Decent luck painting track today with rattle can

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Went to Wal-Mart today, picked up a can of RustOleum Satin Dark Brown.... didn't really know what Satin was...I read it was closer to a flat than a gloss. It was the only brown they had that wasn't glossy. Heated the can with a heat gun, then sprayed a peice of track. It stayed sticky a good while, and finally dried with a glossy sheen. Way more glossy than expected. Pissed me off.....lol but I fixed it later...


Went to Lowes hardware this evening because they had a bigger selection of spray paint. Picked up a can of Rust Oleum flat brown, and a can of Valspar flat Velvet Brown. Figured I would try the Velvet Brown first, cheaper can. Heated that can with a heat gun, and sprayed. Almost exact match to Roof Brown that I have hand painted ties with in the past. Painted over the glossy track, fixed that problem. No loss of any detail, I sprayed holding the can about 15-16 inches back. Planning to get some paint pens and do the rails.
 
just wondering what the purpose of heating the can is? Seems to me your playing with fire on that one and risking the can exploding lol
 
just wondering what the purpose of heating the can is? Seems to me your playing with fire on that one and risking the can exploding lol

Read about it in another thread on here about it making the paint spray thinner. I don't just hold the heat gun to it. I run it on low and rotate the can for about 30 seconds. All that happens is the can is slightly warn to the touch. One guy heats his over a flame....lol
 


ahhh okay, thats what I had thought but i wanted to make sure that you were not heating it till the can was hot enough to explode, I can see that going very badly in a hurry LOL
 
wish i could have warned you against rusto. its good paint, perhaps the best spray paint made - but for models, not so much. and the only truly flat rusto color i have ever used is flat black. most of them finish with a shine - even the satin colors. generally rusto is thicker than most brands and takes 3X longer to dry. if i had an outdoor G scale operation, i would consider rustoleum...but definitly not for anything indoor smaller than O scale.

with that said, do you have any photos of how it came out...
 
I posted a response to a question the other night on another forum where I said to put the can in the hottest tap water you have and let it set for about five minutes this will give the paint a finer mist. Some later posts mentioned putting the can on the stove top briefly that way you don't ruin the label. I've got to say this method or the heat gun DO NOT sound safe! Tap water doesn't get hot enough to burst the can and it spreads the heat out. Stoves and heat guns are much hotter and are direct concentrated heat, NOT safe!
Be careful spray cans do explode and a label isn't worth it.
 
wish i could have warned you against rusto. its good paint, perhaps the best spray paint made - but for models, not so much.

Ive never used any other Rustoleum paints besides the Rusty Primer Color. I think they actually call it "Rusty Metal" primer and its the perfect color for rust. Ive used it on all my structures where the parts are molded to model "steel beams" and such. I also used it entirely on my Blast Furnace, and it provides the PERFECT base color to apply some black chalks too. It does not leave a shine, its flat and works very well

I would not however recommend it for tracks and rails, it would be too bright for the ties as the ties are a more blackish brown
 
Ive never used any other Rustoleum paints besides the Rusty Primer Color. I think they actually call it "Rusty Metal" primer and its the perfect color for rust.

I believe they call it Rusty Metal primer because that is the surface that it has been formulated to be used on, to help neutralize the oxidation process, rather than the color. But I agree that it does give a nice rust color.
I have never tried spay painting track before. Now ya all's got me curious. If only I didn't have a Cub Scouts parent meeting tonight....
Oh, well. Like Little Orphan Annie said "Tomorrow, tomorrow, there's always tomorrow..."
 


I believe they call it Rusty Metal primer because that is the surface that it has been formulated to be used on, to help neutralize the oxidation process, rather than the color. But I agree that it does give a nice rust color.

Yes thats right... Its a protective layer designed to be applied to metal surfaces to stop the oxidation process. Its a thicker paint mix then most spray paint as well. Covers real well and can be applied pretty thickly if needed.
 




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