Greg@mnrr
Section Hand
I like Willie, paint most of the rails a "Light Earth" color from rattle cans and paint the rails after testing the track and after when I'm positive that all feeders have been installed. I'll spray three feet at a time and then as soon as possible I'll use a piece of cork roadbed covered with a terry cloth that's been soaked in paint thinner to wipe the tops of the rails to remove the paint.
Take care when spraying turnouts and protect the points using bits of masking tape that been cut into narrow strips.
Watch for over-spray if there's anything near by that shouldn't be painted.
In some cases, I'll use a bright boy to clean the rails after using the thinner. Then, I'll do the ballasting of the rails and again clean the rails as soon as possible to remove white glue on the rail heads. This entire process is fast.
When the ballast glue has dried, I'll run down the center of the rails with diluted flat black to simulate grease and other droppings from the passing trains. This does not have to be neat!
Do the track painting and ballasting before any scenery or detailing.
I still have unopened cans of "Light Earth" from Testor's original runs.
Have fun and enjoy the results.
Greg
PS: Cork roadbed makes a great track cleaning tool that's not too harsh.
Take care when spraying turnouts and protect the points using bits of masking tape that been cut into narrow strips.
Watch for over-spray if there's anything near by that shouldn't be painted.
In some cases, I'll use a bright boy to clean the rails after using the thinner. Then, I'll do the ballasting of the rails and again clean the rails as soon as possible to remove white glue on the rail heads. This entire process is fast.
When the ballast glue has dried, I'll run down the center of the rails with diluted flat black to simulate grease and other droppings from the passing trains. This does not have to be neat!
Do the track painting and ballasting before any scenery or detailing.
I still have unopened cans of "Light Earth" from Testor's original runs.
Have fun and enjoy the results.
Greg
PS: Cork roadbed makes a great track cleaning tool that's not too harsh.