N.E. Thing

Hey Jesse!

 

These pics have been posted in the thread somewhere previously but I'll post them again here to hopefully answer some of your questions

 

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The painting is a two part process. First of all the rail colour. I use Humbrol Matt 29 (dark brown) and give a healthy spray to both sides of the rail (all this of course before you actually lay the track). Don't be tempted to use any sort of orangey rust colour; real, living rail in regular use is rarely that colour - it only goes rusty when it's dis-used.

 

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The second part is the 'trick'. Position the already sprayed track at 90 degrees then spray over with a different colour for the sleepers. I normally use Tamiya Red Brown TS-1 (although pic shows some other can I was using at the time!). By spraying at 90 deg, the M29 on the sides of the rail should survive.

 

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I then wait until the paint is dry to remove the paint from the rail head. It chips off quite easily.

 

Point blades? I'm a bit lazy - again I just clean them up (emery paper) once the paint has dried. You could mask them off before spraying of course.

 

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Any true weathering has been a bit limited to date (it's on the 'to do' list). The trackwork illustrated has had some localised colour added, trying to trace out the quite distinctive darker strips along the sleeper ends that corresponds with where steam locos habitually dripped and sprayed a combination of steam and oil, mixed up with brake dust and other such contaminants. Quite distinctive in steam era photos; weathering patterns with modern stock is a little different.

 

Hope that helps! All the above is what I do; other methods are available.

Hi, I'm just starting out on my first project and was wondering how best to paint the track. This looks a great method, think I will give it a go. Hopefully I will catch your layout at a show, looks fantastic. Cheers.