Twice!

I have the best luck with the paint markers when I go over the rails twice. Let the first coat dry COMPLETELY (at least overnight!) before adding the second coat. Using two colors, such as rail brown or rr tie brown for the under coat and rust for a top coat helps.

However, it's best to paint the plastic ties of flex track - so they don't look so much like plastic. I usually airbrush the entire track with poly scale rr tie brown and go over it from multiple angles so both sides of the rails and all sides of the ties get paint.  I *immediately* scrape the excess paint off the rails with a small block of wood. Then I go over them again with an abrasive (and I know lots of folks disagree with me on the use of this) rail cleaner like a bright boy to get paint vestiges off.  Polishing the rail with 400 or 600 grit emery paper helps too.

Even with the rails painted this way (and an airbrush works much better than brush painting), it can still take a couple of passes with a rust marker to get a good looking result.

Charlie

Two coats or an undercoat

Hi Driline-

I follow a slighty different process than Charlie (see here) but my technique shares one similarity with his:  I end up applying the paint markers onto the rails which have a primer on the surface.  I think in the end the 2nd coat will go a long way in covering the track and I think two seaprate color applications as per Charlie's technique will give you a realistic variation in the rust patterns.

Best of luck figuring it out!

~rb

Pigment Info

I may not be a seasoned modeler with vast experience with modeling paints and pens but I do know a couple things about basic paint chemistry. The recommendation to use two different colors of pen is a winner. Opacity in a paint is basically determined by 3 relationships - film thickness, pigment loading and particle size, and light refraction value (bending of light as it passes through something). Because of the container and application method there is no way the manufacturer can really load up the paint with a high pigment concentration or large platy pigments else it wouldn't flow well from a pen. Substantial film thickness is equally difficult to achieve again because of the pen application. That leaves you with light refraction as the primary vehicle to achieve opacity. Each pigment (pen color) has its own unique refraction value. By combining different pigments (pens) you are introducing alternate refraction values which is a very good thing when trying to get opaque coverage. A great example of this effect can be found in common interior latex wall paint. Tinting base white contains only TiO2 as pigmentation. Used without the addition of other colorants the white tinting base has relatively poor coverage. With only a very small addition of a secondary, greatly different refraction value pigment such as an oxide or carbon black the coverage of the white is greatly increased. It is amazing what 5 grams of oxide will do in a 4000 gram can of white paint with respect to coverage. Even if coverage is not a challenge you are almost always better off to use a combination of pigments than to try and achieve total opacity with a single pigment.

Wow. I actually understand

Wow. I actually understand what your'e saying. It makes perfect sense. Thanks.

Didnt experience that

I had hit the track with a quick spray of craft paint to kill the shine. The paint did not hold up but it seemed to provide just enough tooth for the paint marker to come back in and do a nice job.

Even where I had not sprayed it covered pretty well. I wonder if there are other factors at work like the rail maybe having a residue from manufacturing (I cleaned mine before painting..) or the paint marker not being shaken up enough.

My biggest problem with the paint markers in my N scale work is that the head of the marker is kinda thick and seems to fray pretty easily. I wish they made a fine marker version.

Chris

I find that shiny rail

I find that shiny rail doesn't take paint well when applied with a brush or with a paint marker. Because the rail is shiny, places where the coat of paint is relatively thin let the bright rail shine through (at least that's my current theory).

Airbrushing with PolyScale rail brown has another benefit other than adding a little extra tooth - if you get (actually that should be "when" you get) too much rust on the ties, the RR tie brown paint marker can be used to easily go over the ties to remove the excess rust.  How much rust is excess?  That's a beauty is in the eye of the beholder sort of thing...

Cheers,

Charlie

too much rust? there's a prototype!

Well, that phrase "too much rust" reminded me of an example my wife and I ran across a couple of weeks ago.  It's on the UP coast line in western Ventura County (MP 386).   We'd had some pretty good spells of fog lately, and it shows.   The photo was taken mid-morning just as things were drying up.  It's plain to see the bearing surface for the wheels.  A southbound passed about an hour before. 

'm not sure a light rust color like that would be believeable on the model rails, even though I've got the photo to prove it.

Ummm... That's not too much

Ummm... That's not too much rust - it's only on the rails, spikes, and tieplates.  Too much is when it gets on the ties!

Charlie

Floquil Enamel paint marker

To paint flex track I have used a spray can of Rust-Oliums, Flat Protective Enamel, Flat Brown. You can either give the tracks a light or heavier coat of spray.  To protect the rails I tape an auto Pin Stripe approximately 3/63" wide ontop of the rail. After spraying both sides of the rail, all rails, I easily pull of the pin stripe and have no cleaning what so ever. It is very easy, quick and very clean.

Grade crossing tie planks

I like what you did with the grade crossing tie planks.  I wish the manufactures would stagger the ends like that.

I'm guessing you hand laid them?

James

  II like what

Nope. Purchased them that way, although I have handlaid others.