Track Structure Painting...

[ljudice]

Open to ideas on painting my track structure...  Present idea is:

- Wood Tie Areas:   spraying everything - rails, ties, cork with Floquil  Rail Brown, ballasting and cleaning off top

- Concrete Tie Areas:  spraying everything Floquil Concrete (sanding off wood grain, since I do not like the profile of the Peco concrete ties) - then masking off the rails and spraying them Rail Brown - then ballasting and cleaning.

I have one of the rolling rail painter devices and I cannot seem to get an even flow from it, I am thinking that masking and spraying will give a better result.

What are your thoughts?

[nkalanaga]

I have no experience with concrete ties, and have seen very few on the prototype, so can't help there.

For wood, I did mine basically the same way you're suggesting.  Depending on the area and loads the color may vary, but most maintained track I've seen in the last 40 years had the ties and rail the same basic color.  In the southeastern Washington area I come from the air was dry enough that the rails didn't rust quickly, and the ties didn't bleach or rot, so the combination of lube oil, grease, and creosote tended to trap enough dirt and grime that grimy black was a good match.  Coal dust does the same here in Appalachia.  In SE Washington most of the ballast is gray/brown/black basalt, so even the ballast is the same color as the track.  In Appalachia much of the ballast is light gray, and tends to stay lighter, even with the coal dust.

In Wallace, Idaho, when the UP still went there, the combination of a little more humidity and a lot of ore being hauled tended to make everything a reddish color, closer to some boxcar reds.  The ballast was the same color, and may have started that way, as there was a lot of reddish rocks in the area.

In other areas I've seen shades very close to Rail Brown, but in nearly all cases, the rail and ties were a similar color in maintained track.  Industrial sidings and yards may differ, and, depending on the area and commodities, could require separate painting.

[ljudice]

Nick, thanks - I agree, one color seems to make the most sense - ie. keeping things in a narrow band of color usually enhances realism.   

On Concrete, I find the Floquil Concrete color pretty reasonable and sanding the top of plastic ties is a Lance Mandheim trick from HO - it works and to my eye looks better for representing North American style concrete ties.

I've never tried masking and painting the rail though (never did concrete before), so I will be setting up a little experiment and giving it a go today.

- Lou

[rogergperkins]

I am favorably impressed with the Tidy Track paint pens which I used on Kato Unitrack; I have wood and concrete tie versions of the track and wanted to weather it all to the steam era.  It is slightly labor intensive, but can be done with the track already in place on the layout.

I have tried Polly S paints applied by brush and thinned and done with an airbrush on previous layouts.  I did this with the track in place on the layout in an unfinished basement.  Not an option with my carpeted layout room.

[nkalanaga]

Where I wanted different colors, usually rusty rails on heavily weathered ties, I've always used a small brush and Floquil.  It's tedious, and the Floquil stinks, but it applies better than acrylics, and it's usually only been a few feet of track at a time.  I also have carpet, and airbrushing, or a spray can, doesn't sound like a good idea!

[robert3985]

Where to start?  Hmmmm....first, if you don't know what colors to use, you need to go look at prototype track that you like, take photos of it, and then, from the photos, determine what color you want.  Track is a model.  Would you paint an engine a color you just thought looked sorta like the prototype?

Just like the models of rolling stock and motive power, you have to determine what level of detail you want to achieve with your track.

If you haven't laid track yet, Micro Engineering has the best and finest detailing...both wood and concrete tied flextrack.  Atlas 55 is second for wood tied flex and turnouts but its "spikehead" detail is fairly gross,  and everything else is a distant third.

Here's how I paint my track.

First, I paint it to look like UP mainline trackage in Weber and Echo Canyons in 1951.  Luckily, not much has changed as far as ballast color, track furniture, weed killer used, and wood ties are still used mostly in the canyons.

My observations tell me that the rails themselves are a warm, dusty gray...not rusty at all.  The tieplates are a brown/rusty color, and the ties are fairly dark brown, but the color varies greatly from tie to tie, some being almost black, and some being almost tan...with colors and shades in-between.

Painting.  First, I make sure all my ties are in place, and my trains run perfectly on the track I've laid.  Then, I shake up a can of Krylon Ultra-Flat Black and spray my track (ties and rail sides) just enough to cover everything, but not enough to conceal details. If you're using Styrofoam as a scenery base, you'll want to cover it because Krylon eats it.

Second, I let it dry for about ten minutes, then I polish off the tops of the rails using a Bright Bar flexible polishing bar.  I don't want the paint to cure, but I don't want it wet either.

Third, I spray my track again with a brown color that is the equivalent of "flat roof brown"...which is a medium brown with a little reddish tint.  IMPORTANT!  I spray lightly from directly above so as to not put much paint on the sides of the Ultra Flat Black sides of the rails.  A little paint will overspray on to the sides of the rails, but I want this.

Fourth, I let it dry again for about ten minutes, and polish off the tops again.

Fifth, I let it dry to the touch (about an hour) and then I paint varying color ties using the basic color as the "median" color, with lighter and darker ties randomly dispersed over the length of track I'm painting. I use Floquil non-acrylics for this.  Stinks, but goes on PERMANENT!

Sixth, I let it dry overnight.

Seventh, I mask off the middle of the ties and the sides, exposing the tie plates and spikeheads on each tie.  I leave the rails exposed.  I then lightly spray, from directly overhead, the tie plate/spike head details with Floquil Rail Brown...which is a dark, rusty color.

Eighth, I let it dry for about three minutes and slowly lift off my masking tape.

Ninth, I let it dry for another ten minutes and once again, polish the tops of the rails.

Tenth, I let it dry overnight.

I'm done until I ballast it.

You'll notice that the sides of your rails are not Ultra Flat Black anymore, but a light, warm gray...just like the prototype!  The overspray does it.

After I ballast my track, I indicate the uphill grades with some very fine sand on the grades and a very reddish brown color (boxcar red) sprayed carefully and lightly down the center of both downhill and uphill trackage to represent the reddish weed-killer that UP sprays on their mainlines here in Utah. It's also on the ballast, so that's why I wait until my ballast is socked down to do this step.

On my mainlines there are flange oilers on the tracks and I model them also, along with the greasy black streaks that extend from the oilers along the tracks for a hundred feet or so in the direction of travel on the double-tracked mainlines.

It goes pretty fast, and it sure makes my ME code 55 and 40 look good!

This works great for me, with a concession to time.  I could take longer by hand-painting every tie a different color, but after I ballast and paint the weed-killer color on, individual tie color is very muted (but still evident).

I again stress that if you want it to look "real", then go study and photograph prototype trackage that you like, or which is on the prototype you are modeling.  My spraying techniques can be used with whatever colors you choose, but make sure you are not applying too much.

Hope this assists you.  Since I do not model concrete ties, I can't give any advice on how to paint 'em.

Cheers!
Bob Gilmore

[ljudice]

Great tips Bob, I'm going to give it a try on my experimental setup...

One thing I've learned is that my original selection for wood tie mainline (rail brown) was probably too light.

I am getting skeptical about doing the concrete ties. Masking the Peco track is not working - it doesn't hold the Floquil - even with very low-tack masking tape.  It's also a pain to set up. Painting the sides of the rails is beyond my current ability to do without going nuts.  Painting the top of the ties concrete color is a possibility, but I am not sure if I'm getting a nice consistent look.

Still playing with this...


- Lou