Painting older plastic steam engines?

[Boyd]

I have 1666 and 400 Marx engines cosmetically in good shape. I'm thinking of painting one or both of them silver on the front portion of the boiler to match a Lionel engine I have. I'm guessing model car paint should work for this. They have dust on them. Any other tips or ideas?

[Jumijo]

Remove the shells and wa***hem in warm water with dish washing soap. Rinse well and let them air dry. Then mask and paint.

Jim

[brianel027]

First off Boyd, remove the shell and keep track of all screws and miscellaneous parts. Wa***he shell in dish detergent to remove any dust and unseen grease or finger prints. Use a soft toothbrush for detail areas where you want to paint.

When you mask off the shell as Jim referred to above, you want to use a premium qualilty masking tape. You will want to be carefull and take your time placing the tape so that the tape is along the precise line of where you want the silver to be. Then using a plastic grocery bag, place the tape overlapping the tape you have down and seal off the rest of the shell.

Take a popsicle stick or a Bic Ball Point Pen cap and burni***he edge of the tape that is the actual paint line to get a nice tight seal, so thatyou do not get paint runs.

You want to be sure to use a plastic safe spray paint. It would probably be advisable to use a plastic safe primer first. Your final color will go on better on top of primer versus bare plastic. In this case you could use flat black primer which will have the added benefit of sealing off the tape with the proper color. Brands like Perfect Paint, Spray-N-Go and Krylon Short Cuts have quick drying times. Which is very nice. You can prime the loco area to be painted and then start with the silver in no time at all.

Should you decide to use a a hair dryer to speed the process up, bear in mind the heat can also cause some loosening of the masking tape paint mask. So you'll want to carefully rub down the tape again avoiding ripping the tape or scratching the paint you've just applied.

Sounds hard, but I've been doing this for ages. Doing multiple colors with several paint masks is probably the hardest part.... getting the paint masks right so that you have minimal or zero paint runs or fuzz lines. Taking your time on the paint masks and allowing proper paint drying time is well worth it.

Repainting cheap stuff and junkers for me has been a big part of the fun and a nice way to get the road names I actually want. Many times even a cheaper so called less detailed loco or car can be made to look so much better with repainting and also painting additional molded in details like handrails.

With the plastic bodied steamers it is also a little easier to add additional handrails along the body, upfront and in back at the edge of the cab. Adding a nicer ornamental bell and whistle steam value also improves appearance as does adding a couple of engineers to the cab area. Or drilling some holes up front and adding lucite light tubes or pipes to mimic marker lights. A red magic marker will suitable color a clear tube and cause the light coming from the lucite pipe to be red - provided the headlight bulb is located in a place that also allows the light to hit the added light tubes.

Another little thing to do to improve the looks of a cheap streamer is to paint the roof of the cab. On a prototypical level, I know the Pennsy did this, and probably other railroads too. But who cares.... this is suppose to be fun. You're taking a fairly simply detailed shell and just highlighting what's already there and also creating the impression that there's more detail than there really is.

Somewhere here if you do a search, I have some photos posted of a few of my many many many repaints. For me this has been a big part of the fun. I have several cheap steamers that look (and run) so much better now that I am done with them.

[Anonymous]

IMHO Testers spray silver paint from Wallymart works great on plastic and will hold up best when handled.

Charlie

[phillyreading]

Charlie,
What is Wallymart? Is it a sarcastic name for Wal-Mart?
I have heard of Hoggly Woggly for Piggly Wiggly grocery stores.
Lee F.

[Dave Farquhar]

I can't really add anything to what Jim and Brian already said--Brian probably has more experience doing this than everyone else on the forum combined. In my much more limited experience, prep work--cleaning the surface to be painted, masking it properly, and priming it--matters more than the specific brand of paint you use.

The other trick that I've seen experienced hobbyists emphasize over and over is to learn a tool and use it--so when you find a brand of paint that does a good job and is readily available, stay with it as much as possible so you'll have fewer surprises.

And finally, if it doesn't turn out the way you want it the first time, immerse the piece in some Castrol Super Clean or Purple Power (a gallon costs about $5 at any place that sells auto supplies) to clean off the paint, then try again.

[laz 57]

I have painted plastic train tankers and the paint doesn't adhere, with regular spray paint. I then went to a hardware store and used KRYLON FUSION made specifically for plastic. It works great.
laz57

[Jumijo]

I painted model cars for years, and was considered someone at the top of their game. The most important part of any good paint job is the preparation. If the surface has any oil, be it mold release agent, fingerprints, whatever, you are going to have problems. The item being painted must be clean and dry.

When dealing with plastic, a good primer is also essential. Many paints do bad things to plastic. The primer acts as a barrier between the plastic and paint. It also gives the paint a better surface to adhere to.

Jim

[brianel027]

Jaabat is absolutely right. Your prep work is critical, and since I have painted hundreds upon hundreds of trains, I ought to know.

A point to add, is the plastic you are painting. The older postwar Lionel cars are not made with styrene, so the paint doesn't always adhere quite as easily. The newer styrene based cars are easier to paint, but care must be taken when using heat lamps to not warp the cars since the newer plastics are more prone to this.

Using a plastic safe primer is a key. On cars with lights inside, the primer (gray, black or rust) will prevent the famous toy train "pumpkin glow." Though if you plan on painting this car a lighter final color like yellow, you would be well advised to coat the darker primer color with a quick spray of white primer to make the yellow look right.

The new plastic safe Krylon paint is nice, but the Krylon Short-Cuts also works just fine on plastic though it comes in a smaller can.

Once you have completely coated the car or loco shell with a plastic safe primer, you can then safely use a Rusteoleum color. Rustoleum makes some spray colors the others do not.

The spray paints marketed by Weaver are also plastic safe. The Model Master acrylic paints are also very nice for small area brush work. They go on smoothly and in my opinion, seem to help hide the brushstoke application.

[Jumijo]

Krylon has come out with a new line of water-based spray paints that has me intrigued no end. I'm a prolific spray painter, and never liked the toxicity factor associated with them. Even wearing a respirator, I don't like it. The new stuff is basically latex paint in spray form. Why they didn't make it acryllic is anyone's guess.

Looks like I will have to spray one of my locos as well. Some odd spot has appeared on the cab of my new Williams 671 turbine. Gonna have to find some semi flat black and start spritzing!

Jim

[brianel027]

I've used the water-based apray paint. One thing I don't like about it is that it sprays on in a kind of gloppy fashion. The paint goes on rather heavy and as you are doing the job, it actually looks wrong... it looks as though you've screwed it up.

But there's a very nice light grey color made in the water-base that I really like and works well for Conrail grey colored cars. I've found that using a heat lamp to bake the paint is more important with the water-based paint.

And because the water-based Krylon seems to go on a little thicker, it works well for a older abused car that might have some dings and scratches on it... the paint seems to help hide these a little bit more.

[img.nr]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5db31b3127cce91c7a309b7df00000016108AatGbdk5bOG[/img.nr]

The NS flat car in this photo was painted with a water-based Krylon grey. The flat car load holders were designed by me to be switched easily from flat car to flat car so that no car is limited to carrying one kind of load. The silver spools on the NS car are Scotch Transparent Tape center spools. The NYC flat and trailer are my own paint jobs as well as the wheel transport car (which is mostly cut off in the pic). I used extra MPC plastic wheel sets for the load and that custom made load holder can lock on to one of the other flats in a couple of seconds.

[Jumijo]

I'm sure that the "gloppyness" of the paint coming out of the can is a direct result of it being latex instead of acryllic, Brian.

Great re-paints! I'm a huge fan of yours. Love to see photos of your talent applied to toy trains. They look factory stock.

Jim