I wonder if anyone has any tips on how to create rusty looking rails... I've seen it on many OO/HO layouts and presumed people must paint the sides of the rails but I'm planning on using N gauge with about 60 yds of track - painting would probably be a life-time's work!
Also, Peco do concrete sleeper flexible track but not points etc. Does anyone have any tips on how I might "convert" points to concrete sleepers or again, is this a tin of grey paint and a fine brush?
A few hours; I'd guess one could paint more than 5 yards per hour. I've done it with enamel (eg. Humbrol) paint before.
Pick a suitable rusty colour from the paint rack (almost anything vaguely rusty-brown will do, not too bright). Paint down the outside of each rail and then the inside. No need to be particularly precise about it, or to get the colour uniform - so long as the rusty colour washes over the rail, it will dull down the excess brightness of the nickel-silver. Don't worry about a bit of paint on the chairs or edges of sleepers (though don't over-do it!).
Whilst wet, use a cloth held tightly with thinners on it to clean the running surfaces, including the inside edge of the top of the rail (where the flange might strike).
That statement would have probably been correct about twenty-five years ago, but times change and there are most certainly now points with concrete timbers (I don't think they use the expression 'sleeper' when referring to pointwork).
If you soak or brush on or leave them in Goddards Silver Dip ( used to clean silver) Its tarnishes the metal brown/black. it also does not effect the electrical conductivity
You'l find it in Tescos and its a jar of clear liquid in the cleaning section
Disagree... Milton Keynes has some at the junction south of the station... (can't remember it's name.) However the new, rationalised, trackwork at the south of BNS is almost entirely crisp clean wood... was a tad surprised to see that.
"Nigel Cliffe" wrote in message news:d125r2$5k9$1$ snipped-for-privacy@news.demon.co.uk...
I don't use concrete sleepers, but my method in detail is:
I do it once the track is in situ... the level ballast is quite forgiving. First major point is - don't try this method on pointwork - you are going to be doing that by hand.
Mask from the inside so one rail is entirely covered and the chairs on the rail to be painted are exposed, mask the otherside in similar fashion. Don't be tempted to over-adhere the masking tape - it only has to stay in place while you paint, not survive a gale. And remove the tape as soon as you are finished painting - I prefer to do it before the paint is dry. Spray with red primer from halfords (don't do a thick all over... just good coverage is enough). I then gently dust it with dark grey primer and matt black to take the uniform look out of it - but again, don't over-do it... there should be more rusty brown than anything else. Keep the nozel well away from what you are painting or you'll put put a thick coat on before you know it. Once it is dry, I go over the tops and insides of the rails with a fine file (abrasive paper clogs too readily). The end result is very passable. Don't forget to stain the centre of the track (i.e. half way between the rails) with a light dusting of whatever you like - usually a subtle black streak looks good, but I have seen white shading from chalk slurry dripping from trains... You won't be able to do this with a spray can for N coz the spray is to wide for delicate work like this... buy a good spray gun *** and practice well first *** lots of air and little paint is the key! Also, notice that in stations and regular stopping points, the entire track can be covered with several millimeters thick of black grease and dust/dirt. this can be simulated very effectively by filling (plaster) the ballast and sleepers lightly in these areas to remove some of the relief - a very runny paste smeared in with a paintbrush works well Then a spray wth satin black... fade it on either side of that track section and again, tone down with a dark grey, you get a nice weathered look... the rails will not be rusty at these places... also around the blades of points will often be black and greasy. It is a long process but persevere and just try one bit at a time.
It can take quite a while and can be very time consuming, but don't lose heart and don't rush it (I sense from your OP that you wish it was all done
*now*)... you will get to enjoy doing it if you aren't working to a time table. When you think it is looking good - STOP. From my experience, attempting to make it even better ultimately ruins what you have. Study
***LOTS*** of photos - then net is full of resource for the modeller here. Textures and colours can be difficult to discern but don't try and do it with all one colour and definately try to mimic what you see.
As an aside here about textures, I have never had much luck at weathering brick paper and such, so I've been experimenting with printing stuff out from photos, scaled correctly. I have just scratch-built a plate-layers hut based on photos at Kensington Olympia in good light (a rarity in London - I know), having corrected for perspective etc. The results are really very good. If you have a colour printer with at least 600 dpi, I would encourage you to think about posters and wall textures and stuff - even doorways, doors platform awnings - anything with a view to printing them at scale from genuine photos. Microsoft Word is really good for setting the exact dimensions of a graphic to be printed.Cut them out with a sharp scalpel on good cutting mat, tone the white edges with a suitable colour felt-tip. Gonna post some pix of my hut in a few days. See what you all think.
Depends what you mean by rust. If you leave it out in the garden long enough, it gets a distinctly dark-coloured coating, which is a jolly good insulator, and which to me is the equivalent of rust even though it is (obviously) not an oxide of iron. Since we are modelling, it doesn't matter that it is not iron oxide, what matters is that it looks like scaled-down track rust.
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