(Photos Restored): Step-by-step; (Stainless Steel) Metalizing: HO Dome Car Makeover

[AntonioFP45]

___________________________________________________________

Hi everyone.

This process is becoming more and more enjoyable. Imho, I sincerely feel that if a klutz like me can do this.....so can anyone that can handle an airbrush!  I was going to wait until I completed both cars, including decals....... but after reading some comments regarding plated cars, I felt that this would be a decent time to post this. The intent here is to demonstrate how to take a relatively inexpensive car that's commonly found on ebay and swap meets and easily transform it into something that looks much more prototypical that you'd enjoy running on your layout..

A. Subject:  HO scale 1980's IHC dome car. Model is based on prototype Pullman Standard unit used by the Santa Fe (Pleasure Dome).  Belongs to a good friend of mine, my wife's cousin, who is a Santa Fe & BNSF fan. He purchased it at a train show for a bargain at $10. (ironic, for me, that it was in the SCL scheme!)

1. I removed the shell from the chassis and gave it a 91% alcohol paint-stripping bath. After soaking for 5 minutes, the factory silver paint came off easily with a toothbrush. After stripping, the shell was washed with warm water and an inexpensive dishwashing liquid (Dawn).

2. Basecoat Color (foundation) -  Scalecoat 2, New York Central Light Gray. Thinned 60%. Airbrush (Paasche VL.  Needle and aircap sizes: #3 (medium).  Air pressure at tip: 25psi.  Distance to shell: 3" inches. Total number of coats: Two, medium wet.

3. Critical stage: The Basecoat Gray finish must be SMOOTH! If it is, then you'll be ready to move ahead.  Check the shell with a flashlight for dry spots and re-coat the shell, if needed. If eye-catching mistakes are discovered, then fix them after the basecoat has cured. Wet sand spots, clean and apply another coat over shell if needed. If this takes a day or two.....it's worth the effort.  When finished, flush out & clean airbrush with lacquer thinner

4. As the basecolor cured, I took the molded black plastic seating unit in the dome section and hand painted it with Polyscale acrylics.  The floor: gold/brown with a dark brown mat in the center.  The seats,  a blue mix based on forum member Smitty's photo of his Santa Fe dome car.

5. Alclad2 Application - Formula: 107. No thinning. Airbrush Needle & aircap sizes-#1 (fine).  Air pressure at tip: 12 to 15psi.  Distance to shell: 2" inches. Number of coats: 3.  FIRST, I spent several minutes testing myself on a scrap FP45 shell to make sure the airbrush was spraying well and my distance/stroke speed were good. This step is, imho, a headache preventer as I discovered that I needed to increase my speed, slightly.

6. Spraying the Alclad 2. Relax and enjoy. (I had my smooth jazz tunes playing)  Maintain the airbrush parallel to the surface. Spray in a mist coat and stroke your airbrush as if you were painting with a modeler's paint brush. Tip:  ( Wear an appropriate respirator) As you spray, keep your head within 10" of your model, but over it, and either to the right or left of the airbrush so you can monitor your speed and distance.  Some people have a tendency of standing directly behind the airbrush while spraying and not clearly seeing if they're getting too close or far. (yes, been there, done that! )  Wait 3 to 5 minutes between coats if temperature is over 75F. Wait longer at lower temps. Check your shell carefully for any areas missed; and stroke over if needed.  Flush & clean airbrush upon finishing.

7. Sealing/Toning down sheen - Instead of the Testor's Acryl or Pollyscale clears, I applied one of Alclad's NEW waterbased clear; #ALC 600. Thinning: None. Airbrush needle & aircap sizes #3 (medium). Air pressure at tip 20 psi.  Distance 3" inches. Number of coats: One:

After practicing for several minutes with the medium size needle/aircap set up, I applied the clear to the shell.  I was surprised at how fine this atomizes and smoothly lays on top of the Alclad finish. IMHO, this performed superior to the clears I've used before. However, upon finishing the airbrush must be flushed out immediately. I used a mixture of distilled water and alcohol to flush out.

8. The sheen toned down nicely, imho, to the appearance of highly polished, reflective stainless steel. Only one coat was applied since this will be the foundation for the Santa Fe decals. Afterwards, 1 to 2 more coats of clear will seal the decals and tone down the sheen more.  This shot is before re-assembly:

9. The underframe and diaphrams received light weathering with Polly scale paints. I cut white styrene fron Plastruct Strips, positioned and glued them in place to resemble window shades. Dome interior seat module was reinstalled and body installed on to chassis.  OUTDOOR PHOTOS:

Weathering on diaphram compared to a prototype unit.

Indoor shot:

The next Alclad thread will be for a Santa Fe HO full length dome, which I'm currently working on.  The one following will be (should be) on matching the Walthers Pine series finish.

Take a quick look at some prototype SS units:

Respectfully, you can clearly see the reason why we should not be so worried about getting a "PERFECT" stainless steel match.  Except for when these cars were new........there's no such thing!  The combination of weather, dirt/grime, maintenance practices, and photographic lighting conditions only help to affirm this. 

Pullman Standard, deep sheen, very good condition

SCL (photo by Dixon) older, polished surface with dents & stains:

 

Here are 2 shots of the same ex-NYC obseration car, YEARS APART. Note that as the surface car aged (and was likely neglected), the sheen dulled considerably and the surface faded to a lighter grayish tone.

As a former transit shop tech that often worked with steels, imho, the arguments regarding which metalized finish is the "best" or "most realistic" is a moot point.  Walthers Pine series. and Rapido's stainless steel finishes differ from each other Y-E-T they are both protoypically realistic.  My respectful criticism is that due to potential higher costs, Walthers and other manufacturers that produce "plated" cars offer only one tone/hue finish per production. This would be "proper" for brand new units of the same manufactuer (all Budd, all PS, all ACF). Still, imho, to me they look far better than the silver paints that manufactueres have been using since the 1970's.  For modelers that complain that they apear "too shiny", one to two thin smooth coats of semi-gloss clear tones them down nicely!

Those of you with unplated cars that would like the stainless steel look should give consider giving metalizing a fun try! Forget the arguments.......REMEMBER: IT IS PROTOTYPICAL if stainless steel hues and sheens within a train don't match up perfectly!  

Even with alloying and machining differences Budd, PS, and ACF used high Chromium content on their cars surfaces resulting in "High Reflectivity".  By applying the Clear in thin coats on top of Alclad #107, or #105 (over a gray basecoat) you can instantly tone the sheen down to the level that you desire, whether you're using photographs or have access to a prototype car.

Sample of a Penn Central Budd unit with a worn, grimy, yet reflective surface:  

I was fortunate in being able to ride and view a lot Amtrak Heritage cars, including units still in their predecessors' finish. In spite of their age, a good number of them still yielded sheens that were deeper and more brilliant than what's on the Walthers Pine cars, like this photo (credit to the photographer).

Inspite of the problems posed by photography and the persistence of some modelers that "photos are subjective", one thing that many photos reveal that's undeniable (regardless of lighting, color saturation, pixel counts, overexposure, underexposure and even black&white photography)......is reflective sheens.   Alclad (and Alsa, Spaz Stix) high shine metalizers resemble "Chromium".  The prototype stainless steels we are talking about contain significant portions of Chromium, which is why they were so mirror-like when new and after extensive polishing when worn. 

I am having fun with metalizing passenger cars and hope that those of you that enjoy realistic finishes give this a try.  Practice first on scrap. It is not difficult all.    

[ClinchValleySD40]

Beautiful job, thanks for sharing.

[dknelson]

You do nice work and make excellent points about sheen and shine.  Keith Kohlman's article in MR some time ago indicated that he uses black as a base coat, with excellent results, but your use of gray is obviously working just fine.

From a modeling perspective modeling any kind of shine is still our biggest challenge.  We know how to model chalky paint finishes but shine ....?   Walk through an auto junkyard and you see that even cars that have been out in the weather for years still have a gloss that is very difficult to capture on a model.  yet many layouts have autos that are factory fresh that are toned down to a flat finish.

As to the gloss of stainless steel passenger cars, it seems we are getting there with the new metalic finishes and makeovers such as the one you show here.  I guess as a geezer it is worth pointing out that back in the day Herkimer had HO passenger cars of actual metal, as did Mantua, and more recently, the Three Brothers/Holgate & reynolds CBQ/Milwaukee Rd bilevel commuter cars -- and of course Lionel in O had some beautiful cars in stainless steel.  But even those lacked some of the sheer gloss of polished and buffed stainless steel.

It was when we started to paint plastic that we really lost some of the realism of capturing the look of unpainted polished stainless steel, and finally we are getting close to the real look.

Dave Nelson

[ChadLRyan]

Antonio,

Very nice work, & an excellent how to! I started using Alclad when building 1/24 Semi's & Cars, I too am on the fence that it looks more realistic than straight plated parts. One issue I have with plating, is that as soon as I touch it it becomes scratched & scuffed because of cleaning & handling.  One thing I have to do is seal the Alclad, as my fingers will remove it, like any metalizer paint. I have not tried the Alclad clear, & will want to soon. Have you found any clears that resist yellowing with age?

Thanks!

[G Paine]

dknelson

back in the day Herkimer had HO passenger cars of actual metal,

Dave Nelson

Herkimer is back in business, now known as OK Engines. I saw their products at the Amherst show, and they look good. Their website is not that informative, but they say they can produce a custom shell to match a prototype. Their metal shells are made with modern NC milling or plasma cutting machines.
http://okengines.com/main.shtml

http://okengines.com/pdf/catalog1.pdf

http://okengines.com/pdf/catalog2.pdf

[cmarchan]

Nicely done Tony! I really like the step-by-step shots and description. Great examples of the prototype; quite necessary when comparing finishes from car to car and from RR to RR, as they are all NOT the same!

 

 Makes me want to dig in and paint those ex-C&O-turned-ACL diner/kitchen cars of mine!

[CharlieM90]

 

Appreciate the details you've given regarding airbrush settings, etc.

One question: Looks like it's sold in 1 ounce and 4 ounce sizes. What kind of coverage are you getting? Any roughgh estimate as to how many cars you can cover per container?

 

[AntonioFP45]

Thank you Carl, Larry.  Carl, I know you've got a lot on your plate with your excellent work in DCC and DCC Sound, but I do hope you get "crackin" on those unique passenger cars before the year's out.  Yes, it's been hard to convince modelers that even in good condition, stainless steel passenger car surfaces will vary in appearance from slight to very noticeable.  Only in a perfect world would stainless steel cars, each over 20 years old, in a train would look exactly the same.

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Dave, you do provoke interesting thoughts. I remember seeing "real" metal O-scale passenger cars years ago with beautiful finishes. IMHO, we've reached the point where we can capture the look of stainless steel in a nice variety of flavors.  But modelers simply have to be willing to experiment.  There are other modelers doing this, including a talented gentleman on the Yahoo Passenger Car List forum....but he and others should post their work on multiple forums, especially this one and Atlas forum as according to the threads viewed counters, these two forums are heavily viewed daily.  Among the viewers are manufacturer's reps, including Walthers.

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Chad, I just used this new Alclad #600 Clear for the first time. I'm going to continue using it and see how it performs in the long run. So far this clear protects the Alclad finish quite well.  I've been handling the car and it still looks good as new.  So far I have not been disappointed by any of Alclad's products and it might be worth you giving the #600 Clear a chance. 

However, if you want a proven clear coat product that resists yellowing over a long term, then go with Future Floor Finish.  If you've never used it before, you should practice first on a scrap shell or plastic pieces. Apply it very thin as it will flow and level out.  The downside to Future is that it will clog up your airbrush if left inside to long. But don't let that worry you, just be alert.   When applying more than one coat of Future and as you wait for each coat to flash off, hit the trigger every 15 to 20 seconds and shoot a little burst to prevent your airbrush from gumming up internally .  As soon as you finish your clearcoat job, flush it out immediately with distilled water or a mix of distilled water and alcohol. Always wipe off your needle and aircap  

 

 

 

 

[ChadLRyan]

Thanks Antonio,

Yes, Future is my friend, I actually bought some new earlier this week.  I have not done any Alclad sealing with it, but Ill give it a try since it is on hand, & especially after your positive recommendation!

Thanks for your response & suggestions, I appreciate it! 

[Charlie]

Antonio, you got me thinking about using Alclad Aluminum and Alclad white aluminum. White Aluminum should be used on the roofs of ACF cars that are in natural stainless. For some reason, the stainless roofs of ACF cars left in natural stainless fade to an almost white aluminum shade. I noticed this on BNSFs former ATSF Regal series sleepers.

Charlie

[AntonioFP45]

CharlieM90

 

Appreciate the details you've given regarding airbrush settings, etc.

One question: Looks like it's sold in 1 ounce and 4 ounce sizes. What kind of coverage are you getting? Any roughgh estimate as to how many cars you can cover per container?

 

 

Charlie,

When I first started metalizing, I'd cover one to two cars with a bottle.  As I refined my technique, I started covering 2 to 3 cars per 1 oz bottle.  It all depends on your application technique.  If you're able to hold the airbrush level and stroke it while maintaining the proper distance, it becomes easier with practice to the point where when your're spraying you're not even thinking about it. Coats are applied thinnly, never "dumped on".

It's good to have 2 or 3 old cheap boxcar or carbodied locomotive shells on hand for practice and/testing. 

Some modelers, first feel intimidated due to the way the Alclad is applied (like a paint brush). Yet, typically, once a modeler that's airbrushed before  practices applying it on a scrap shell for several minutes; he/she becomes comfortable with it.  The so called "learning curve" becomes a straight line.

 

 

[Charlie]

Antonio, I've noticed that ACF cars that are in their natural stainless, the roofs fade to a shade very similar to dull aluminum or white aluminum. Also, if painting cars where the roof and window band will be silver and the fluting Alclad Chrome 4107, gloss black will need to be used as dark gray will cause the chrome to blend in with the silver rather than allow it to contrast with the silver.

[AntonioFP45]

Charlie

Antonio, you got me thinking about using Alclad Aluminum and Alclad white aluminum. White Aluminum should be used on the roofs of ACF cars that are in natural stainless. For some reason, the stainless roofs of ACF cars left in natural stainless fade to an almost white aluminum shade. I noticed this on BNSFs former ATSF Regal series sleepers.

Charlie

You're observant, Charlie. But remember though that BNSF painted some of their business cars a light gray color on the window rows and the roofs. Look at the train in this YouTube clip, especially the 5th and 6th cars: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYUXs-QNN_s

ACF streamliners tend to have "whiter" stainless steel hues when compared to the Budd and Pullman Standard units. But keep in mind that for years, while the differences were noticeable to a sharp observer, they were not blatantly obvious until a number of ACF corrugated streamliners got up in age/neglect just before and during the early Amtrak period..  Unless you're modeling a unit with a worn hue, the White Aluminum formula may wind up being too light.  But by all means, I'm only guessing and your idea is worth trying.  .

One option you could consider that would enable you to still use the Alclad metalizer if you wish and possibly give you a whiter  hue on the roof would be to apply a medium or light gray base to the car's sides and ends, then add a small amount of white paint to your base color and spray the roof with that OR apply a separate lighter gray mix altogether to the roof.  If you custom mix a color, take notes as to how much of the other color you added to keep mixes consistent. But scenarios like this is why I want to mix a set of Alcladed swatches of varying hues to help determine what would be "reasonable" (not perfect) color hue foundations for streamliners that we wish to model.

Here's an ACF unit during the early 70s. The surface of this ex-Santa Fe 4-4-2 Sleeper is grimy and slightly whiter than a typical Budd or Pullman Standard streamliner car in good shape during that time.

Note that photos taken in sunlight can make the surface of an SS unit appear "Warmer" (redder-yellower) hue than it actually is.  Imho, best photos of reference are the ones taken on gray, overcast days during mid morning, or early afternoon. But that's just my experience.

ACF Photo by Stan Jakowski

[AntonioFP45]

Here's a sample of the type of contrast mentioned. With Alclad you can influence its hue simply by the basecolor you select. The SCL diner has a dark gray as its foundation, while the undecaled Santa Fe dome has NYC light gray.  This is an example of how you can tune in a specific look.  One point to mention here is that the SCL unit is more weathered while the dome has zero weathering on its body, so the difference appears much more dramatic. If the dome receives more clear coats, the sheen will be reduced and the contrast between the two cars lessens and would be similar to that seen in the prototype photo. 

Although photos are rarely 100% accurate due to sunlight, color saturation, editing, etc., it is likely that those of us with little or no access to prototype cars will rely mostly on photos. 

RULE OF THUMB: Target photos taken during gray, overcast conditions! I've seen finishes that, Imho, are "too warm (red-yellowish).  Then I see that the modeler was referencing photos taken in sunlight conditions. Of course the prototypes in those shots are going to look more yellowish.  

I've often recommended the two primary NYC gray colors to make it easy for modelers that basically want either a hue SS sheen or a darker one. Of course with prototypes there are a lot of "in-betweens" to contend with.   However, a lot of us here that have a good eye for color can go beyond this and experiment with mixing your own particular grays for specific appearances. The two NYC Grays as well as Reefer, MoPac, L&N, and SP Letter, are grays that make good starting points that you can lighten, darken or tint for a particular hue. Only my opinion, but L&N Gray appears to be a good foundation for an ACF streamlined car. For the discriminating modeler, creating sample swatches could be very helpful.

[AntonioFP45]

Hey guys, an additional tip I'd like to share since I've been communicating with modelers using Alclad2 on their passenger car projects.

Alclad sprays out easily and first time users might be be tempted to "dump it on". Please DON'T! 

When applying your first coat of the metalizer on top of your gray base, it's going to appear as if it did not cover at all and you may think that you did something wrong. Using your lighting source, look carefully at different angles and you'll see that it did.

Look at the 2nd photo of the Metroliner shell below.  I had just finished applying the 1st coat of Alclad #107. My camera highlighted it but in reality you could barely see the Alclad2; but it's there. Be patient, this is normal. After my 1st coat on any shell, I look it over carefully to make sure this transparent coat is even. 



3rd Photo:  The 2nd (and if necessary, 3rd) coat is usually the "Aha!" phase. 

I was smiling! The brilliant shine is normal. Toning it down is easy once the clearcoat(s) is applied.

Just relax and be patient.  If you dump it on, you'll wind up with a rough finish.

NOTE: Since this posting, I no longer using Black basecoats at all for SS passenger cars. Grays will yield a much more realistic appearance.

Remember, again, use a protective paint respirator and gloves!

High Greens!

[AntonioFP45]

OK, in response to a suggestion posed before regarding Amfleet: 

Imho, the finishes for Amfleet and other modern cars can be achieved using this system of gray undertones.  Amfleet car stainless steel tones tend to be darker than those of the Heritage Budd cars and more closely resembles the tones of PS cars when they were new.

Modern North American SS finishes from Budd (Metroliner/Cab Car/SPV 2000 Amfleet I, Amfleet II) ,Pullman Standard (Superliner series), St. Louis Car Company (Highliners), Bombardier (Commuter), Kawasaki (commuter) come in a variety of hues and deep sheens that differ a bit from the Heritage "pre-1974" cars that we've been discussing.  This is where those of you modeling the modern era have a good opportunity to do some research, exploration and experimenting.

This photo shows my pet peeve with today's HO and N scale Amfleet cars:



Here you see how it contrasts greatly with the prototypes! Generally darker gray tones and bright sheens. (1. credit to photographer. 2. Credit to George Hanlin. 3. Geno Daily).

NOTE: Unlike standard scale model paints, Alclad2 (and Alsa) high shine finishes DO SCALE.

Imho, to refinish an Amfleet model:  Dark gray base.  One thin coat of gloss Clear to seal the Alclad2.  One coat of Clear to seal the decals----- and that would be it! Make em' shine! These Budds are or were very reflective! I regularly see Amtrak's Silver Star in my neck of the woods and some of those Amcans still look good!  No offense intended to those of you that own silver painted Amfleet units.

 

[james137]

I have also been taking Walthers ATSF cars and ALCLADing them.  It does a great job.  My problem is I don't have an inkjet printer for making decals.  I set all the sizes for making decals for the walk areas on the roof of the dome car, but they flake if I print them on my printer.  I would like to know if anyone makes decals for the Pleasure dome car.

Also, as an additional critical detail, you can use the aqua-tinted car window acetate sheets to put the correct blue in the windows of the Pleasure dome and the Super Dome cars.   The sheets come in rolls of about $35 each (more than enough for tinting windows on even the largest fleet of HO passenger cars).  They peel off and adhere to the clear styrene plastic windows.   From my memory, during the 50s, only the dome cars and lounge cars had the tinted windows.  Coach windows were clear untinted glass.

[AntonioFP45]

Hi guys, Happy 2020!

As requested, above this is the "Step-by-step" metalizer thread from a few years back.

The blurred photos have been restored. Thank you for your emails. I hope that this will still be helpful for those of you giving passenger car metalizing a go whether with Alclad2, Alsa, or Spaz Stix.

[AntonioFP45]

I've was asked before which type of airbrush is better for applying Alclad's natural metal finishes: single action or dual action.   I've often stated that as long as it's a quality airbrush that is clean, parts are in good working order, and atomizes well.......the unit that performs well for you is the best one whether Iwata, Badger, Paasche', Binks, or the Harbor Freight "Binks knock-off".  

For modelers that feel that they're going to be performing a good amount of metalizing in the long run, one thing I always suggest: If financially possible, have an airbrush that's dedicated for Alclad only.  The other unit would be for your colors and clears. 



For me, by having an "Alclad only" airbrush, it is very convenient not having to change out the needle/aircap setup (for Paasche' the #1 setup is excellent for the high-shine metalizer). Clears and other colors work well with a #3 setup. But, again, this is just a suggestion for modelers that plan on doing quite a bit of metalizng (in my case, 15 more Walthers & Rivarossi cars).

I learned from my job mentor years back that if you make work tasks easier, they tend to be completed faster with good results.

Now, no offense, but I did laugh to myself when some of the modelers that (paraphrasing) state "Nice idea, but I can't budget for another airbrush!" are the same ones that spend $200-$350 a pop for locomotives!

High Greens

  

[SeeYou190]

AntonioFP45

For me, by having an "Alclad only" airbrush, it is very convenient not having to change out the needle/aircap setup (for Paasche' the #1 setup is excellent for the high-shine metalizer).

.

I will second that the Paasche Model H with the #1 tip is excellent. I have used it with Testors Metalizers with great results. I also have one set up with a #1 tip and another with a #3 tip.

.

Great advice.

.

-Kevin

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[mbinsewi]

Antonio, question for you, I'm going to be doing this in the near furture.  My passenger cars will have about the bottom 1/4 of car painted in 2 tones of blue.

Should I mask that ara off first, before Alclading, and do the paint after? or can I mask the Alclad, then do the painting? Not sure how to approach this.

Mike.

[AntonioFP45]

Hi Mike.

Glad to help but more details would helpful .   Are these Walthers, Rivarossi's, Con Cor, Athearn, E&B Valley, or Model Powers'?  Are the bottom 1/4 sections smooth-sided or fluted? Are the car shells skirted un-skirted?  These factors can make a difference in determining which route to take.

Ok, I'm going to assume that your units are fluted Walthers Budds. 

After paint-stripping and cleaning your shells, apply 1 to 2 coats of the lighter gray basecoat foundation to the entire surface of each unit. Make sure that the finishes are very smooth. If using a brand, other than Scale Coat II, seal the gray with a smooth, high gloss clear.  (Practice on scrap pieces first, just before spraying).

Once the gray basecoat is cured and you are satisfied with the finish, mask-off the upper 3/4 of the shells with tape and paper.  It's important that your masking tape is of good quality and that the edge for the top band of your blue band is sealed FIRMLY. Burnish the edge as need. Just before spraying, an old-school trick is to airbrush a very thin coat of clear to the tape's edge, wait a few minutes and then follow up with your color.

After sealing your blue bands with clear coat, remove the tape carefully. Check the painted edges and the upper sections of the shell(s) and make any needed corrections.

Make sure that the upper gray sections are still glossy and smooth. Once your blue bands' clear has hardened; carefully mask them off and burnish the tape. 

Clean your surfaces.  Apply the Alclad 2 as normal on the suggested procedure.  Let me know if this is helpful .

 

[mbinsewi]

Thanks antonio, the cars are Athearn corrugated sides, I was just wonder what comes first, the paint or the Alclad.

I haven't determined how wide the blue stripping will be.  I may even be able to do it with decals, applied over the Alclad.

I'll do as you suggest, and paint the blue before the Alclad.

Thank you!

Mike.

[AntonioFP45]

Hi Mike,

Cool thing about painting is that there's often mulitple options. Applying decal striping is an interesting idea, but (for me) it's a pain getting a wide strip to settle into fluted lines!

A friend of mine, who has a lot of patience, is able to to that. However, I've found painting to be a much easier approach.