The easy way to paint your model railroad track

[@rhoobarb773]

Another great video, Jimmy! I've always spray painted my track. I have an old Kalmbach book "Trackwork and Lineside Detail for Your Model Railroad" that outlined the technique. It suggested oiling the top of the rails with a rag over your finger, which I do. Makes cleaning them a snap and prolongs your work time if you have a lot of track to do and don't want to start and stop to clean the rail top. I use the camouflage as the base, then shoot straight down with random light passes of black, then finish with another light pass of primer red.

[@railwayjade]

Another tip is to let the paint dry and then use an offcut of wood to wipe the railheads (the wood is not abrasive).

[@timduggan1461]

YES!!!! Do NOT use a " Bright Boy"!!! It makes microscopic scratches on the rails that attract dirt

[@Maurice00PA]

Good video. Especially like the idea of wrapping the paper towel around the spray can lid to wipe the tops of the rails. One suggestion for the points is to use a product called Neolube. It blackens the metal but still conducts electricity. I have used it on my N-scale layout without any problems. Cheers.

[@skerbs7755]

Thank you, Jimmy, for sharing this! Have a great day!

[@w.rustylane5650]

When I get around to painting my track, I'll start by painting the cork roadbed a nice grey to resemble gray ballast. I've got some rust colored acrylic paint for the rails and then finish by painting the cross ties. I plan to use my airbrush for all this painting. Cheers from eastern TN

[@Eclipse1988]

I experimented a different method last night with a piece of track and was very pleased with the results! First, I used what I thought would be a good rust base color (Cinnamon). I sprayed the track at a side angle to get paint on the sides of the rails inside and out, gave it a couple minutes to start to dry (but not fully), then went directly over top and sprayed straight down with a darker brown for the ties. Not only did this cover the Cinnamon sprayed onto the ties, but the small bits of overspray speckled the Cinnamon rail rust at a very small level and made it (to me) look realistic and awesome. Not to mention it was very quick compared to using any sort of brush in detail. I wish I could post pictures here to show everyone!

[@riogrande5761]

I used Rustoleum Camo brown to paint my track. To clean the surface of the rail I didn't do any funky things like oil the surface or anything. I follow Rob Spangler's method (wp8thsub layout) and simply dragged a utility knife blade backward across the rail surface. It worked like a charm.

[@ausfoodgarden]

It's interesting to watch your process. Personally, I paint the whole baseboard before laying any track. Then after the track is laid and ballasted I airbrush the track. I know, many don't have one but for me, the $100 or so for a cheap but ok compressor and airbrush is so worth it. It still needs manual touchups around the turnouts (I've gotta check out those micro brushes) Like others have said, I use the piece of wood trick too.

[@doughallberg]

Gerry, I'm with you. I think you'll get better coverage on the baseboard with latex and a roller. Airbrush would probably require less masking as well. There's cheap airbrushes out there (or it can be considered a long term modelling investment) and used compressors pop up at garage sales and resale shops. I like that wood trick

[@mgamga9476]

What color spray paint is that? Color flat, gloss, semi-gloss?

[@flagman515]

If you are looking for smaller paint amounts, Valspar (at Lowe's Lumber) offers 3, 7.25 oz. sample cans for $12 (until 1/18/23. After that, $5 each.) It is a great way to get paint for small areas.

[@alanschultz3858]

great tip ill try that on the new layout when i start mid feb

[@chuckholsclaw6829]

Hey Jimmy, I spray paint my track as my layout is quite large. I solder my track together and then solder feeders to the rail before painting.

[@ianmanson-blair5065]

That's so clever.

[@andrewlaverghetta715]

I spray painted my N scale with that “camouflage” marketed spray paint and love it. The only thing I did to protect the points was by putting sticky tac between the switch point and the main rail on a single side. I also made sure to spray from multiple angles because I was intending on the layout being viewed from all angles. Did I miss him mentioning not painting the reverse side? Is the layout going to be always up against a wall on the side we are viewing it from? It actually looks like he might have moved around a little to paint more before the final reveal? Also, I waited until the paint mostly dried and then scraped it off with a razor blade, dragging it of course, and not pulling in. In places where it was lingering I used my fingernail, and then also a track cleaning tool.

[@genejablonski9909]

I agree with the other comment about using a piece of wood to clean of the track after painting. I use it shortly after painting and it works very well. Another thing that works for me is some cork track bed. Thanks for another great video.

[@joelupinacci011073]

This is how I weathered all my rail as well with a twist that I picked up from a Kalmbach book. Rail is not all one uniform color, so using 3 colors that are all roughly shades of brown and camo paint and mixing it up give some nice results.

[@JohnVorwald]

Thanks for showing this technique. It seems tedious (there's no way around it, it is). But it's simple the results make any track look that much better.

[@rjjrrailsgscalesolenske5231]

Can this be done on gscale track thks

[@CommentsAllowed]

Would it help if you wiped a thin layer of WD-50 on the rails before you painted?

[@thecoolticant3855]

nice video

[@michaeldjoven80]

When you paint with the latex paint do you thin it with anything? Thank-you. Mike.

[@4everdc302]

I'm a craft paint guy. But I do like using Woodland Scenics track paint markers.

[@DaBobsNScaleMancave]

I have used it and it just comes off when cleaning my track with alcohol pads. I need something that sticks and doesn't dissolve while cleaning.

[@susannesmodelrailroad]

Cool! Should have thought about that before i made all the ground work done along the Travis!😂/Susanne (Susanne & Jans modelrailroad)

[@RichardKuivila1947]

It's OK to paint the metal rails ?

[@andybelk]

Even though you were painting in the garage with the door cracked open, for your health shouldn't you wear a respirator? Great video on painting track. Where my layout is I can't spray paint so the micro brush is my way.

[@thoughtengine]

Around 2005, I attended a show in which a lecturer demonstrated that the first thing he does when acquiring a length of flextrack is to spray the whole lot rust colour and wipe off the top.

[@CommentsAllowed]

That blue tape is priced like it is coated in gold. 😀

[@allenkotlan3606]

Tip on Not spray painting the rail top, for base coating or weathering. My ol' friend, Dave, taught me to apply baby oil to the rail top with a Q-tip. After spraying, quickly wipe clean with iso alcohol.

[@dundasjunctionmodelr.r-jam8267]

Looks easy, but if have a large layout, need a way to paint in the train room

[@richardnelson-ux1zz]

Good video

[@hanssmidt12]

Im actually working On my new layout

[@LegalVideoMan]

I am a little confused at your process here. You say you are painting the rails then you wipe off the rail heads with a towel? I can see that you are painting down on the rails and the ties but the sides of the rails are not getting any paint. Wouldn't you want to paint the rail sides rather than the top of the rails? You would get over spray on tops which is understandable to want to wipe off but the sides are still shiny.

[@robertschmidt6383]

Why not use tape strips a quarter inch wide and just cover the rail tops? Less tape to contend with.

[@mgamga9476]

I am about to paint. 1 million videos but no one mentions what color looks best. Hmmmm

[@canuckprogressive.3435]

Thanks for showing us how you do it. That said, why do so many KZbinrs have to use that annoying whoosh sound between scenes? It is annoying and distracting.

[@timduggan1461]

One word? Aitbrush. They aren't expensive. They will take your modelling to new heights.

[@andylallathin9827]

He just wasted a unnecessary step. I would tape over the points only then paint the track.

[@brucegelman5582]

Goodbye resale

[@davidcurtis5398]

Really dislike to see roads where the points were covered up when painting. They look so stupid...Why not just tape the points and frogs???? Taped these finally, but should have done this before... When wiping fresh paint I use a wood block with material tight on it.Unpainted points and frogs look horrible...

[@andrewlaverghetta715]

I put sticky tack in between the points and the rails when I painted mine. I think I actually taped the points at first so I could just do broad spraying of the track, and then put the putty in once I was ready to focus on the specific.

[@davidcurtis5398]

@@andrewlaverghetta715 At least that would be only a real small shinie place..