Kitbashing an early B&O wagontop boxcar

[dstarr]

A step by step article in the September MR.  Interesting subject, decent photos, good write up.  No author's name on the article. 

But, he describes doing things the hard way.  After putting the undercarriage together, he paints it. First coat is Rustoleum Painter's Touch 2X Flat Gray primer.  Let it dry over night.  Then airbrush with Model Master Grimy Black.

Easier would be one coat of Dark Gray Auto Primer (Krylon or Rustoleum) from a rattle can.  Comes out the same color as the Model Master.  Covers anything, dries dead flat. Saves loading and cleaning the airbrush, saves the over night dry. 

Then he paints the body.  Base coat of Flat Gray primer, dry overnight, airbrush with Model Master box car red. 

Easier would be to give it one coat of Red Auto Primer (Krylon or Rustoleum) from a rattle can. It dries dead flat, is a good box car red. 

The the author gets to installing the weight.  He recommends Walther's Goo.  Trouble with Goo is the solvent base attacks plastic and can warp it badly over the years.  Plus it sets up so hard you can never get the joint apart for future work without breaking things.  Better for securing metal weights is silicone bath tub caulk.  Sticks good, is harmless to plastic, and can be cut apart with an Xacto knife should that ever become necessary. 

Then he gets to painting the trucks.  Good idea, the glossy black plastic needs some paint.  He does the Flat Gray primer, followed by air brushed Model Master Grimy Black.  Easier would be one coat of Dark Gray Auto primer, it has no trouble sticking to the slippery engineering plastic of the trucks, and one coat, gets the job done.  Myself, I use red auto primer on trucks because the prototypes didn't paint trucks at all to make it easier to inspect for cracks.  The raw steel rusted to a boxcar red color. 

And so that's my two cents worth.

[hon30critter]

Aw heck David, simplifying the process that much takes all the fun out of it! I like the smell of laquer thinner when I am cleaning my airbrush. The fire hazard makes it even more fun. I love mixing and pouring the tiny bottles of paint. I think that the amount of paint that gets wasted every time is a sacrifice to the modelling gods. Getting spilled paint on my brand new blue jeans is a badge of honour!

How dare you tell us how much time and effort (and money) we have wasted (especially explaining the spilled paint on the new jeans to my wife)?!?

Seriously, thanks very much for the great tips. When I'm back from vacation I will bring my inventory of spray cans up to snuff, and I will ditch the GOO.

Cheers!!

Dave

[chutton01]

Then he gets to painting the trucks.  Good idea, the glossy black plastic needs some paint.  He does the Flat Gray primer, followed by air brushed Model Master Grimy Black.  Easier would be one coat of Dark Gray Auto primer

I am actually working on a set of trucks I painted Rustoleum Dark Gray painted trucks as I type (small work table by the computer). I have been a huge proponent of primers as final colors for decades (long before it became cool), starting with Martin Paint's  (NY area chain, closed in 1995) spray primer, which went on very smooth. In fact it took (IMO) over a decade until other brands (Rustoleum) caught up and surpassed that finish. White, Light Grey, Grey, Dark Grey, Red all have uses. The Paint + Primer, I dunno, usually goes on decently and it certainly has a wide color pallete, but it's not a guarenteed smooth finish like the primers.
If only the nozzles weren't so prone to clogging...

[doctorwayne]

While I have very occasionally airbrushed a single car, I usually prefer to do multiples...up to four dozen at a time.  
Primer is one airbrushing session, with anything that needs to be primed.
Once that's dried, even if you're painting different cars different colours, with a bit of planning, there's no need to clean the airbrush until you're done.  After the paint has dried, the cars can be lettered, then it's back to the paint shop for clear-coating and weathering...again, no need to clean the airbrush 'til you're done.

I used to use silicone bathtub caulk to secure car weights, but because my rolling stock cycles between the layout and its boxes, I found that the caulk often loses its grip with the cars laying on their sides.
I now secure weights using styrene and solvent-type cement, like this for flat weights...

...or like this for cast weights...

...or this...

My next painting session will be a Bachmann Consolidation and eight brass steam locomotives.

Wayne

 

[ATLANTIC CENTRAL]

Like Wayne I prefer to paint in batches.

I can't even imagine using rattle cans for finish paint jobs.......

I work in the construction trades and we NEVER use silicone anymore for ANYTHING.

Stuff like PolySeamSeal is much better - that is what I glue my track down with.

I generally glue weights with epoxy or do like Wayne suggests, trapping them in place.

To each their own.......

Sheldon

[hardcoalcase]

dstarr

No author's name on the article.

Note that Dana Kawala's name is listed as author at the top, right corner of page 23. 

[tstage]

I use DAP silicone adhesive for securing my rolling stock weights and it works great:

1. Good working time for positioning pieces in place
2. Good filler and cushion - Weights do NOT have to be perfectly flat
3. Great adhesion - Holds VERY well once dry

Haven't had one lose it's grip yet.  And it doesn't attack either the plastic or the metal.

Tom

[dstarr]

And ordinary acrylic caulking compound, DAP, Phenoseal, or others works well.  Sticks to just about anything, gap filling, overnight to full dry.  It secured the slippery plastic tie strip of flex track to a lot of styrene bridge pieces no sweat