Painting the rails

Hello all,

I have been reading this and the other sites that discuss Z scale. I have noticed a lot of layouts have the sides of their track painted brown. This gives the top of the rails that "run on" look. My question is do you paint the track before you lay it or after it is fastened to the board? It probably doesn't mater, but I thought I would ask.

Thanks,

Robert
Chief engineer of the Hemetbahn

Robert,

"Hemetbahn"?!?!
I don't remember that railroad...
Since when did Hemet have enough money to lay track?

Thanks for asking this question, though... as I would like to know, too.

Robert, I never plan it well enough to pre-paint the rails before installation. Most of my rails are painted with a micro brush. It looks ok, but if you really want it to look good, airbrush it.

I paint mine. After using all the available items for painting rails, pens, rollers, etc. I've decided that a very fine brush and either acrylic or Polyscale or Floquil do the trick. I use rail brown for mainlines and rust for sidings and abandoned lines. I like the brush because you can control your paint and get it in the correct places. As you are aware I've done hundreds of feet of painting on my layouts and don't mind getting this done right in my eyes. After brush painting I go over the ties with Floquil pens. Works for me. Cheers, Jim CCRR:)

Robert--

If you are using sectional track, you can paint the rails at any time. If you are using flex track, you'll need to paint them after laying the track; the slightest flexing of the track will cause breaks to appear in the paint on the rails.

Socalz44 wrote:

After brush painting I go over the ties with Floquil pens. Works for me. Cheers, Jim CCRR:)

Jim,

Do you have a good on-line source for the Floquil pens?

Thank you,

Alex, Here is Floquil/Testors web page.www.testors.com/category/141256/Weathering_Markers_3-Pack_Marker_set
I think you can order from here or simply google floquil and go from there. I don't think any of our normal Z suppliers carry these pens. Cheers, Jim CCRR:unsure:

TechRep wrote:

Robert,

"Hemetbahn"?!?!
I don't remember that railroad...
Since when did Hemet have enough money to lay track?

Thanks for asking this question, though... as I would like to know, too.

Alex,

It's just the name of my railroad. Like when I set up my Marklin HOac trains on the floor using the "C" track. My wife calls it my "carpetbahn" as it's laying on the carpet.

Robert

shamoo737 wrote:

Robert, I never plan it well enough to pre-paint the rails before installation. Most of my rails are painted with a micro brush. It looks ok, but if you really want it to look good, airbrush it.

John,

What is the difference between a micro brush and an air brush?

Robert

TechRep wrote:

Socalz44 wrote:

After brush painting I go over the ties with Floquil pens. Works for me. Cheers, Jim CCRR:)

Jim,

Do you have a good on-line source for the Floquil pens?

Thank you,

Jim,

What is a Floquil pen?

Robert

Robert, Check out the link I sent to Alex. It is for marking rails and comes in a three pack. I use them on rails but mostly on ties as they are chisle point. Reeds in La Mesa carries them. Cheers, Jim CCRR:)

Robert, a microbrush is a disposable brush that has a Qtip shape tip. The tip is about the size is about the height of the rail, so its perfect for painting rails.

This a picture of a airbrush rail.

http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/picture.php?albumid=60&pictureid=8495

Socalz44 wrote:

Robert, Check out the link I sent to Alex. It is for marking rails and comes in a three pack. I use them on rails but mostly on ties as they are chisle point. Reeds in La Mesa carries them. Cheers, Jim CCRR:)

Jim,

How much track does one of those markers cover? I am thinking that you paint both the inside and outside of the rails. Since I've seen your layouts, did one three pack cover all the track?

Robert

Robert, I figure one marker will do 300feet or more of track. Cheers, Jim CCRR:)

Painting with airbrush makes some sense, but the appearance is too uniform. Painting with marker leaves lots of shiny spots at the base of the rail, also around the spikes. The most realistic look can be achieved via rail weathering solutions. Soak the track pieces and switches upside down in a shallow tray for a few minutes, then rinse them with water. Do it before installation. Flex track? Blacken the rail joiners too. If touch up needed, use Polly Scale "railroad tie brown", "grimy black", "rust" and any other good weathering colors.

Lajos

Thanks for the advice Jim et al. There have been some valuable pointers in this thread for me.

So now I am curious, has anyone painted Marklin turnout rails/frogs/points? Any pictures?

zthek wrote:

Painting with airbrush makes some sense, but the appearance is too uniform. Painting with marker leaves lots of shiny spots at the base of the rail, also around the spikes. The most realistic look can be achieved via rail weathering solutions. Soak the track pieces and switches upside down in a shallow tray for a few minutes, then rinse them with water. Do it before installation. Flex track? Blacken the rail joiners too. If touch up needed, use Polly Scale "railroad tie brown", "grimy black", "rust" and any other good weathering colors.

Lajos

Lajos, I never been able to any good weathering without a airbrush. I am not saying you cant, but I havent done it. Like any good weathering, it takes layers. The worst weathering are the one paint and done jobs. I usually like to airbrush it first, then paint it with brush, and airbrush it again. The final airbrushing seem to bring all the sepate colors together.

Robert, you dont really need to paint the inside and outside of each rail. you only need to paint the outer outside rail and the inside of inside rail on a parallel track. You dont need to paint rails you cant see.


Andy, I paint my turnouts. On Marklin turnouts, I paint any plastic surface like the dead frog and guard rails. I also paint the coffins to match the surrounding area,but I try not to paint any area where the engine wheel may touch.

shamoo737 wrote:

Robert, I never plan it well enough to pre-paint the rails before installation. Most of my rails are painted with a micro brush. It looks ok, but if you really want it to look good, airbrush it.

Myself, what I can say about that question, is that I painted most of my flextrack "right from the box" two years ago when I was mostly far from home for duty, in order not to loose too much time.

The result is mitigated, in the sense that when I curved the track paint went off from some locations of the rails (especially from what I should call the tie to rail "spike grip" ) .

So I had a lot of paint trimming and adjusting to perform. But I think the overall result is OK, in the sense that I saved some time. However if you are not oftenly far from home it's not worth to proceed this way.

Dom

I think painting/weathering track is a key component to a great looking layout. The biggest issue i see is the type of track you choose to work with. If you go with the newer MTL snap track then your sort of stuck hand painting the rail, so as to avoid messing up the grey foe-balast parts.

Marklin turnouts as well as MTL's pose the same problem, and i would think hand painting would be best around expensive track pieces.

Now if you go the route of flex track with say Fast Tracks or Peter Wright turnouts, then you have the option of air brushing. As for painting on the layout or off... well i tried it both ways on my modules, and found that on the layout yielded the best results for me. As David mentioned, if you paint prior to installing your flex track, you will have all sorts of spots un-painted that will show up once your bend the track into shape. So i say why bother with an extra step.... air brush it all after its laid.

As for colors, you should definatly spend time on painting, and definatly varry your colors. As John mentioned, one shot weathering looks bad. It takes a few layers/coats to get a nice effect. I even hand painted a few detail areas over my air brushing to add more effect.

I have not tried the weathering solutions, but imaging that this would be even better. So in the end, i recomend you take you time on your track work ,and get it looking and running exactly the way you want it... because once you balast it in and complete scenry around it, your stuck with it.

Tony B...
Wasatch Z ClubB)