Painting a Loco

[brains]

I recently purchased an aristo 0-4-0 and tender, but they have the RC Cola markings and I would love to change that.  The Loco is black and the tender blue.  I want to remove the logos and repaint/weather both with a basecoat of black.  Can I use rustoleum or any spray paint?  I was going to lightly sand the areas that have the logos so they do not show through and then spray.  What sheen of paint, flat?  Any other suggestions that I might be missing.

Thanks,
ed

[dwbeckett]

There are as many way to paint as there how to lay track. I have finnished painting 2 of 4 RS-3. I would recommend removing RC Cola logo completly. Then test paint the bottem of the tender to see if your choice paint ( brand ) will adhear smothly without primer. If not Prime the engine and tender with black primer. then simi gloss black. Note......rustoleoum is not the only spray paint in town. I use Ace Hardware paints $3.49 per can. I DO NOT recommend rustoleum 2X coverage..TOO THICK.. Remember even though it says quick dry paint let it sit at least 4 hours before handling.  

Dave 

[kstrong]

First, try some kind of solvent to get rid of the RC Cola logo. Which solvent depends on too many variables to list, but my usual suspects are "Super Clean" degreaser (available at auto parts stores), denatured alcohol, and Testor's "Easy Lift Off." Each of these solvents work on some paints and not others, so it may take some trial to find something that ultimately works (and you very well may not find anything that works). An alternative, since you're planning a complete repaint anyway, is to soak the parts in DOT-3 brake fluid. I haven't done that in a number of years, but folks still swear by it. Quite honestly, if I can't easily remove the lettering, I just have at it with some denatured alcohol and some ultra-fine steel wool until the lettering is gone (or mostly gone.) Be a little careful, especially around fine rivet detail, that you don't remove the rivets in the process. That's why I use ultra-fine steel wool. It's more of a scrubbing than an abrasive. (Though it still does erode away the details just a bit.)

For painting a locomotive, I almost always prime first if I'm using spray paints. Mostly because I will have most likely added a bunch of details that need painting, but also just to give everything an even coat, and I've yet to have a primer react adversely to the paint already on the model. It's a nice "interface" layer.

I have two schools of thought on priming and painting. Ordinarily I prime and paint the same day, usually within less than an hour between coats. Sometimes I'll lightly sand the primer coat after it's dry to the touch with ultra-fine steel wool, but most of the time I just let it go. The finish even without sanding is smooth enough. I've found with most of the sprays I use (Krylon, Val-Spar, Wal-Mart) you've got a window within an hour to 90 minutes in which you can put coat after coat after coat on the model and not have any worries. After that 90 minute "window," you need to wait until the next day, lest your next coat of paint "craze" the paint below it. When that happens, you wipe it off and start over again. Not fun. That's largely why I paint all on the same day when I have two or three hours to devote to the process. Once the top coat is on, I wait 24 hours before doing any additional painting or decaling.

Thoughts on colors... If I'm trying to match the finish of an existing black steam locomotive (i.e, repainting the tender but not the loco) then I'll use a semi-flat black. That's generally a good match in terms of finish, and even though it's semi-flat, it still takes decals well enough. If I'm doing a complete repaint, I'll go with a gloss black. I'll usually use a flat black for the locomotive and tender frames, since those are definitely going to get grimed up in the weathering process.

Here's one of my recent projects prior to weathering. It's hard to see because of the angle, but I brush-painted the drivers and cylinders with gloss black after I had sprayed the frame with the flat black. (In this case, it's just flat black primer.) For brush painting locos, I use Badger's "ModelFlex" (also called "AccuFlex") paints. They're actually pre-thinned for use in an airbrush, but brush paint remarkably well. The cab was actually brush painted, and you can't see brush strokes at all.

It all looks quite garish at this point in the game, but "painting" is only half the process. The next step is to dirty things up a bit for a proper finish.

This is where the fun comes in. I use thin washes of acrylic paints (the 99-cent Folk Art or similar bottles you can get at most craft stores). I just wash it on and let physics take over. You can see in this photo how the water pools up around details like rivets and the bell stand, while most else washes down the side of the tank. For this locomotive, I wanted it to look good and grimy, so I just let the wash settle as it wanted to. If I wanted the loco to look a bit more "well maintained," I'd gently wipe off the excess with a paper towel, leaving much of the gloss finish showing through.

Compare this:

to this:

where I used the same "grime" technique, but wiped off the drivers, cylinders, and the sides of the boilers except where you'd expect to see grime accumulate.

Here's a closer look, where you can see where the grime was left in place along the top of the boiler where soot would naturally accumulate very quickly, but mostly wiped off from the cab walls and sides of the boilers so the glossy finish can show through.

Note - I do not use any kind of clear matte finish such as Dull-Coat. The beauty of this technique is that you get contrasts between finishes--the dull dirt and grime on top of the glossy base. Covering that with a dull finish completely negates that entire aspect. If you go out and look at the real thing, even when they're dirty, they're still glossy underneath and will reflect light accordingly.

Example: a tender from the side, looking dirty and grimy:

The same tender, viewed at a different angle, showing how reflective the tender still remains under the grime.

Hope that provides some food for thought. Post photos once you're done!

Later,

K

[captain perry]

Ken--

those engines look great...not over done.  they look like working engines not engines pulled from the scrap line!  I like to see that. 

While some still fondly remember the old rusty days of the end of steam, I am too young and prefer the days when steam was king  working hard but not suffering from neglect,

[ttrigg]

I've had some seriously good luck using Krylon "Fusion", It was designed for plastics. For decal removal I use an "Ebarhard" ink erasure. The round one that refills an eraser pencile. I can remove decals from 2 cars during one episode if N.C.I.S.