Weathering Track

TommyD · February 20, 2014, 10:48:51 PM

Hey,

Im not sure if there are threads already on this but typing in weathing brought lots of results for loco's and stock, not track.

Does anyone have any guidance on this? tips or tricks?

I recently brought 3 pens from woodland scenics,

Rusty rail, steel rail and weathered tie.

Ive tried them out on some scrap track and laid some ballast down after,

Without the flash

What do you think?

Im still not overly convinced however ive always been my own worst critic!

ive seen some epic weathering people have done however no explanation on how they did it!

davieb · February 20, 2014, 10:57:35 PM

Hi TommyD

I have tried the Woodland Scenic pens

They are easy to work with and do a great job

But one word of caution
If you use IPA to clean your track it can also remove the paint

See here

http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=5480.0

dave

PostModN66 · February 20, 2014, 11:13:18 PM

Hi Tommy,

I would suggest that you don't have to be too clever when weathering track. A light spray of "track dirt" with an airbrush makes it look much better immediately. Add some oily bits where locos have stood, and some grass on underused bits. You can do more but it tends to produce diminishing returns.

Cheers Jon

NeMo · February 20, 2014, 11:18:50 PM

Do you have an airbrush? A cheap one from Amazon (I got mine with the pump for under £60) is plenty good enough for weathering track, and I think makes this chore a breeze. The nice thing with an airbrush is you can get a uniform brownish muck over the ballast and rails, but still have time to wipe away the wet paint from the top of the rails.

Cheers, NeMo

Karhedron · February 20, 2014, 11:24:16 PM

I am inclined to agree. Track tends to weather to a similar colour as both rails and sleepers accumulate the same mix of soot, oil, dirt etc. I just sprayed mine lightly with a can of railmatch sleeper grime. I wiped the top of the rails and then polished them with a bit of board and IPA once it was dry.

This kills 2 birds with one stone as it disguises the overscale height of the rails and covers the shiny plastic of the sleepers. Here is the finished effect on my layout.

Sprintex · February 20, 2014, 11:28:44 PM

Another vote for Railmatch Sleeper Grime here

Gives a great overall brown muck effect

Paul

Bealman · February 21, 2014, 01:59:11 AM

Yeah, I hand painted mine all those years ago, but I hadn't seen those pens before. They seem like an interesting product. Thanks for posting!

While I think the spraying produces a great effect, I have always harboured concerns about painting the inside of the rails, as I'm sure there must be wheel contact there. Seems to me if you paint the inside, you're cutting down an electrical contact surface?

Karhedron · February 21, 2014, 08:58:14 AM

Quote from: Bealman on February 21, 2014, 01:59:11 AM
While I think the spraying produces a great effect, I have always harboured concerns about painting the inside of the rails, as I'm sure there must be wheel contact there. Seems to me if you paint the inside, you're cutting down an electrical contact surface?

Electrical conductivity is almost exclusively through the top surface of the rails. The flanges are not tight enough to press against the inner sides of the rails. Indeed, if they were, the trains would not run properly.

The one place where the sides matter is with the point blades if you intend to use them for electrical conductivity. Overall I would say it is better to wire the frogs to a separate electrical switching system.

Bealman · February 21, 2014, 09:33:20 AM

Thank you for your post!

Much of my existing stock have pizza cutter wheels which certainly would touch the inside of the rails.

On a very tight curve, flanges must hit inside rails.

To me, passage of current is imperative for smooth running. I see no point in jeopardizing this for the sake of cosmetics.

And if the outside rail is painted, the eye doesn't even pick up the unpainted one 9mm away.

I cannot agree that N scale locos pick up just from the tops of rails.

Sorry!

NeMo · February 21, 2014, 09:49:30 AM

Quote from: Bealman on February 21, 2014, 09:33:20 AM
To me, passage of current is imperative for smooth running. I see no point in jeopardizing this for the sake of cosmetics.
And if the outside rail is painted, the eye doesn't even pick up the unpainted one 9mm away.
I cannot agree that N scale locos pick up just from the tops of rails.

I've never found before/after weathering track affects the performance of my model trains... which is more than can be said for the performance of the model train after weathering it directly! There's a real art to keeping paint away from wheels, contacts, and even axles (where it increases friction with the axle boxes).

Of course weathering points/switches is more complicated, so you do need to mask bits off to prevent the paint getting where you don't want it. One thing about airbrushes though is that the amounts of paint used are small compared to brushwork, and the paint is usually much thinner, so cleaning up any accidents isn't too hard.

Cheers, NeMo

scottmitchell74 · February 21, 2014, 04:46:38 PM

I've been using Testors Rail Rust, Rail Brown and Rail-Tie Brown paint markers. After a few days I've come to like the look. At first I thought maybe the rail rust was too rusty, but I went and took some pics of local rail

And here's a section of rail on my layout:

I find it's close enough for my tastes. Plus, on some sections where I tried rail brown only, I couldn't see the result. It looked too close to the tracks' original color. Now, I use the tie brown first, and then immediately use the rust so that the colors blend a little so I don't have just glowing orange but a brownish-rust color. More or less.

Then I wipe off the excess on the top and so far, no problems with pick-up.

scotsoft · February 21, 2014, 04:56:29 PM

Looking good Scott

The picture of the local track looks brilliant with the undergrowth, is it still used?

cheers John.

Raymond · February 21, 2014, 05:02:59 PM

I think I'm too scared weathering my Fleischmann (read: made of gold dust) track

scottmitchell74 · February 21, 2014, 05:04:34 PM

Yeah, it's some siding. The top rail is Union Pacific Mainline that goes for 100's (1000's?) of miles through Texas, New Mexico and beyond. The second one is siding as well.

silverfox · February 21, 2014, 06:39:32 PM

Ok, stupid question coming up......

Anyone who's read my threads on being points phobic will will know I view them as a black art, now that I've committed myself (and happily so) to Unitrack, am I right in thinking that the electronic points are electrofrog?..........and therefore can I weather the track with my airbrush without worrying about the blade contacts on the points?

Cheers in advance

Jason