The test

The test was pretty simple - I had a roll of steel flashing that I got from my dad. I cut off a length of it and made up labels. I then applied the markers to it, using from between one and three strokes:

Taking photos of sheet metal is... not easy. I tried to cancel out as much of the reflections as I could. 

Somewhere between here and Facebook, someone had been singing the praises of the Marvy fabric markers, so I was looking for them to include in this test. As a general rule, they performed poorly. After giving the markers some time to dry, I ran my thumb across them. The fabric markers were the only ones that smeared. 

I did blend the two Deco Color pens, and you can see that on the right. 

Interestingly, the two single colors that appeared to work best were the Craftsmart Metallic Copper (although I can't be positive that it was that, since the package had been opened and the pen was not labeled with the color) and the Tree House Rose Gold. Sharpie Oil came in right behind them. 

paint control?

The HL paint marker appears to make the most controlled line which would be a major requirement for painting models. Do you see any problem using any of these type markers for details or other delicate work? ...DaveB

Paint flow

You will definitely want to get the paint flowing (it's the shake the pen and push in the tip multiple times process) before you start in on whatever you are working on. 

I haven't tried any detail work yet (although I'm thinking hair color on LPPs) but I think the finer tip pens will work better for that. Several of the pens I purchased had fine tip options as well. 

I'm thinking it will be like soldering - get in and out fast. 

Great for striping roads

I've been striping my roads using Craftsmart paint pens that I bought from Michaels early last year (January 2019). As Jeff said, you do have to shake, shake, shake and depress the tip several times to get them going. Then, try it on some scrap material. My first attempts were lousy and I was concerned about the glossy appearance, but once dry (which doesn't take long) and the road is weathered, hard to notice. I don't think I will go back to my old method of masking and spraying.

Great info

Thanks Jeff,

Great info on paint pens or what we call paint sticks.

Been using the Tester and Treehouse now for over 10 yrs.

A warning of pens leaking in time.

They sometimes with age, will leak out more than needed and it can be a mess. 

Silver did a number on the window seal on an engine some yrs. ago.  What a mess!

Got my pens at Hobby Lobby some time ago.  Good price.

Not my cup of tea,  but different paint strokes for different folks!

Boudreaux,  B.C.E.  R.R.

Now where did I put that Spanish Moss?

TWIN ENDED COLOUR MARKERS

Jeff

I've been using the above for a while. I use wooden coffee stirrers for all kind of applications in American On30 and British O scale, from modelling details to whole structures and the thicker wedge shaped end of the twin ended colour markers is ideal for colouring the wood strips. They also work well with some laser etched kit surfaces, either MDF or laser board. I also occasionally model in card and the fine pointed end of the marker can used be to conceal the white edges left when the card structures are being built.

There are quite a few products available, the text above in bold makes a good search string

John L

Quite a few products

I'm more interested in the advantage of paint pens over properly thinned paint and a quality brush of the right size and shape.

I'm genuinely interested because the paint pens I have used to date seem to be more expensive and have a shorter shelf life than 'conventional' means.  The advantages in striping pavement are evident, but that's all I can see,

Other finding

I checked out the availability from Fifer Hobby Supply after seeing the video that was posted on this subject and here is what I find (BTW the product is part of the Tidy Track line):

Perhaps I have an erroneous perception, but it appears the Tidy Track (Woodland Scenics) is a flexible brush type tip which would make the spreading better than stiff felt tip like brushes. I see that this brush was left out of the test.

Woodland Scenics

Unfortunately none of the local craft stores or the small local hobby shop has them. And I wasn't driving to Portland for that... at least not yet. This was basically done on a whim. But my continuing test with the paint pens is showing that there might be a definite advantage to dealing with a company that does miniatures for a living. 

As for why using them... convenience. That's pretty much it - no brushes to clean, no paint to mix... just put it against the face of the wheel and spin it. 

Discoveries so far - the metallic copper looked good on the steel sheet, not so good on the wheels, unless you want your cars to look like you went out for custom rims. Likewise for the rose gold. 

Most of them are more glossy than I'm happy with. 

The Sharpie is shiny, but has possibilities. This is it on one wheel, the other is Rose Gold.

The HL Paint Marker... doesn't fit. The tip is just too wide to fit inside the rim while the wheels are still mounted. And it dumped a bunch of paint into an unmounted rim - I poured it out into two other wheels. I'd like to try it in a fine tip.

If it wasn't for the glossy sheen (not really seen here due to pointing the light somewhere else), I think my idea of mixing the DecoColor Oil orange and brown came out the best. Painting the trucks with a paint pen.... don't. This particular set is going into the trash because... see next paragraph.

I also discovered that apparently at some point in the past I swapped out the trucks on an LBF TBOX (LBF trucks were "Designed to Derail" as far as I'm concerned) for a set of Kadee sprung trucks. Which one of disassembled on me as I attempted to paint it. That boxcar will be getting a third set of trucks soon. 

My current evaluation - unless you like a solid brown, don't bother with the commercial paint pens. One other issue I had was flow rates. Sometimes the pen liked to dump paint. And unless you have a fine tip, you are likely to find yourself painting the truck too. 

I'll have to try out the Woodland Scenics product. 

Nice tests

Nice testing Jeff.  What you’re getting with those is a bit more like what I remember of the paint pen I tried some years ago.  Woodland scenics must have done something special for theirs.

Glossy wheels

Perhaps they should market a dullcoat pen ? .....DaveB

I dunno......

maybe I'm missing something. I've tried a few different paint-pens …. never happy with the results.

using a brush and cheap acrylics, I can paint 2 trucks and 4 wheel sets in less time than it took me to read thru this thread. I paint a car at a time tho as I paint, weather and detail each. I can certainly see the pens as a time saver if one is working on the fleet...

Dullcoat pen

Now that would be an excellent product... 

What I do

Woodland Scenics marker test...

All the kids at school have been making fun of my shiny wheels, so I thought I'd volunteer to do the Woodland Scenics marker test. 

Our test subject, with noted taunt-worthy wheels:

Our marker, The Tidy Track Rusty Rail Mod. 1:

The wheels just after painting:

The wheels, closer and drier:

The people clamored for more testing. The kids made fun of the shiny wheels on this PC hopper. Shield your eyes, the shine causes blindness in the state of California:

Ok, you can remove your shades.  Behold, painted wheels.  But, wait!  There's more.  I dusted them with pan pastels too:

Here they are in situ:

Pretty quick, fairly easy.  

Randy

Rseiler

Randy, 

Can I get a better look at the tip of the Woodland Scenics pen? 

What's the magic word?

The tip:

Randy

Brown vs Black

I haven't gone off to look at prototype photos, so what I'm reporting here is my uninitiated impression. It is that the browns all make me think of chocolate rather than rusty steel. They look "wrong" to me somehow, in a way that flat black doesn't. Perhaps I'm just suffering from post-plastic-wheel syndrome or something. 

Jeff obviously was going for a rusty look, based on his selection of browns without any blacks in the mix. I even liked Randy's shiny black wheels better than his milk-chocolate ones, though the pic of the 890072 on the track looks better than the pic on its side.

Well, as  my political science teacher used to say, everyone's entitled to their own stupid opinion.

Color

Based on photos of railroading in Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho, I mix up a bottle of "Railroad Wheels Brown," which is a base of Railroad Tie Brown mixed with Oxide Red with a dash of Burnt Umber and a bit of Dust. Have used acrylics and solvent paints and it doesn't seem to matter. When I use it to paint plastic trucks, they are soaked in 100% Simple Green for a few minutes to make the paint stick better. My applicators are green and yellow Micro-Brushes, which can be pretty cheap.

My dusting with Pan Pastels is very miserly to keep it from caking up around the axle tips.

Bragdon powders

I've done a very similar process to what Joe does, but I used Bragdon dark rust over the paint first, then some bright (light? new?) rust over that. 

Mike in CO

@Jeff

My perception of the tip was not all that accurate. At 480p with YouTube, it appeared to have bristles but looking closer at 1080p I see that it is a felt type tip.

(I am pretty sure Mike at Fifer Hobby Supply could use the business and you need not leave your home (he was an MRH advertiser at one time)

https://www.fiferhobby.com/ ).

So it is not as flexible as I thought. It does seem as though the author could get the effect desired in spite of the stiffness of the tip.