Weathering Black (Hornby) Sleepers?

[latestarter]

I'm very new to railway modelling, but very enthusiastic! I'm currently buying a lot of track and stock, while I wait for a baseboard to be built. I thin intended to build an 8x4ft Trakplan Extension, from the Hornby Track Plans book.

I have the BRM 'Skills Week' Digital magazine, and have just read an interesting article on weathering track. However, the photos show track with light grey sleepers (not sure of the manufacturer). I can see how these may take weathering paint well, but what about the black plastic sleepers that Hornby produce? Can someone recommend the best way to weather these, when I am painting the rails I rust colour?

I assume acrylic paint is best for the rails - but what type of paint and colour would have an effect on the sleepers? 

Thanks for any assistance.

Stephen

 

[andyman7]

Light grey will mean concrete sleeper track. Hornby track is based on wooden sleepers. In real life the light grey of concrete sleepers goes darker and browner and the difference in tone with weathered wooden sleepers is not that obvious, so the black sleepers in Hornby track need to be more of a dark matt brown. A basic wash of colour helps get you well on the way and the sky's the limit as far as you might want to go with adding tones and colours, but unless you plan a small layout and/or are keen to spend hours colouring your track you want to aim for a more realistic impression overall rather than painting every tiny detail.

 

You can use either enamels or acrylics when weathering. The sides of the rails are rust coloured but on running lines the accumulation of general weathering and brake dust mean that there is quite a uniform dark brown impression. Freshly laid track will of course retain much greater contrast between the ballast (stones), sleepers and rail sides but after some time it all rather blends. A good start point I find is Humbrol matt earth (29) darkened to taste with black (33). You can do an awful lot in the weathering department with those two colours.

Edited October 17, 2021 by andyman7

[latestarter]

@andyman7 Brilliant advice and assistance - thank you.

 

[Pete the Elaner]

I agree with the above answer about there being a wide range of weathering & ways to achieve it.

The best place to start is by looking at real track.

Model railways are viewed from a different angle to the real thing & this affects how you see it.

We view model track from quite a high angle. There are a few bridges which offer a similar view of the real thing, but I find the Michael Portillo railway journey series good for this because most, if not all, episodes feature an overhead view taken from a helicopter.

I feel that working with some off-cuts of track on a scrap board will help you to decide what works for you. It has worked for me in the past.

[latestarter]

Thanks @Pete the Elaner I have actually been studying railway track recently, for a completely different reason. I'm a professional photographer and video producer, and have just completed a series of videos of a classical music festival in my (current) part of the world (Kerry in Ireland).

One of the videos was of a string quartet playing a 30 minute piece called 'Different Trains' by Steve Riech. I needed to superimpose footage of locos, trains and track over the music, so compiled a small library of video clips, and used about 15 of them for the finished video. I still have the rough footage, so I'll go back and have another look this week.

[SM42]

I have recently used a base of Halfords grey primer with Tamiya light earth sprayed over the top after the track has been fixed down.

 

This instantly transforms the overall look and I find  is a good base for adding in some tonal variations. 

 

Of course it also has the advantage that it is quite quick and colours the baseboard pre ballasting too. 

 

Andy

[ianLMS]

On 17/10/2021 at 20:06, latestarter said:

in my (current) part of the world (Kerry in Ireland).

.

Welcome Latestarter! and Kerry is a beautiful part of the world. My wife's family is from Limerick with a branch living in Kerry. Will be there next week for a visit all being well!!!

 

Agree with the comments above. I use Phoenix rusty rails enamel for the rails sprayed via an airbrush but use a paint brush for points etc.  I have a pack from Ammo which provides several different colours to use for the sleepers, rails and the shades on the ballast and these are Acrylic. I dont prime the track first, it seems to stick ok but i use Peco track, not Hornby. You may need to prime Hornby first. Just be careful around the point blades and slide bars when weathering the points. 

 

Good luck and enjoy!!!

 

Ian

[young37215]

As others have said, you could spend a lot of time and effort on painting track and sleepers and many do to great effect. You say that you are new to modelling, I suggest that you will have plenty of other challenges ahead and will not get far if all you do is spend time on weathering your track.

 

I would go for a simple, cheap and cheerful solution which will improve the appearance of your track in a short space of time. Firstly I personally I find enamel paint adheres to the rails better than acyrilic meaning it lasts for longer. I recommend that you buy a cheap can of a matt enamel brown paint and spray a single section of track covering the rails and sleepers. Allow the paint to dry and clean the paint from the railhead. I use a Peco track rubber for this and vacum the residue the abrasive rubber creates to leave a shiny surface on the railhead (essential if you want you trains to pick up electricity!). Compare this to the untreated track; I expect you will see a significant improvment in appearance.  If you are happy with the appearance go ahead and treat as much of your track as you want. In the event that you want to add tonal variation to the track at a later date you can, it is easy to do so at any stage. 

 

I am not suggesting this will be the perfect solution but for modest effort and outlay you will have significantly improved the appearance of your track. 

 

  

 

 

[latestarter]

1 hour ago, ianLMS said:

Welcome Latestarter! and Kerry is a beautiful part of the world. My wife's family is from Limerick with a branch living in Kerry. Will be there next week for a visit all being well!!!

 

Good luck and enjoy!!!

 

Thank you for the welcome Ian (my son's name actually). I'm originally from the NW of England with Irish ancestry going back to Limerick, for hundreds of years. I lived in County Limerick for 15 years when I first came to Ireland (Adare Village and then Newcastle West). I moved to South Kerry 5 years ago.

This photo shows The Kerry Cliffs near Portmagee, and was taken from my back garden with my drone. I've circled my house! Enjoy your visit to Ireland if you're heading this way - give me a shout.

Stephen 

 

Edited October 19, 2021 by latestarter

[latestarter]

44 minutes ago, young37215 said:

I would go for a simple, cheap and cheerful solution which will improve the appearance of your track in a short space of time. Firstly I personally I find enamel paint adheres to the rails better than acyrilic meaning it lasts for longer.

 

 

Thank you for the advice. Unfortunately, I jumped the gun and went a bought some cheap acrylic paint yesterday and have made a start on painting the rails of my (as yet un-laid) track. I'm still waiting for the baseboard, so I thought it would save time. I'm a bit of a YouTube junkie so far as model railways are concerned, at the moment, and there is a lot of conflicting advice. So I pumped for the cheapest method. It's not perfect even, and that's not a bad thing (I think), as rust is not always uniform.

[latestarter]

Just another quick question about weathering rails please...Will I need to clean the acrylic paint off areas where I will solder drop wires for the bus wiring?

Thanks again,

 

Stephen

Edited October 19, 2021 by latestarter

[ianLMS]

29 minutes ago, latestarter said:

 

Thank you for the welcome Ian (my son's name actually). I'm originally from the NW of England with Irish ancestry going back to Limerick, for hundreds of years. I lived in County Limerick for 15 years when I first came to Ireland (Adare Village and then Newcastle West). I moved to South Kerry 5 years ago.

This photo shows The Kerry Cliffs near Portmagee, and was taken from my back garden with my drone. I've circled my house! Enjoy your visit to Ireland if you're heading this way - give me a shout.

Stephen 

 

Stunning!!! We had our wedding reception in The Dunraven Arms in Adare and my wife was living in Newcastle West when i met her. She orignally came from Foynes which is where we will be next week visiting her family. 

 

As for the weathering, the rails look good. Yes, you will need to clean areas where you solder. Dropper wires can be soldered to the bottom side of the rail as well though. You can also use powdsrs to weather the sleepers but a coat of dark brown/black would work.

[latestarter]

3 minutes ago, ianLMS said:

Stunning!!! We had our wedding reception in The Dunraven Arms in Adare and my wife was living in Newcastle West when i met her. She orignally came from Foynes which is where we will be next week visiting her family.

Small world! I lived around the corner from the Dunraven Arms for 6 years, and I've done some photography work for them -including red-coated huntsmen with a pack of dogs outside the front door. That took a bit of organising, and I'm not sure who were the hardest the handle, the dogs or the American tourists.

I've also done a lot of photography inside the Foynes Flying Boat Museum for Tourism Ireland - definitely worth seeing if you haven't already - there's a mock up of a flying boat you can go inside. 

 

 

[d00m]

42 minutes ago, latestarter said:

Just another quick question about weathering rails please...Will I need to clean the acrylic paint off areas where I will solder drop wires for the bus wiring?

Thanks again,

 

Stephen

Yes. If you carefully clean the area to be soldered with emery paper, the solder will flow better and quicker (avoiding melting the plastic) and you should get a strong, lasting electrical bond. When done, just touch up the solder joint with paint.

[sjp23480]

An old post, but a good one and can be applied to any track.  You may not want to adjust the sleeper spacing, but the painting/weathering tips should be useful - as will the subsequent discussion.

Good luck!

 

Steve

 

 

[latestarter]

Thanks for all the help and the links guys, I really appreciate it.