painting ties

[enginear joe]

 I've heard that the best way to make ties last longer is to protect them from the sun's rays by painting them. I'm trying out the newer Train-Li concrete colored (and shaped) ties. I found a satin stone grey paint by Rustoleum 2x that matches the color pretty much perfect. I am color blind! I just painted 100 and will see how they hold up.

 I have a couple boxes of Aristo ties that I'll paint in brown to see if it helps them as well. One can of paint seems to cover about 150 ties as a rough guess. It seems like a good investment if it does help.

[enginear joe]

 I bet you could paint more like 200+ ties. I'm outside and the wind blew some paint away. The brown is satin "expresso".

[Rayman4449]

Look good  I bet it will make them last a lot longer.  I have a few on my layout that I got direct from the mfg shortly after he started making them and they still look like new.  He did add UV protectant (there are various longevity compounds available).  So from my testing if you paint them they should for sure last a lifetime.  When I paint plastic I really like the Krylon Fusion paint, it adheres to plastic unlike any other paint I've ever seen.  Good luck

[enginear joe]

 Thanks Ray. I bought the Krylon Fusion products too and I'll try them on my engine painting project. I wondered which one was best.

[Rayman4449]

You're probably just a good with what you got, I just know from painting the PVC posts outside on my basement bridge that the Fusion literally fused to the surface.  Once it's on don't plan on it coming off ha!