Non-Weathered or Pre-Weathered

[Drew]

If you have a dremel with a wire-brush attachment, cleaning up old/weathered/painted rails for soldering is a cinch...

[RobertInOntario]

I've just quickly scanned through this thread. I also did not know that pre-weathered rail was available. It certainly sounds interesting and tempting to use, although I've pretty much laid all the track on my layouts. Had I known about it earlier I would probably have gone this route.

I've been using two type of paint -- rust brown for the rails and grey/black for the ties. This seems to work well and look good, although it's a little time-consuming. The pen option also sounds good and certainly faster.

Rob

[tetters]

I've just quickly scanned through this thread. I also did not know that pre-weathered rail was available. It certainly sounds interesting and tempting to use, although I've pretty much laid all the track on my layouts. Had I known about it earlier I would probably have gone this route.

I've been using two type of paint -- rust brown for the rails and grey/black for the ties. This seems to work well and look good, although it's a little time-consuming. The pen option also sounds good and certainly faster.

Rob

I've been asking around since posting this thread and just to clarify I'm taking about pre-weathered Micro Engineering Flex Track. Guys who I've spoken to about it are telling me to avoid the pre-weathered flex like the plague. Apparently the weathering process makes the track harder to bend as the weathering adds friction to the rails. I've also got this advice from Joe Fugate as well via his website. Plus the added effort of having to clean the rail to solder feeders et all apparently, make it more of a pain in the back side then then its worth. So that said, I think I'll stick to the non-weathered stuff and paint it later.

The Floquil Paint Pens are truely great Rob. I should have picked up a couple more packs at the train show I was at earlier this month as I am sure I will run out very quickly. You can paint a ton of track in very little time with them.