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QUOTE (class40 @ 2 Jul 2008, 21:48) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi guys
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New to the forum, been a life long modeller of some sort through my life and subscribe to Hornby Mag which is brill….
I have searched the forum on painting track and not really found anything specific to my problems….
I am building finescale track using C+L track components. I have experimented with colour's and have decided on Phoenix Precision Paints Track colour (P977) as a base.
I have made one section of track where I pre sprayed the rails with a grey etch primer and then the P977 track colour, prior to threading the chairs on the rail. This did work but didn't feel ideal.
I have tried painting the track colour direct on to rails after construction and had issues where the paint doesn't cover the rail very well. Painting the etch primer is difficult by hand.
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I would be grateful if anyone could shed some light on what they do and how this works for them
Many thx in anticipation
****Here's a repeat of a post I did some time ago - it covers your problem pretty well - BTW, I also use C&L track and hand made points so it works 100& with them.
This was written as part of a thread on ballasting, but covers your colouring of track pretty well. examples of the painted and ballasted track can be found in the gallery - look for Richard Johnsons railway or my later galleries.
sorry about the highlights on the word track - I had to look for my old post and the search engine adds these.....
Here it is:
------------------------------------------------
I lay my track on foam strip with a 60 degree shoulder to give the correct engineering "look" overall...
First, painting the track: This is done after its all laid with a gray automotive primer aerosol can - of any gray general purpose primer in a can will actually do!
(1) I spray the whole of the track and underlay with Gray aerosol undercoat.
(2) Stain # 1 - a turps based walnut wood stain ( 1 litre can) with equivalent of 2~3 cans of humbrol black and about the same of humbrol leather mixed in. Painted over the track & underlay with a "mop" type soft brush. Takes about 3 minutes a metre to do, no need for care or precision at all.
Let dry at least 24, preferably 48 hours
(3) Then paint rail sides and chairs with stain # 2 - ( 1 litre can) cedar wood stain with a little black and brown (say one can black, two of mid to dark brown + 4 or so of leather/rusty colour. I use a super cheap kids paintbrush as I want stiffish bristles to get this stain into the web and over the chairs. I paint rail sides and chair detail with a single stroke, and it takes only a few minutes to do a respectable length of track like this.
Natural "errors" make some seep onto the sleepers in places, but being largely a stain the look is "softened" and it looks very realistic compared to precise painting of rail and chairs that never looks good to me.
for both stains, keep well stirred or the paint tint settles out.
Using the stains lets the colour flow into the detail areas around chairs without giving a "painting by numbers" look to rail painting - its very natural and realistic that way.
CLEANUP: After each coat/stain: Initially wipe over the top of the track with the end grain of an offcut of timber/ pine block moistened with a little turps to get off most paint (this works really well) , then use a rubber for the little thats left...
OK: Ballasting.
Paint between sleepers and all over the underlay with very slightly thinned (say 2 parts glue, 1 part water). Use a small stiffish kids paintbrush - one that has those "too stiff for most things" synthetic bristles and is super cheap at discount stores).
take care around points of course, but with this method there is much less likelihood of glueing them up anyway!
Paint about 6" at a time, no more or the glue goes off. Spread more ballast than needed and tamp down with a finger. Vaccum off excess and recover for the next section.
Then simply run a stiff-ish brush along rail sides to get the odd bit of unwanted ballst and re-vacuum, and the jobs done.
If you do several slightly 6" sections at a time (about 5 min each) and then after final vaccuming go back and do the gaps, there are no visible joints in the ballasting and the job goes quick enough - with NO furstration and a very neat look!
Overall - undercoating then staining is an added step that for me, makes realism much better - and as to ballasting, applying it the above way takes time, but not so much more than the spreading/glueing/cleanup of the "eyedropper" method, and its far tidier in the end too! Certianly - frustration and "error" is much lower doing it the way suggested above!
Kindest Regards
Richard
DCCconcepts
New to the forum, been a life long modeller of some sort through my life and subscribe to Hornby Mag which is brill….
I have searched the forum on painting track and not really found anything specific to my problems….
I am building finescale track using C+L track components. I have experimented with colour's and have decided on Phoenix Precision Paints Track colour (P977) as a base.
I have made one section of track where I pre sprayed the rails with a grey etch primer and then the P977 track colour, prior to threading the chairs on the rail. This did work but didn't feel ideal.
I have tried painting the track colour direct on to rails after construction and had issues where the paint doesn't cover the rail very well. Painting the etch primer is difficult by hand.
I would be grateful if anyone could shed some light on what they do and how this works for them
Many thx in anticipation
****Here's a repeat of a post I did some time ago - it covers your problem pretty well - BTW, I also use C&L track and hand made points so it works 100& with them.
This was written as part of a thread on ballasting, but covers your colouring of track pretty well. examples of the painted and ballasted track can be found in the gallery - look for Richard Johnsons railway or my later galleries.
sorry about the highlights on the word track - I had to look for my old post and the search engine adds these.....
Here it is:
------------------------------------------------
I lay my track on foam strip with a 60 degree shoulder to give the correct engineering "look" overall...
First, painting the track: This is done after its all laid with a gray automotive primer aerosol can - of any gray general purpose primer in a can will actually do!
(1) I spray the whole of the track and underlay with Gray aerosol undercoat.
(2) Stain # 1 - a turps based walnut wood stain ( 1 litre can) with equivalent of 2~3 cans of humbrol black and about the same of humbrol leather mixed in. Painted over the track & underlay with a "mop" type soft brush. Takes about 3 minutes a metre to do, no need for care or precision at all.
Let dry at least 24, preferably 48 hours
(3) Then paint rail sides and chairs with stain # 2 - ( 1 litre can) cedar wood stain with a little black and brown (say one can black, two of mid to dark brown + 4 or so of leather/rusty colour. I use a super cheap kids paintbrush as I want stiffish bristles to get this stain into the web and over the chairs. I paint rail sides and chair detail with a single stroke, and it takes only a few minutes to do a respectable length of track like this.
Natural "errors" make some seep onto the sleepers in places, but being largely a stain the look is "softened" and it looks very realistic compared to precise painting of rail and chairs that never looks good to me.
for both stains, keep well stirred or the paint tint settles out.
Using the stains lets the colour flow into the detail areas around chairs without giving a "painting by numbers" look to rail painting - its very natural and realistic that way.
CLEANUP: After each coat/stain: Initially wipe over the top of the track with the end grain of an offcut of timber/ pine block moistened with a little turps to get off most paint (this works really well) , then use a rubber for the little thats left...
OK: Ballasting.
Paint between sleepers and all over the underlay with very slightly thinned (say 2 parts glue, 1 part water). Use a small stiffish kids paintbrush - one that has those "too stiff for most things" synthetic bristles and is super cheap at discount stores).
take care around points of course, but with this method there is much less likelihood of glueing them up anyway!
Paint about 6" at a time, no more or the glue goes off. Spread more ballast than needed and tamp down with a finger. Vaccum off excess and recover for the next section.
Then simply run a stiff-ish brush along rail sides to get the odd bit of unwanted ballst and re-vacuum, and the jobs done.
If you do several slightly 6" sections at a time (about 5 min each) and then after final vaccuming go back and do the gaps, there are no visible joints in the ballasting and the job goes quick enough - with NO furstration and a very neat look!
Overall - undercoating then staining is an added step that for me, makes realism much better - and as to ballasting, applying it the above way takes time, but not so much more than the spreading/glueing/cleanup of the "eyedropper" method, and its far tidier in the end too! Certianly - frustration and "error" is much lower doing it the way suggested above!
Kindest Regards
Richard
DCCconcepts
