I am working on a scene on my model railroad. I wanted to paint the rail
ties and also the rail a more realistic color. Woodland Scenics sells some paint markers that are specifically made for the task. One is called "Weathered Tie" and the other "Rusty Rail."

The track I was working with already has ties that are a decent color but
they do have that plastic shine to them. While the "Weathered Tie" pen is
also a good color, it also dries with a shine. I was a little
dissappointed.

The "Rusty Rail" color dries to the same color as the "Weathered Tie"
color, which means it does not really match the color on the label (which
does look more rusty). That said, it is not a bad color. However, the pen tips on both pens are not particularly small. I model in HO and found it
very difficult to use the rail pen without getting it on parts I was not
trying to paint.

I think both of them will have other uses during my modeling, but not for
what I bought them for. If I modeled in a scale larger than HO, the rail
pen would probably work just fine.

I have been experimenting with other paints. For several things, I use
Delta Ceramcoat paints. I did not find any of those locally this time
around, but did find a couple of other brands of acrylic craft paints --
Apple Barrel and Folkart -- that had colors I thought I could work with.

I have been mixing AB's Burnt Umber with a color that FA calls Pueblo,
which has a good orange/rust look to it. I can also mix it with the AB Brown Oxide, in place of the Burnt Umber, to have a different shade of
dark-n-rust.

Applying the mixtures with a fine brush seems to work good on the rails.
Still playing with the ties, but I think I can find something I like. The
good news here is that the colors dry with a lot less shine to them, even though the FA Pueblo is a satin finish paint. Mixing it with the matte AB colors seems to work well.

I do have to use a primer on the rails. I used Testors Acryl brush-on
primer I found in an old paint set. I hope I can find more of it when I
run out!

Hmmm, maybe this should have gone in the acrylic painting echo. ;)

Mike

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Mike Powell wrote to ALL <=-

I am working on a scene on my model railroad. I wanted to paint the
rail ties and also the rail a more realistic color. Woodland Scenics sells some paint markers that are specifically made for the task. One
is called "Weathered Tie" and the other "Rusty Rail."

The track I was working with already has ties that are a decent color
but they do have that plastic shine to them. While the "Weathered Tie" pen is also a good color, it also dries with a shine. I was a little dissappointed.

The "Rusty Rail" color dries to the same color as the "Weathered Tie" color, which means it does not really match the color on the label
(which does look more rusty). That said, it is not a bad color.
However, the pen tips on both pens are not particularly small. I model
in HO and found it very difficult to use the rail pen without getting
it on parts I was not trying to paint.

I think both of them will have other uses during my modeling, but not
for what I bought them for. If I modeled in a scale larger than HO,
the rail pen would probably work just fine.

When I was doing scale models I made good use of an airbrush. To take
the shine off injection molded plastucs use a little clear coat and some
talcim powder from your wife's make-up stuff. Don't get caught, though.
That's a "sleep on the couch" offense.

Used with a light touch the talcum suspended in the clear coat will
dull the glare coming moff the plastic.

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When I was doing scale models I made good use of an airbrush. To take
the shine off injection molded plastucs use a little clear coat and some talcim powder from your wife's make-up stuff. Don't get caught, though. That's a "sleep on the couch" offense.

Used with a light touch the talcum suspended in the clear coat will
dull the glare coming moff the plastic.

I bought an airbrush in 1999. That was a severe drought year. Worked
great because our relative humidity was WAY down. I tried using it several times in the following years. Despite use of air (and paint) filters and
other do-dads that are supposed to cut down on the affects of humidity, the results were worse looking than with spray cans.

Despite what the experts say, I have been firmly in the spray can camp ever since. If I ever move to the Southwest, which I am not planning but who
knows, I might get the brush out again. ;) Not using it does restrict my ability to mix and spray colors but I have not really run into any issues
with that yet.

Oh yeah, and no wife so no powder to pilfer. :D There are some other techniques that are used for weathering rolling stock that might work here, too. They all involve mixing household items into a "wash" that is lightly brushed onto the model. I will have to find the old recipe I have for
doing that and post it.

Mike


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I bought an airbrush in 1999. That was a severe drought year. Worked

>great because our relative humidity was WAY down. I tried using it several
>times in the following years. Despite use of air (and paint) filters and
>other do-dads that are supposed to cut down on the affects of humidity, the
>results were worse looking than with spray cans.

Despite what the experts say, I have been firmly in the spray can camp ever

>since.

In my misspent youth I got into custom painting motorcycles. I had a couple of air brushes but I wasn't enough a a free-hand artist to get full use out of them, but the quality of most canned paints is much better than what is in spray cans.

I used to buy a lot of clear laquer, and candy apple prime colours so I could mix the exact colour I wanted and spray it over metalflake or pearl or white
or silver base coats to get the end result I wanted. At the time developing colour pigments for plastics was my full time job which gave me access to some usefull goodies, like dry powdered pearl and metalic flake in silver and gold.

Mostly I got into painting bikes because I couldn't afford to pay what the professionals were charging so I taught myself, and then people who saw my bikes started paying me to do theirs. I was getting, in todays dollars, about $700 to paint a gas tank and fenders, more if there were any fairings. That helped pay to keep my Harley on the road without spending household money that needed to go for other things.

Funny, I also had a dirt bike at the time which I would custom paint and it would freak out the other riders since you destroy a paint job pretty quick crashing through the dirt, and it looked like mine had a $700 paint job.. B) ---
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In my misspent youth I got into custom painting motorcycles. I had a couple of
air brushes but I wasn't enough a a free-hand artist to get full use out of them, but the quality of most canned paints is much better than what is in spray cans.

Overall, it probably is, especially for serious painting. For me, I
usually am painting simple colors on 1/87th models. It doesn't have to be
too fancy just as long as it gets a full coat after a few passes without overspray. So, I am not an artist. ;)

or silver base coats to get the end result I wanted. At the time developing colour pigments for plastics was my full time job which gave me access to some
usefull goodies, like dry powdered pearl and metalic flake in silver and gold.

I bet it did!

Funny, I also had a dirt bike at the time which I would custom paint and it would freak out the other riders since you destroy a paint job pretty quick crashing through the dirt, and it looked like mine had a $700 paint job.. B)

LOL, I bet it did stick out in the crowd.

Mike


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the quality of most canned paints is much better than what is in

>> spray cans.

Overall, it probably is, especially for serious painting. For me, I

>usually am painting simple colors on 1/87th models. It doesn't have to be
>too fancy just as long as it gets a full coat after a few passes without
>overspray. So, I am not an artist. ;)

Yes, I was thinking later that it's an apples and oranges thing. You don't
need the longevity of high quality paints like a street bike would.

I guess what ran through my mind most is the control you have using liquid paint you mix yourself rather than spray cans, like using it overly thick to spray stringy 'cob webs' of colour over a base colour and things, or using an air brush to create little blasts of colour, what we called acid drops. And
the ability to create any colour or finish you wanted.

Funny, I also had a dirt bike at the time which I would custom paint and it

>> would freak out the other riders since you destroy a paint job pretty quick
>> crashing through the dirt, and it looked like mine had a $700 paint job.. B

LOL, I bet it did stick out in the crowd.

It did.. And my dirt bike was street legal so I'd ride it to the hills we
used to ride around. I remember one time dumping it, attempting to cross a river over a 'bridge' made from a single 2 x 8 board, and landing fairly hard on the right side.. which snapped off the front brake lever and bent the rear brake pedal down under the engine. It was fun riding it home, fortunately only 3 or 4 miles, then well into a fair sized city, with no brakes..

(I never had these problems on my Harleys..) B)

Now I'd better stop talking about this stuff before the moderator gets really miffed about off conference subject matter.. B)

(I did briefly have a two train N gauge train set..) <G>
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Re: Re: Painting models
By: Rob Mccart to MIKE POWELL on Tue Dec 12 2023 01:42:00

(I did briefly have a two train N gauge train set..) <G>

I got into HO because that is what I received when I was 8 or so years old. I stayed with it when I picked it back up later because, although the toy engines no longer worked, I had tons of track and other accessories.

At that time, had I been picking up the hobby new, I may have gone with N scale due to space considerations.

I am glad I did not, though, as now that I am older I think fumbling with the smaller sized parts would be discouraging. If I was picking it up new now, I *might* even consider O scale over HO because some of the scale parts in HO are still pretty small. While my eyesight has always been questionable, it seems like manipulating small detail parts has become increasingly difficult now that I am older.

Mike
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