# painting tracks and ties



## alfalfa (Jan 11, 2008)

Why in the hell I decided to paint my tracks is beyond me. It is a major pain in the butt!  Now that I started I can't stop though. It's not like I can unpaint several feet of track. 

Sorry, I had to vent to someone that could understand.


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## tworail (Apr 13, 2006)

What method / technique are you using?


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## alfalfa (Jan 11, 2008)

I have three small paint brushes and a bunch of paint in bottles, cans and tubes. I have 4 differnt shades of brown and none of them look like the color of wooden ties. The rust color paint I got looks pretty danged real though. 
It is just a pain in the butt painting them. I hope the train still runs when I get done. Darn, I had better check that now.


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## alfalfa (Jan 11, 2008)

This sucks! I will have to remove the paint on the inside of the rails and the couplers. I am glad I started this thread and thought to check while reading replies. I only have to remove paint from a couple feet of track, not the entire 20' of the complete plan. 
Any ideas of how to do this easily?


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## Boston&Maine (Dec 19, 2007)

alfalfa said:


> Any ideas of how to do this easily?


Sandpaper, razor blades? You could just buy new track, LOL


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## alfalfa (Jan 11, 2008)

Turns out it was not the track. 
It was the pickups on my loco. I had it all apart and was painting it also. I got paint on the pickups. :retard:
I ended up breaking one off trying to get the paint off and had to figure out how to fix that. 
It works just fine now. :smilie_daumenpos:


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## Stan kolak (Dec 4, 2007)

*Painting*

Red oxide , rust,is the best color to cover black ties and make them look brown. If latex, a cotton swab and water should help to remove the paint.[ Rubbing alcohol might be better.


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## Casey-Jones (Mar 7, 2008)

To remove Latex paint you use GoophOff. To remove oil based paint use lacquer thinner. If you ever want to paint tracks again I would consider taping the rails and spraying with a airbrush. Just make sure to clean the tracks with paint thinner after to remove glue. You can aslo get this stuff you apply like a soap to the area you don't want paint then wipe off after.
Hope that helps
Happy Railroading


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## alfalfa (Jan 11, 2008)

Thanks CASEY JONES. I am broke as a bad joke, but I will survive.


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## eagle37 (Dec 29, 2007)

*Tie color*



Stan kolak said:


> Red oxide , rust,is the best color to cover black ties and make them look brown. If latex, a cotton swab and water should help to remove the paint.[ Rubbing alcohol might be better.


The RR ties I see around here (Atlanta) are loaded with
creosote (I think that's what it is) and are actually so dark
that they appear to me to be more black than brown.

eagle37


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

As you can see in this picture, I use Nutmeg Brown craft paint from Walmart. I just slather it on, give it about 30-45 minutes to dry, then scrape off the top rails with a hard stick like those used for popsickles.


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## alfalfa (Jan 11, 2008)

Cool Shaygetz,
I will try that out.
For now I am just skipping the paint and soldering the track. It will be ballasted anyway.

And I love that old truck. What scale is that?


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