner. I then run the truck on all my tracks, leaving a thin film of the cleaner on the railheads so the paint won't stick.
2. Next take a rusty reddish-brown color (like boxcar red) and paint the rails with a airbrush. You want to shoot the rail at a low angle perpendicular to the track. Use the paint cup instead of the bottle attachment to get the low angle. Take care not to paint electrical contact points at switches (mask them to be safe)
3. Next take a tie color (like rail tie brown, or grimy black) and paint the track with a airbrush at a high angle parallel to the track. This will paint the ties and mostly avoid the rails. You can spray the rails here and there to weather them. Mainline rails are closer to grimy black in color than rust, so they should be weathered a lot.
4. Switch points are greased with motor oil or similar products. weather your switch points with engine black to represent this.
5. Now do your ballast work and let it completely dry. Clean up any loose ballast or ballast stuck to the side of the rail or in flangeways.
6. Now it's time to weather your ballast. Use Rail Tie Brown and go down the center of the track spraying at a high angle parallel to the track. You are looking to represent the mud and grime left by passing trains.
7. Next use a mud or dust color to make muddy spots in the ballast. Randomly select spots on your trackage and lay down the mud color thick.
8. Now take a paint brush and some engine black, and put down oil spots at regular intervals down the tracks. You also may want to spray engine black down the center of your mainline to represent a heavily used mainline.
9. Finally use a brightboy to clean the tops of the rails off. Take care to not clean to the tops of the guardrails off.
I hope this helps
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stationmaster
Crusty Old Geezer
Why paint your ballast? Limestone does not rust. Nor does it oxidize. Use a mixture of colors to achieve the color you desire.
If you are modeling a coal mine use black, dark gray or a mix, if a Midwestern rural theme is your choice use a white, a light gray or a mix.
Bob
If you are modeling a coal mine use black, dark gray or a mix, if a Midwestern rural theme is your choice use a white, a light gray or a mix.
Bob
Ted, that's a great guide. I do things in about the same order although I use chalks to weather the ballast because it's easier for me to control than an airbrush. As you say (and the picture shows), the ballast and track start to blend together in terms of color after a few years.
stationmaster
Crusty Old Geezer
I guess my modules never last long enough to get the ballast dirty. Most are replaced and rebuilt every 3-4 years and do not see a lot of running time during their lifetime due to being changed out to represent different periods quite often.
I can see if a static display were to age some debris and dust may accumulate. But wouldn't a light dusting with compressed air take care of that? I'm not talking50# of pressure here, maybe 5#.
Bob
I can see if a static display were to age some debris and dust may accumulate. But wouldn't a light dusting with compressed air take care of that? I'm not talking50# of pressure here, maybe 5#.
Bob
lmackattack
old school
I also paint before and after. I paint the ties first then ballast then pain the rails and later air brush in the grime over the balast.
Bob, it's not dirt on the model ballast, it's on the prototype ballast. I'm trying to reproduce the look of a roadbed, ballast, and track which has been in place for some time. The ballast eventually takes on the rust and grime color of the rest of the track. Look at Ted's photo again. That's a prototype and that's the look I'm after when I weather ballast.
stationmaster
Crusty Old Geezer
Jim, I use different mixes of ballast color and "pinch in" the grime, rust and such using ballast. It is tricky to say the least.
I've tried using paint. One time the friggin' dog sat on the air line and I "over grimed", got stuck in one place to long. Painted a bunch of structures when I turned to see wha' happened. Would have made a funny cartoon. Of course I realize that I did things in the wrong order but the weatthering was an afterthought.
Tried using aerosol cans, that got expensive and I left paint in the cans and the overspray was a problem.
I never tried chalks(yet) for the road bed. I use chalks on the engines and rolling stock. If I don't like how it looks I just wash it off and start over.
I learned the method of "pinching in ballast" from an oldtimer back in the late '70's. Works for me, I guess. Just a pinch between the fingers and "pinch it in". Slow but effective. I'm only working on 4-6 feet of track at a time when working with the modules anyway, so it really isn't that tedious, and I don't use much. The Yard was an experience though. But using darker ballast for the initial track bed made that job much less demanding.
I can see if one had a static layout that painting would be much faster. But, again, working on shorter modules makes the "pinching method" more to my liking and i have better control of the amount of "grime" I add.
Bob
PS: I was joking about "dirty" track and using air to clean it. Sometimes people take all of this TOO seriously. lol
I've tried using paint. One time the friggin' dog sat on the air line and I "over grimed", got stuck in one place to long. Painted a bunch of structures when I turned to see wha' happened. Would have made a funny cartoon. Of course I realize that I did things in the wrong order but the weatthering was an afterthought.
Tried using aerosol cans, that got expensive and I left paint in the cans and the overspray was a problem.
I never tried chalks(yet) for the road bed. I use chalks on the engines and rolling stock. If I don't like how it looks I just wash it off and start over.
I learned the method of "pinching in ballast" from an oldtimer back in the late '70's. Works for me, I guess. Just a pinch between the fingers and "pinch it in". Slow but effective. I'm only working on 4-6 feet of track at a time when working with the modules anyway, so it really isn't that tedious, and I don't use much. The Yard was an experience though. But using darker ballast for the initial track bed made that job much less demanding.
I can see if one had a static layout that painting would be much faster. But, again, working on shorter modules makes the "pinching method" more to my liking and i have better control of the amount of "grime" I add.
Bob
PS: I was joking about "dirty" track and using air to clean it. Sometimes people take all of this TOO seriously. lol
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wheeler1963
Aurora & Portland Owner
Jim helped me when I was building this module, He explained the weathering of the rails and ties etc. I painted the rails first.
Here's is what it looked like in the begining.
Here is the track after some weathering washes applied.
Then after a bit of grass etc.
Here's is what it looked like in the begining.
Here is the track after some weathering washes applied.
Then after a bit of grass etc.
stationmaster
Crusty Old Geezer
I paint my rails first also. I use vaseline on the top of the rails. Makes removing the paint a breeze. Doesn't take much.I'm planning a transfer table module I may give Jim's method another "looky-see". I've got smaller dogs now. lol
Is that a 30x96 module?
Bob
Is that a 30x96 module?
Bob
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nmaniac
Member
grease the top of the rails
new to me just make sure your switches are taped over then break out the air brush or the ultra flat brown rattle can and have at it once the point is dry you can take a NEW # 11 blade and jsut peel the paint off the top of the rails or hit with a bright boy. Then once its dry and all weather till your happy with it
new to me just make sure your switches are taped over then break out the air brush or the ultra flat brown rattle can and have at it once the point is dry you can take a NEW # 11 blade and jsut peel the paint off the top of the rails or hit with a bright boy. Then once its dry and all weather till your happy with it
Trucula
Drum Driver
One way I darkened my ballast in between the rails was to mix black powdered tempera (dry poster paint) to plaster of paris. Sprinkle lightly between rails and brush out to desired look and hit it with a shot of water from a spray bottle. This darkens it a little more so be prepared when shading. The water will set the mixture.
As usual, it seems that there are many ways to "skin a cat." I sure appreciate all the input. Trucula, when you use the tempera paint with plaster of Paris, 1) do you wet it with plain water or do you add a little soap to help it sink in, and 2) does this hold your ballast down stronger than just white glue with water and soap?
Jerome, I just gave you some ideas. You did all the work. If forgot about how nice that module looked in the sun.
Jimmy, I've used powdered tempra in the past in much the same way as chalks. Since your track isn't going to moved around or touched very much, all you reall have to do is use your thumb and rub the tempra powder into the ballast until to get the result you want. I've used it with plaster and water aslo. The problem was it was hard for me to predict just how dark it would be once it was wetted and dried. I go over the track with a vacuum after using either the tempra powder or chalk and it's surprising how little comes off when you use that thumb-powered steam roller.
Jimmy, I've used powdered tempra in the past in much the same way as chalks. Since your track isn't going to moved around or touched very much, all you reall have to do is use your thumb and rub the tempra powder into the ballast until to get the result you want. I've used it with plaster and water aslo. The problem was it was hard for me to predict just how dark it would be once it was wetted and dried. I go over the track with a vacuum after using either the tempra powder or chalk and it's surprising how little comes off when you use that thumb-powered steam roller.
Laidoffsick
3 Railer
I paint the track before I lay it. The ballast, I use 70% isopropyl alcohol to wet it instead of water. Touch up the paint on the rails with a brush and then weather the ties and ballast. It is a time consuming process.
Before touching up the rails with a brush. You can see how the glue from the ballast leaves a bit of residue. Also the ballast nor the ties have been weathered yet.
After touching up the rails with a brush.
Before touching up the rails with a brush. You can see how the glue from the ballast leaves a bit of residue. Also the ballast nor the ties have been weathered yet.
After touching up the rails with a brush.
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