Weathering Track Techniques?

For what it's worth, main line rails generally do NOT "rust", and thus don't really become "rust red" in color.

 

You might use the SEARCH function, as there have been a few discussions on this subject within the past few months.

The Fort Pitt High-railers used Polyscale Railroad Tie brown and an air brush.  Idea was to be sure the rails were clean and free of oil before spray.  Rail top clean-up was done with Scotch brite pads, and if the paint set too long, we used Polyscale brush cleaner.


Before air brush work.  Remodel installation of a Ross 3 way switch.

I did all of my track @ the workbench before I installed it on the layout. I used the Floquil paint pens. (rust color)

My question is what is a fast and easy way to add a weathered look to the rails simply and easily?

 

A pen goes a long way.

 

Larry

 

 

If your track is already down, airbrush it. Rich Battista shows how easy it is in his DVD of his Black Diamond RR in Part 2 I believe.

Dennis,

 

  All things considered, I believe using an airbrush gives the best results and is the most efficient and fastest way to weather your track.  Of course, the problem is you have to invest in an airbrush and compressor.  You can get a decent airbrush that will do the job for about $80 and an air compressor at Home Depot for about $100 (Husky).  You can use the air compressor for other things around the house.  If you plan on doing 600ft of track it may be worth the investment.

 

I just airbrushed most of my track, but in the more visible spots and photographed areas I hand painted the rails first then sprayed.  These photos are screen shots from Part II. 

 

 

 

 

The overspray on the ballast and ties next to the rails is actually a desired affect because it emulates the darker areas around the rails on real track. 

 

 

 

www.toytrainsontracks.com

 

 

Rich

 

Rich, you are air brushing inside your train room?

How do you do that?

No spray booth?

I might try as I dont want to keep lugging stuff up and down stairs.

Thanks for the tips gentlemen.  I like the airbrush tip the best and I already have several small compressors that can be adapted. The one Rich is using is very small and has a a very fine spray pattern. I would imaging that the paint mixture needs to be precisely thinned and controlled for good results. Also don't know if latex or vinyl paint would even spray well.  Short of that the Floquil and Testor weathering pens (never knew such a thing existed) that would offer some improvement I will check out a quality air brush.  I also found something recently called Ben's rust rail paint. After looking at RR tracks in my area the top rails are bright but the sides are always rusted. I believe that was covered here. Bright side rails just stand out too much and do not look realistic to me.  That's what results when you are a PITA modeler as I am.

Painting them at the bench is ideal - mine were painted after the ballast was down. The key for GarGraves track, which has an oil coating on the rails from manufacturing, is to clean them before shooting acrylic from an airbrush. I've recently used a 1:1:1 mix of micromark's rail brown, rust and black which is pretty close to the rail color I had in mind. I scrub the rails with a toothbrush and 91% ISO alcohol.