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Just wondering what are the preferred methods on painting track with you all. On my last layout I was working on, I was hand painting every bit of track. Extremely time consuming as I was going to have about 200ft of mainline alone, not including yard tracks, etc. I was painting the ties and rails separately. This time, I'm wanting to do something a bit quicker. I know some people use an airbrush, I don't have one of those at the moment. I've seen others use spray paint. I'm thinking on the spray paint route....but don't really want all of the track to be the exact same color. Guessing I'll still have to go back and hand paint the rails. I know about using tape to mask switch points and using oil on rail heads etc. Just wonder what method you all use, and for those that go the spray paint route.....what brand and colors do you use. Pictures of your work/results would be a bit help too. Thanks!
All my track was already in place before I even started with the pens. There were some parts that where already ballasted the track and still used the pens with no problems. It didn't take any time at all. Easy peezie.
I just started weathering my track this weekend. It was taking a lot of time doing it by hand, but then I started thinning my paint a lot. Now, I just load up my brush and touch it to the channels on the sides of the rails, and it flows 2 or 3 inches downwards (holding the track section vertically), load bush and repeat for the next 2 or 3 inches. It is best with a 2nd coat but it goes pretty quick.
I just use a smallish cheapo artist's brush and either Poly Scale "Railroad Tie Brown" or Floguil "Rust". It goes by surprisingly quickly. I can paint up 10 feet of rails in about 5-7 minutes...both rails, both sides. Just make sure you wipe the rail tops every 40-60 seconds....or you'll double your work.
If you should happen to forget and let the stuff dry on the rail top, just use 400 grit paper or use left over stripwood pieces shoved along the top.
after the ballast is down I use a paint pen on the rails to add rust and then Air brush with grimy black and oily black. I try to get the center of the ties a diffrent color than the edges adding oil spots on sidings and spur tracks
I've done that and I'd rate the results about a C+.
Maybe I didn't use a fine enough tip but the Sharpie would bounce over the "spikes" on N gauge flex and leave some gaps in coverage. It's a bit better for HO. I had better results with a paint pen from Dick Blick but the paint was a bit thick for my tastes.
My best results were from simply spray painting from a rattle can. (I don't own an airbrush.) I don't have the patience to brush paint.
i have the floquil marker, IMHO way to labor intensive and expensive to cover all the track. but it is a good way to touch up areas.
Step 1.
masked off and sprayed rusty primer. it is to reddish as is, but serves a good foundation for further coloring. cleaned tops of the rail immediately.
step 2.
airbrushed a mix of watery grimy black (diluted black and bit brown acrylic paints). sprayed in several passes. paint stuck really well to primer. shown with some ballast
One of those el-cheapo airbrushes from harbor freight would do you just fine, or even the plastic "spray gun" Badger sells. You can use rattle cans if you want, but they shoot lots more paint than an airbrush will, meaning you'll get a ton of overspray. To avoid the color being the same use weathering colors and dry brush on highlights to vary the appearance. Rail Brown is a good base color to start with. Grimy Black, Oily Black, and some different shades of gray can be used to vary the highlights.
I recall a video on the Franklin and South Manchester by George Sellios where he used Krylon primer and added dry brushed weathering and accents before ballasting. It looked great and was very inexpensive.
Wanting to get a decent airbrush. Not so much for weathering track, but I have 3 locomotives I want to model. Two will need a custom paint job most likely.
Wanting to get a decent airbrush. Not so much for weathering track, but I have 3 locomotives I want to model. Two will need a custom paint job most likely.
I just got one of those Pasche HS-Set single-action airbrushes, and it works great! I'm happy with it. I was able to weather my first engine and it came out pretty good. Also it was pretty easy to learn how to use it. I watched a few youtube videos on cleaning and techniques, etc.
I just use a smallish cheapo artist's brush and either Poly Scale "Railroad Tie Brown" or Floguil "Rust". It goes by surprisingly quickly. I can paint up 10 feet of rails in about 5-7 minutes...both rails, both sides.
Same ones as Anton (Tankist) shows in his photo just higher on this page. I think they are Atlas, but maybe Woodland Scenics....sorry, I forget. If you go to the Walthers catalog and do a search for HO signals, those will appear soon enough in the listings.
Have about 90% of my roadbed down. Should finish it up when I get back from work. Wanting to try and start getting some track painted and ready to start laying by next weekend. Don't have an airbrush yet, thinking on going the rattle can way. I plan to mask switch points and the last half inch or so of track. I'll touch that up by hand after I have the track down. For those that have done this with decent results, what colors did you use? I asked a similar question in another post about rattle cans too. Just hoping to get started this week. My kids are nagging me wanting to see some trains running....lol
