Weathering rails


bkpigs

Member
I know this has been hammered into the ground many of times but I am having trouble weathering my tracks. The paint just aint wantin' to stay even. I am using an airbrush with acrylic paints with water and alcohol. Could this mean I don't have enough alcohol in it to break the surface tension? I am going to put on a second coat after this one dries and see where I get from there.

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View attachment 19287
 
did you clean the rails first? i did mine with dish soap and a toothbursh
Let the track air dry then airbrush in light coats
 
I did clean the rails first but maybe not good enough. That is what it seems like to me more than anything else. I guess I will try a little more detergent this time.
 
Quit using acrylics!!

Why paint METAL with a water-based paint?

Try some Testors Model Master enamels or some other non-water based paint. You'll most likely have better results.
 
March Model Railroader had an article "Get your railroad up and running with flextrack" that has some good painting/weathering info.
 
I recleaned it and the results were better. I also increased the amount of alcohol which probably decreased the surface tension. I think I ended up with about four coats on it. I think it looks great. I posted some photos on the WPF thread in "Showin' Off". Let me know what you guys think about it.

Ohh, the reason I used arcylic is the track was already glued down on the foam board. Foam is not a friend of enamel.
 
acrylic paints with water and alcohol

The way you worded it, it sounds like you are using water and alcohol together with acrylic paint. I would thin acrylic paint with one or the other, never the two together. The picture looks to me like your mixture has been thinned with too much water. I prefer alcohol with a good quality acrylic like Polly Scale in a 60/40 mix.
 
I always use alcohol to thin water-based paints, especially when air-brushing.

In fact, for rails, it may prove better as the longer the paint stays wet the better chance you have to oxidize the rail (Nickel Silver rail still has copper in it, oxidized copper turns green). If it oxidizes too much, it will come right thru the paint.
 
Once your done painting the rails and that, what do you use to clean the top of the rails so that it doesnt affect your power on the rails?
 
I find that mixing tremclad rust flat black and red oxide together and then thinning to shoot with airbrush. Shoot small section 3ft long so I can use papertowel on a small piece of wood to wipe the heads of the rails while wet. After it dries completely I use 800 grit and then a track eraser to clean the rails up more.
 
Since I used acrylic paint just going across it with 600 grit sand paper fold over enough to be stiff, worked great.
 
I painted the track in a new yard at the club the easy way. I've done the airbrush route before, but it's time consuming and I was working against a deadline. So I bought a spray can of Rustoleum rust colored primer, and a spray can of Floquil Rail Tie Brown. Using cardboard for a moveable mask, I sprayed the rust at a low angle to the tracks. And then the Tie Brown at a high angle so it mostly got the ties. I waited until the paint had dried, but before it hardened to clean the railheads. You will want to ventilate the layout room well to do this as the fumes are bad. The results were great and you can do quite a bit of track in just a few hours time.
 
I've painted rails with oil based, water based and just about anything in between and had good luck with just about everything.

The only thing I wouldn't be doing though is cleaning your railheads with sand paper no matter how fine. You put tiny scratches in the railhead and that is what collects all of the dirt. I have in the past used a Walthers Bright Boy but this is also quite abrasive and leaves tiny scratches. The best thing that I have found so far is just a pink eraser like you used to use in school. This even works well to clean the paint off of the railheads. If you need to use sandpaper then you are waiting to long to clean the rails and the paint has dried completely.
 
I remember as a kid that my track eraser/cleaner was yellow, like a pencil eraser, and did not have abrasives in it like a Bright Boy. I would say it was Life-Like, but can't remember now.

Does anyone make these still? I have noticed too that Bright Boys leave scratches in the railhead.
 
Do a search for the GLEAM method of track cleaning. It uses very fine abrasives followed by burnishing to remove the microscopic scratches. I've tried it on one section of track, and it seems to work.

- Jeff
 



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