Painting Rail....

S

steamhead

Active Member
Apr 16, 2005
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Brownsville, TX
Hi...I'm at the point of having to paint "miles & miles" of rail at one of the yards on the layout...:eek:

Does any one have a "quick & dirty" method for this...?? I don't even want to think about doing it the old fashioned "Dab-it-with-a-brush" way...:cry:
 
i saw somwhere where a guy just masked over the ties real quick and spray painted the rails oxide red and wiped the excess of the top. it shouldnt matter if a little rust gets on the ties as rust would stain them eventually anyway.-josh
 
I mask off the ties and while holding a sheet of paper behind the track to catch overspray, I spray the rails with Rust-Oleum Rusty Metal Primer, wipe of the rail tops, remove the tape and move on to the next section. I generally do a six foot section at a time.
 
I did mine, about 200' of mainline and perhaps half as much again of sidings, with a brush. I used PollyScale paint, straight from the bottle, and a fairly stiff 1/4" brush. The stiff brush allows you to get the paint around the moulded-on spike heads on the ties. Don't "dab": it's rough on the brush, and wastes time, too. ;) Turnouts take a little longer, but plain track is quick and easy, and you don't have to do the whole layout all at the same time. I do 10' or 12', then wipe the tops of the rails with a dry rag (the paint is dry to the touch, but not hardened, so it wipes off easily). Let it harden overnight before running trains. Don't worry about getting paint on the ties, either, as they get discoloured from the rails, too, on the prototype. I wouldn't spray paint in the layout room unless there was no other way to do the job: this is a good way to get paint dust on everything, and it'll all end up on the wheels of your trains, eventually. :eek: :lol: :-D
Here are some prototype photos, for inspiration:
Latest_proto_foe-toes_0091.jpg


Latest_proto_foe-toes_0011.jpg


Latest_proto_foe-toes_0021.jpg


Latest_proto_foe-toes_0041.jpg


Wayne
 
I think that rails and ties are often a very similar color. If you spray from the side with a rust/brown color, and then from the top with a grimy black color, then clean the railheads, I think you are pretty close.
 
Hi guys...Thanks for the suggestions. I spent half the day yesterday looking for 1/2" masking tape....None to be found..:cry:

I think that's the way to go, although I do have concerns about spray mist settling over everything in the layout, as DrW points out...
 
steamhead said:
I think that's the way to go, although I do have concerns about spray mist settling over everything in the layout, as DrW points out...
Click to expand...

MMMHHHMMMMM. If you have any scenery or rolling stock you want to protect, move it to another room or cover it. If you use acrylic paint, you probably don't have to worry about anything greater than 10 feet away. But slower-drying solvent paints....well. I painted part of my car once. I put drop cloths and tarps around the whole garage - and some of the paint mist escaped and coated a fine film over stuff tens of feet away.

Kevin
 
Yeah, I think spraying at the layout is a bad idea. It really doesn't take long to brush paint on rails. Getting the paint on the tie plates just happens pretty much naturally when you move a small brush along the rail web, and will look like track in Doc Waynes second photo. Not too much paint on the brush! A brushload will do 3 or 4 inches, it goes fast.
 
It's not so bad doing it with a brush...It's bending over the layout for hours...then my back starts complaining...Spraying would go much faster..
I'll dedicate the Txgiving weekend on it, hopefully I can get it out of the way and go on to the rest of the scenicking.

You all have a thankful holiday.
 
This has always been one of my concerns. I am feeling a bit under the weather and that is something I can do without too much energy. And do now that school is done for the week, plenty of time:mrgreen:. I got great Ideas on this thread. Thanks.
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Has anyone ever tried the Micro-Engineering track weathering solution? I am also ready to begin painting or weathering my track, and was wondering how that stuff does.

Mike
 
I tried a paint marker - worked reasonably well, and is available in a wide range of colours. The only complaint I have about it is the one I chose is not fine enough, and there's a bit of unpainted rail above every spike. This can be solved on one rail of flextrack by sliding the "free" rail, but that solution won't work for the other rail. I'll have to find a finer tip marker.

Andrew
 
My favorite railway

Hi, I live near the NPRR (Northern Pacific Rail Road) and it is my favorite railway! I rode an amtrak on it and the sites were amazing!
 
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