Joe's model trains rail paint is a good shade of brown, is water-based, has absolutely no odor. It adheres reasonably well on tinplate, but nothing really adheres without a good prep and primer, neither of which I did when painting the rails. Considering the amount of spraying I was doing, I'm glad I didn't have to deal with Floquil and its diosol fumes. It thins with warm water. Don't thin with alcohol because it causes it to dry to quickly and starts clogging up the spray head.
When you sprayed the ROSS turnout, did that cause any operational problems with it after painting?
Originally Posted by Laidoffsick:
As John stated above, I airbrush from the sides, including the center rail and the little bit of overspray looks like natural weathering on the ties. It will also change a bit once you ballast the track and the diluted glue solution sits and soaks into the ties. Dennis Brennan also uses some chalks after the track has been ballasted, to color some individual ties. I have used the chalks and a couple different colored ink washes on the ties and ballast.
No.. not really. I exercise the switch manually after painting and then again after using the glue for the ballast. As noted in my build thread, my biggest problem was letting stones enter the manual switch mechanism opening. After that I used some masking tape to block it and the slides. This worked. If you get any glue on the moving parts, some 91% alcohol freed them up.
No it did not. Just make sure u wipe the tops of the rails off and clean them. Obviously not all the tops need cleaned and that really improves the over all look IMO of course.
Cleaning! I've cleaned the rails at least twice and even more. You have to clean after painting and then again after ballasting. The after any touchup, and then again after you weather the roadbed. And I agree... it looks great with painted rail, ballast and shiny railheads.
Well at least you know the rails are clean after you've painted, ballasted, and weathered the track. At least they are until you start running trains again 
