My "cheap" repainted gondola I ordered finally showed up - turns out it was not a very good paint job and you can still read the original labels through the black pain. It's like they are a slightly different texture? Any advice on how to fix this? I was thinking if I could just strip everything down to the original plastic, I could repaint it again? Or will a couple more coats of black paint do it????
RIP Chewy - best dog I ever had.
Here's my crazy idea !! I have one my son put all kinds of scrap in & you can even put a white line through that area, which, like on the real RRs, it means the car is on its way to get scrapped ! You can also put more paint on that area & weather it with rust, etc. to look real beat up as some are on the real RRs ! A car like that can be a real fun project if you don't have a lot in it ! Oh, I remember getting cars like that at train shows years ago for only 4 & 5 dollars, but they get much more today.
Thanks, John
JIM,
I repainted tankers and used Krylon, Fusion paint made exclusively for plastics. You might want to scratch up the paint job for better adhesion.
laz57
Jim Fortner wrote:Char is into crapbooking
Is that a typo or was it intentional?
Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale
Uh, yeah, I meant to type scrapbooking
Good point Jim!
I don't believe Lionel MPC used heat stamping in production. I think graphics were silk screened. If you do not want old letter to show through on a repaint job, you need to strip the paint. On most early production MPC era cars, you'll be left with the car color, since MPC used colored plastic. Original formula PineSol or automotive brake fluid will work for stripping paint.
The silk screened lettering on most MPC era cars is thick enough that it will show through as raised color on repaints unless you strip it off first. Heat stamping is another story. Not only do you have the color of the heat stamped letter, but you have some embossment of the plastic with the lettering. With heat stamped cars, you'll probably want to do some very car light sanding and even using some plastic fill.
Boy, it must have been a cob-job if old color is showing through on a repaint that is black. My suggestion (being an expert at this) is that when you set about to repaint a car, after you have stripped old lettering/paint and cleaned the car in a mild dish detergent, is to paint the car with primer first. Paint all sides, inside out if you want the car to be opaque. And you need to use a dark primer: either black, gray or rust oxide. Don't use white primer for a first coating. If you intend to paint the car a lighter color such as yellow, after you do the darker color primer, then give a quick couple coats of white primer on the outside areas, so that the final yellow paint will shlow better.
Lighter colors such as beige, yellow, white, orange, light red, pale blue etc. will requre more coatings to go over the black, gray or rust colored primer. And yellow in particular will not completely cover a black primer coating. Seems like an extra step, but the dark primer will insure an opague car. The next coating of white primer will help your final color look its best.
You never want to put commercial decals (like Microscale etc) over flat paint. You need to use a glossy surface for decals to adhere properly to and to look right.
It is also imperative to use a plastic safe spray paint. As mentioned, Krylon Fusion is one. Krylon Short Cuts is another. Regular Krylon will work too as will hobby and model versions of PlastiKote, Spray-N-Go, Proven Brands and Decrolon. Rustoleum colors can only be used after a plastic-safe primer has been coated over the entire car.
brianel, Agent 027
"Praise the Lord. I may not have everything I desire, but the Lord has come through for what I need."
All this talk of repainting gondolas inspired me. I have a MPC Republic Steel gondola in blue, and I didn't like that color. I have always wanted a PW Green 6462 gondola, so I primed the Republic Steel gondola, and am in the process of painting it with 145 Accessory Green Train Enamel. However, after giving it the chance to dry overnight, the paint is still slightly tacky. Is this normal? As always, any info is appreciated.
Jim
Jim, it all depends on the particular bands of paint that you used. As a general rule, I have noticed some brands of primer need a bit longer to dry. If you painted over the primer before it had a chance to completely dry, this could contribute to the tackiness of your final color coat. Of course, it could also be that the brand of green you used just takes longer to dry. Consider that air humidity can also affect drying time. Long and short, depending on the brand you used, yes it is normal.
One of the main reasons I like the Spray-N-Go is that it really dries in 10 minutes. Spray-N-Go was discontinued and became Perfect Brands and then Touch-N-Tone. I also use a paint booth I made from an old hevy cardboard box with a clamp light at the top with a ceramic fixture. Don't use a higher wattage bulb than a 60 or 75 watt for this set up. I also put a couple of higher wattage clamp lights sideways in front of the paint booth box. I use one of those Tupperware spinning organizers (kind of like a Lazy Susan) to place the train item on to paint - so that I can easily spin it around to paint it without touching it.
The Krylon Short Cuts also dries very fast. more so than regular Krylon, but it seems the Short Cuts have been discontinued in favor of the new Fusion. The Short Cuts Ocean Blue is a dead ringer for Conrail Blue. I actually went to the trouble to compare a paint sample to the real thing.
Jaabat, a friend of mine did exactly what you are thinking... got a deal on a used steame engine and did it it pink. If you wanted to get clever, you could make a paint mask and two-tone the steamer with the body in gray or black and the cab section in pink.
I don't know how old your daughter is, but here's another suggestion. You get some of those 9700 series box cars that have no rivet detailing on the sides. Repaint it in some bright color she would like, and then use some of the commercially available Hallmark types of stickers available like for Dora the Explorer, Barbie, Sponge Bob and others. I've done this even with the box cars that do have the rivet detail, though you have to work the stickers into the rivets, it can be done.
You could even go to the extra work of putting number, capacity and markers on the car. Take your daugher's birthday and use that for the car number. If she likes Dora, the markings could be "DTEX" for Dora the Explorer and then the "X" meaning private ownership as on real trains. You might even be able to work her name into the imaginary rail line. My own line is the CSNY for Crosby Stills Nash and Young, but if anyone asks, it's the Central Southern New York line.
I've made my own Warner Brothers and Sponge Bob cars this way at a fraction of the cost. A couple years ago out of supermarket gum machines you could find Sponge Bob, Dora and Bugs Bunny figures that were utterly perfect for Lionel trains and at 50 cents a pop... I got a load of those as you couldn't beat the price. The figures looked as good as any on a Lionel licensed car at a fraction of the cost.
By the way Jaabat, your signature layout photo looks very nice. I'm still not sold on FasTrack for myself... don't like the large roadbed and the lack of tighter curves, but you've done a nice job with it!!! I didn't think the product would be as well received as it has been, so for Lionel, this is one time it was good I was wrong.
Remember the Veterans. Past, present and future.
www.sd3r.org
Proud New Member Of The NRA
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.
Get the Classic Toy Trains newsletter delivered to your inbox twice a month