Floquil enamel rail weathering markers

[tankist]

going to weather the rail soon and while i plan on painting the track properly i was curious about these (as i read positive recomendation). got the 3piese set: Rail brown, Rail tie brown, rust. LHS was out of them for as long as i can remember, so when i suddenly seen the lone box hangin in there i grabbed it. worst case its only 8 bucks...

anywho, so far i don't really like them. the rail came out to dark (at least in my lighting setting) and less reddish/rust'ish then i expected. the tie is waaay to dark (and not much different then the first marker), perhaps because i'm covering already black C100 ties. rust is actually the only one i did like. today in the morning looking at track at metra station i see that while rail color is actually quite correct the ties are completley off.

so the verdict - not going to replace proper airbrushing...

what are your thoughts? anyone here successfully using these or any other weathering enamel pens from floquil (i also tried the building weathering set...)?

 

[NH Mike]

I picked up a set back during the Winter. I don't have any complaints about the colors but my lighting may be a lot brighter than yours. They're good for doing touch up work in areas where I've had to make some track changes or for coloring the random odd tie just to mix things up visually a little. As far as doing the entire layout with them I came to the conclusion it would take forever and it is somewhat tedious and monotonous, not to mention expensive considering there is only 1/3 of an ounce in each marker. I'm sticking with the airbrush for my track and using the markers as a spot repair tool. The one thing I did find them useful for is a quick way to rust up a wheelset - no airbrush or paint brush to clean up after I'm done.

 

[ICG/SOU]

I found the rail brown and railroad tie brown to be more olive drab in color, not brown. The rust color looked too rusty, like fresh rust.

I got the other set (aged concrete, roof brown, dirt) and those are ok for what I got them for. I did find the aged concrete useful for some of the sills on brick buildings, but like said above, it's a rather expensive way of doing things.

 

[tankist]

thanks guys. makes sence

 

[Steve B]

I don't think you can beet the good old airbrush. like said above they are handy if your touching up modifications to trackwork but personally i think i'd just use a fine brush and my own mix of color.