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Rattlecanning a B&M baggage car, Thanks for your help

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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, September 12, 2016 5:07 PM

Unfortunately putting it in the stripper was not an option last night, as get up at 4am to go to work and was extremely tired by that point.  I looked at it today, and compared to the one I did last year this one isnt bad.  The run from the overspray follows a rivet pattern for a short distance so sanding is out.   Im pretty sure I brush painted on Scale coat 1 on the previously painted car for whatever reason. 

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Posted by dstarr on Monday, September 12, 2016 10:13 AM

Dark Gray auto primer, either Krylon or Rustoleum, is my goto paint for heavy weight roofs, steam locomotives, trucks, and undercarriages.  It will cover ANYTHING, it dries good and flat, and it sticks to metal better than anything else.  Prototype roofs on wooden passenger cars were covered with tar and canvas to keep them from leaking rainwater on passengers.  Some heavy weight steel cars were given a coat of tar for the same purpose.  Not all steel cars had dark roofs, a lot of 'em were painted body color all over.  But for the cars with tar on the roof, a day or two out on the road gave 'em a nice coating of coal ash, which is dark gray and dead flat.  After the ash settled into the tar and stuck, nothing would get it off, so I like the dark gray better than engine black, and I like the flat finish.

  Looking at my photo of the baggage car I notice a couple of things I ought to do.  The trucks show too much plastic gleam, a coat of auto primer will fix that.  I'm thinking the grab irons ought to be a contrasting color to the body of the car, to make them easier to see in poor lighting.  I need to check some prototype photos to be sure. 

   I have only stripped the paint off a few cars.  Once I used a liquid kitchen floor cleaner that had a strong ammonia smell, once I used 97% isopropyl alcohol.  Both worked.  I take care to pull the car out of the stripper and toothbrush it clean as soon as the paint begins to lift.  Anything that strips paint will also eat plastic if you give it enough time, so you don't want to leave the car in the stripper any longer than necessary. 

   And, if you are going to strip the paint, no need to wait for it to dry.  The stripper works faster on soft not fully cured paint than it does on dried on hard paint. 

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Posted by zstripe on Sunday, September 11, 2016 11:21 PM

doctorwayne
The "run" itself is excess paint, and adding more (a spray can usually puts out more paint than an airbrush) even after stripping/sanding that area is unlikely to make an unnoticeable touch-up.  It's usually easier to simply start over.

Exactly!........

Take Care! Big Smile

Frank

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Posted by doctorwayne on Sunday, September 11, 2016 9:15 PM

BMMECNYC
....Im concerned about stripping the paint, and its been 24hrs now at least and another 24 after that before Ill be able to mess with it again.  I will attempt to strip the end, barring that, lightly sand the area (its not near a rivit pattern fortunately) to get rid of the horizontal run from the spray (will that work if stripping doesnt?). 

Were that my car, I'd put it into the paint stripper now, before the paint dries/cures any further.  The "run" itself is excess paint, and adding more (a spray can usually puts out more paint than an airbrush) even after stripping/sanding that area is unlikely to make an unnoticeable touch-up.  It's usually easier to simply start over.

I'm not familiar with Scalecoat's spray cans, but Scalecoat I can be airbrushed on plastic with no harmful side-effects.  Both Scalecoat I and II use similar thinners with their bottled paints, with just the proportions of the same various chemicals different for the two. 

I use only Scalecoat I and use lacquer thinner when airbrushing it - still gives a nice hard finish, but dries faster.

Wayne 

 

 

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Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, September 11, 2016 8:50 PM

David,

Thats the exact car (well I have the CP Rail work train car).  Ive done one already.  Im doing the last one now.  I might try the auto primer roof.  I used Craft store black or possibly pavement color for the roof on the last one. 

Im concerned about stripping the paint, and its been 24hrs now at least and another 24 after that before Ill be able to mess with it again.  I will attempt to strip the end, barring that, lightly sand the area (its not near a rivit pattern fortunately) to get rid of the horizontal run from the spray (will that work if stripping doesnt?). 

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Posted by dstarr on Sunday, September 11, 2016 5:59 PM

This is a stright rattle can paint job.  It was a while ago, I didn't keep careful notes on the paint, it must have been a Krylon red gloss.  It's more red than brown.  I have some pictures in the New England Color Guide showing B&M passenger equipment this kind of bright red.  I showed it to some old line B&M railroaders down at the club, and they said, it's a tad bright, but not bad. 

 It's an Athearn heavy weight.  The roof is dark gray auto primer.  A coat of Dullcote to blend in the decals also softened the red rattle can paint nicely.  I always allow at least overnight, if not 24 hours, between coats of paint, Dullcote, whatever. 

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Posted by doctorwayne on Sunday, September 11, 2016 1:56 PM

I've always used Floquil's Grey Primer, but that will be coming to an end soon, as my stock of that paint is dwindling rapidly.
Scalecoat supposedly requires no primer for paint adherence, but I prefer a primer to create a uniform starting point when a model consists of various materials of, naturally, various colours.
 
I have found cured Scalecoat very difficult to strip with my usual selection of paint strippers.
I use plastic beverage containers (Tupperware) that are tall enough to accommodate an 85' passenger car, and of a diameter sufficient for two or three cars of any type.  The tight-fitting lid prevents evapouration of the stripper (and any stink from it), and allows long term storage when not in use.  Depending on how much it's used, it's usually possible to carefully pour the majority of the stripper into another such container without disturbing the sediment of removed-paint on the bottom,  then clean out that material, put the saved stripper back in, and top it up as required.

For all-metal items, such as brass locomotives or ones in cast Zamac, I often use lacquer thinner to strip the paint.  Obviously, a plastic container won't work, so a large glass jar, with a screw-on lid, is a better choice.

Such containers conserve the stripper for re-use, lessen objectionable odours, and minimise clean-up time. 

Wayne

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Posted by cedarwoodron on Sunday, September 11, 2016 12:27 PM

Virtually all models I have uploaded images of to the photo gallery have been painted with spray can paint. I use Walmart flat gray primer or white (for yellows and whites), then spray the gloss color or colors prior to dealing.

As I do this in Florida, I then take the car body from my paint booth in my garage back into the house, where the A/C presents a lower humidity and controlled temp.

This aids the paint curing process, but I always wait at least 2 days after masking and spraying each gloss color, to ensure that there is no tackiness left on the painted surface.

Cedarwoodron

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Posted by jjdamnit on Sunday, September 11, 2016 11:50 AM

Hello all,

To strip paint I use a large freezer (thicker) zip-top bag. You can put the shell in diagonally and fill with the paint stripper, express the air and viola!

Hope this helps.

"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"

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Posted by dh28473 on Sunday, September 11, 2016 11:29 AM
sorry i didn't know you have over spray and need to strip it. Wash it really good and let it dry for along time don't touch it by hand. Sometimes i use a hairdryer to.
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Posted by dh28473 on Sunday, September 11, 2016 11:22 AM
i would leave it at least a day or more and yes till there no more smell.
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Posted by zstripe on Saturday, September 10, 2016 10:02 PM

Simple.....buy Yourself a cheap Aluminum foil made baking pan throw away and strip the paint off and start over. No matter what You do to the overspray run....You will still see it. One disadvantage of using rattle cans, they put too much paint on and it's not the drying time that is the issue...it's the curing time, which will be longer because of the thickness of the paint. You should have dust coated the decals first, then dust coat entire piece....let cure for a couple days...then final coat.

Good Luck! Big Smile

Frank

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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, September 10, 2016 8:59 PM

60% humidity here.  Guess I let it sit a few days.  There is a thin bit of overspray/horizontal run on the sides from one end, anythoughts on that (just noticed it).

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Posted by dknelson on Saturday, September 10, 2016 8:32 PM

I'd give it a day or two, and more if it was humid when you did the first coat. painting.   The folklore wisdom, which in this case really is wisdom, is to wait until you cannot smell the fresh paint any more.

Dave Nelson

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Rattlecanning a B&M baggage car, Thanks for your help
Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, September 10, 2016 8:28 PM

Im currently rattlecanning an old Athearn BB baggage car from CP maroon into B&M gloss maroon so that I can re-decal it.  I have done this previously and I dont remember how long I waited between coats.  I have to put more than one one because the CP lettering that I attempted to remove would not come off (I dont currently have anything large enough to soak a baggage car shell in). 

What would be an adequate drying time between coats?

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