Rusty Rails and concrete sleepers

"Matt Sharp" wrote

Not a real issue with wooden track although I know that concrete retains its natural colour more readily than wooden sleepering.

John.

Reply to
John Turner
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"Matt Sharp" wrote in message news:d122iq$1v0$1$ 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.

Reply to
Uncle Wobbly

Reply to
David Costigan

All,

Thanks for all these pictures and good background information - now we've established that some points do have concrete bearers how might I create the same on my layout in N with Peco points - I'm building an ultra-modern part and would like it to have concrete bearers... I'm thinking grey paint but if anyone has any better suggestions I'd love to hear it.

Thanks

Matt

Reply to
Matt Sharp

If it was me I'd go for the grey paint. By the time you've weathered it, ballasted it etc I think the grey paint will provide the perfect illusion. Maybe you could try sandpapering the wooden sleepers smooth before painting them to see if that improves their appearance.

Pete

Reply to
mutley

Code 55 (Finescale) can be because half the rail is buried in the plastic (it's really code 80) - not like true Code 80 where only the rail in the chairs is in the plastic.

Reply to
Tessy

No, that's only PECO code 55 that's made that way. Atlas and MicroEngineering both make code 55 flex (and Atlas makes code 55 set track, as well) to US standards (ties are smaller and closer together) with "true code 55" rail height. However, you'll not be sliding the rail in and out to paint it... it's too tightly held. The ME flex is more fragile than the Atlas - it's easy to strip the rail right out of the tie strip, but it breaks the spike heads off in so doing.

Two ways to approach the painting of track: Mask the center and sides, wet a cotton swab with a light machine oil and run it lightly on the tops of the rails, then spray it (rust or grimy black work well), or go to an art suppply store and get a chisel-point paint marker and use it. Putting the light coat of oil on top of the rail first lets you just wipe the paint off after it's dried elsewhere.

If you're into hand-laying your tracks, ME also sells the code 55 pre-weathered.

There are _chemical_ rail blackeners you could use that will affect only the rail, so you can just submerge the whole thing in them. Just use an ink eraser to clean it off the rail tops (and ends for soldering).

The chemical blackener CAN be used after installation according to what I've read, but it could be a pain.

I believe the name of the stuff is "Blacken-It"

Yeah, here it is:

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Reply to
Joe Ellis

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