Code 100 Rail Painting

[Walkingthedog]

I use Precision Paint rail rust and just use a small brush. Only need to paint the side of the rails you can see. Doesn’t take long.
Remember it is just rusty rails you are painting not a work of art. Expensive gadgets are just an expensive gadget, artists have been using brushes for centuries.

This of course is just my view.

[Steve M]

My preferred method is to spray all the rails and sleepers with Humbrol brown no. 29 prior to ballasting. Mask point blades and clean all the rail heads with a track rubber afterwards.
After ballasting I airbrush along the rails with rail grime followed by weathered black.

[Walkingthedog]

Think I might have tried that if I had a sprayer.

[Steve M]

Think I might have tried that if I had a sprayer.

The Humbrol base coat comes in aerosol cans and the grime and soot effect can be achieved with weathering powders at a push.

[Walkingthedog]

I have got some of their aerosol varnishes but they are not as controllable as an air sprayer.

[Steve M]

I tried one on my N layout a few years ago - the felt pad wore out. There are much better ways of getting the same results.

[Steve M]

I have got some of their aerosol varnishes but they are not as controllable as an air sprayer.

Agreed, only suitable in the early building stage of a layout after track laying and testing but before ballasting. A bit tricky if just doing a small repair or track change,but not impossible.

[Walkingthedog]

Ian do you need to paint both sides?

[Walkingthedog]

That’s fair enough. Some of my track can only be seen from one side so I leave it.

[bulleidboy]

I think there may have been a YouTube video of someone using the Rusty Rails Applicator - may have been Charlie Bishop. I tried to buy one when in the US a few years ago, but they appeared in very short supply. I have also used the Woodland Scenics pens, they work ok, but the nib (which is a sort of rigid felt) does get a bit frayed after a while. It takes a while but a tin of rust brown and a small paint brush works well.