Kevin, your original link works just fine for me...did you go back and fix it?
I checked your thread on assmbling an Athearn car, and do use a few of the same methods, although most of mine are otherwise modified externally, usually to match a specific prototype.
I use cast lead weights, but locate them at the car's ends to put the weight more-or-less directly over the trucks, which also prevents the floor from sagging...
Here's the modified Blue Box car (one of eight), with new ends & doors (Tichy), new Viking roof (Des Plaines Hobbies), new underbody (Central Valley), and new trucks (Walthers/Proto). The car's eaves have been lowered by about 6"(HO)
There's a thread HERE showing a lot of freight car "improvements", although the car shown above starts on page four of that post.
I've converted all of my Accurail cars to have screw-mounted trucks (no big-deal modifications, simply remove the push-in pegs, and replace them with 2-56 screws).I also use screws to hold the coupler boxes and/or lids in place, using 2-56 flathead screws. I use a hand-held #19 drill bit to create a partial countersink, followed up by a few twists using a #41 bit. In most cases, the screwhead is either flush or very close to being so, almost unnoticeable on the layout...
On Train Miniature cars, I usually remove the cast-on draught gear boxes, and replace them with Kadee...
Wayne
SeeYou190OvermodBut I have yet to see something smaller than about O gauge that doesn't show thick, irregular, or brush-mark artifacts when seen or imaged up close...Point out the brush marks.
OvermodBut I have yet to see something smaller than about O gauge that doesn't show thick, irregular, or brush-mark artifacts when seen or imaged up close...
Overmod...There have certainly been people who have successfully painted with a brush, and even more certainly people who weather with one. But I have yet to see something smaller than about O gauge that doesn't show thick, irregular, or brush-mark artifacts when seen or imaged up close...
Your comment prompted me to take a look at those TH&B geeps, which I posted earlier. Viewed through my Optivisor, under very good lighting, there are no visible brush marks or surface irregularities apparent. They must have looked good enough to the buyers, too, as I did 66 of them, finally saved from doing more when factory-painted ones became available. Those from Atlas and Proto are both better than mine, and were I modelling the diesel era, I'd use them.
I also looked at mine through a loupe, and there are brush marks...not surprising, I suppose, as there were multiple coats needed to not only achieve an evenly-opaque colour, but also because the lettering required each body shell to first be painted in the opposite colour of the final version.
That meant that the upper portion got two or three coats of the cream colour, and likewise for the lower portion, using the darker colour. The lettering was then applied, using dry transfer alphabet sets from C-D-S.The shell was then painted again, two or three coats, but in the opposite colours used for the first applications.
As soon as the paint was dry-to-the-touch, I used small bits of masking tape to daub at the unburnished lettering, lifting-off the dry transfers and revealing the contrasting coloured lettering that was hidden below. In most cases, there was little or no touch-up needed.However, there was no dry transfer lettering, at that time, for the TH&B herald, so they were done by hand, using a fine brush.
I'm still rather proud of being able to create a reasonably accurate model of the real ones, and would like to think that the process, outlined in MR's Paintshop, may have encouraged the production of the better versions that followed.
I have been a sign painter since a junior in HS. I have of course gain quite a ot os skil in brush painting and can do it without brush marks. That said of course I also got into spray painting on a motor vehicle assembly line. Combining the two skills also led me to airbrush painting.
Have done all these I seem to go towards brush painting my models. I can get the effects I want and can even skip weathering afterwords. Every one should try both methods and you will discover which you are best at. Of course there is one other option....have someone else do it.