Model Railway Forum

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.

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.

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

Walkingthedog wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 8:45 pm 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.

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

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.

Walkingthedog wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 11:00 pm 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.

Ian do you need to paint both sides?

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

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.