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Painting track


Pinehill
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I use acrylics for just about everything, track painting included.  Splash it on without a care in the world, and wipe the railhead clean before it dries.  If you rely on the blade to stock rail electrical contact in your turnouts, let the paint dry and then clean the contact surfaces with emery or a file to stop the paint dripping downwards after you've wiped it.

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Personally, I long ago stopped painting the rail sides separately. Apart from where ballast has been recently renewed, or indeed the rails, the colour of rail and ballast either side tends to blur together over time, as a mixture of rust and oil spread over both. I have subsequently used acrylics for all, and tended to some colour separation only in the middle and the extreme sides of the ballast, rather than the rail itself, and of course in those sections requiring different treatment, such as where locos could stand for some time at stations and at some signals, or where other contamination, such as coal, clay or chalk slurry require a different effect. Such effects tend to cover both ballast and rail, if you check across with real life.

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You might find this interesting. https://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/item/TT4581 Better for FB than BH IMHO

Cheers,

David

Thanks David, that is what I had heard about. Reviews seem mixed but might give it a try. I am wondering whether it might be better to try & airbrush the rails rather than the awkward method using a paintbrush.

Regards.

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Thanks David, that is what I had heard about. Reviews seem mixed but might give it a try. I am wondering whether it might be better to try & airbrush the rails rather than the awkward method using a paintbrush.

Regards.

Airbrushing track has become my preferred approach although I remain an enamel devotee because I consider the finish better and longer lasting. It is very straightforward to airbrush either ballasted or un-ballasted track. 

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Rail gets rusty on the real railway long before it is laid.

With use, the rust darkens & seems to spread around the ballast a little as Mike describes.

Whether you can get away with airbrushing depends on the standard of your airbrushing & also exactly the condition of the track you want to portray.

If you airbrush fresh track, you need to do it very heavily to stop the bare metal from bleeding through. It is a tedious task but a coat of brush-painted dark rust first can be weathered less heavily for a nice effect.

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If you airbrush fresh track, you need to do it very heavily to stop the bare metal from bleeding through. It is a tedious task but a coat of brush-painted dark rust first can be weathered less heavily for a nice effect.

Have to disagree...the joy of using an airbrush is the fact you can build up many different coats and have infinite colours and effects. I airbrush the rails and sleepers prior to ballasting, and then use various shades to weather to taste once ballasted.

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I'm a bit lazy....Halfords grey primer all over and then Railmatch Sleeper Grime, again sprayed all over, then rub the tops of the rails with hardboard or a strong cloth - isopropyl alcohol for the stubborn bits.  Then, once it has been ballasted I gradually over time add detailing - oil, grease etc. to stop it looking too uniform.

 

Teabag

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  • RMweb Gold

Not owning an airbrush, and not looking forward to painting the rails with a tin of Humbrol, I used the woodland scenics pens.  They do allow you to quickly get the side of the rails, and using the weathered tie pen you can turn the sleepers from black to a good shade of dark brown.  I then applied diluted black enamel paint over the ballast to tone it down.

 

post-7653-0-21371600-1545897839.jpg

Edited by Captainalbino
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Why would I want that for freshly laid concrete-sleeper track?

 

The 'best method' surely depends on the effect you want to achieve?

 

Absolutely. Perhaps if you had mentioned you meant concrete sleepered track, I could have suggested appropriately. Apologies for not having my crystal ball to hand.

Edited by blueeighties
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Why would I want that for freshly laid concrete-sleeper track?

 

Absolutely. Perhaps if you had mentioned you meant concrete sleepered track, I could have suggested appropriately. Apologies for not having my crystal ball to hand.

 

The 'best method' surely depends on the effect you want to achieve?

 

"Whether you can get away with airbrushing depends on the standard of your airbrushing & also exactly the condition of the track you want to portray."

 

Well the above immediately preceded the sentence you disagreed with. I think it covers all types of track.

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Erm....nope, still not seeing it. Let's just agree to disagree before the thread descends into the usual tittle tattle. I hope the op has picked out some useful info. I'll post some of my examples soon. I trust you will be doing the same?

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At least we didn't get nasty about it!

 

1 thing which has not been mentioned which Captainalbino illustrated probably without realising...

 

It is useful to test something new on a scrap piece of board & track. If you don't get the effect you want, you've not ruined the layout finding out.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

Originally I did not bother priming, but found the sleep grime paint would sometimes flake off the sleepers when I was brushing the ballast in place (Peco wooden code 75), so I tried priming which seemed to improve adhesion.

 

Teabag

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  • RMweb Gold
On 14/01/2019 at 19:11, Night Train said:

Not tried them personally, but recommended on another forum.

Winsor & Newton pigment markers.

https://www.cultpens.com/i/q/WN63039/winsor--newton-pigment-marker

 

Colour chart

http://www.winsornewton.com/uk/shop/graphic-markers/pigment-marker

At £2.99, a pen-full of VanDyke Brown might be purchased to attempt a "rusting" of rails, if not then it's down to the Woodland Scenics pen for me. Gentle application of a colour wash using an airbrush after will I hope make the ballast and track look "well established". There are some nice tips in this string - thanks guys n gals.

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