Hi Guys,
What brand green paint would you guys recomend ts use to paint the glass insulators on old phone poles? I had some testors jade green but dont have any of it left and havent seen it for a long time.
Thanks for any help
Jeremy
Jeremy,
I was hoping Testors had a metallic green similar to the red and yellow they have that are so useful for doing stop and turn lights on vehicles. But they don't. There are a couple of greens that may work.
http://www.testors.com/products/136723 Dark Green Pearl -- it's glossy and I assume has some pearlescent effect that may not be immediately obvious on a computer screen.
http://www.testors.com/products/573168 Willow Green -- not quite right or metallic, it may still work well when used to make tiny objects like an insulator stand out.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Cheers Mike,
I will take a look when I pop into the LHS later. thanks again
Go to one of your stores that sell cosmetic's in your area and pick up a bottle of Pearl Green nail polish, that will get you some attention.
Cheers,
Frank
Don't know if this will be of any help, but Pelle Soeborg did an article about poles in MRR earlier this year.
regards, Peter
zstripe Jeremy, Go to one of your stores that sell cosmetic's in your area and pick up a bottle of Pearl Green nail polish, that will get you some attention. Cheers, Frank
That is not such a bad idea Frank, would nail poilish stick to plastic
Also keep in mind insulators came in a variety of greens. It might be even better to have several and switch them up as you paint at random to get nice bit of extra detail.
JeremyBThat is not such a bad idea Frank, would nail poilish stick to plastic
Nail polish will stick ( a lot of nails these days are glued-on plastic over the natural nail, which is then painted). It would also make a nice addition to a palette of colors. The ocassional bit of extra gaudy nail polish will catch the eye and cause people to look at all the insulators, thus noticing that extra bit of detail if you go that route.
Cheers, I will have a poke around at the shop
Note insulaters came in light green, light brown, clear glass and white and brown ceramic.
Rick J
Rule 1: This is my railroad.
Rule 2: I make the rules.
Rule 3: Illuminating discussion of prototype history, equipment and operating practices is always welcome, but in the event of visitor-perceived anacronisms, detail descrepancies or operating errors, consult RULE 1!
I don't think you need to stick to just one colour, unless of course you are modeling a brand new installation. I have explored along the CPR and Kettle Valley RRs and have seen many different colours all on one pole. It was obvious that as some insulators needed replacing or as new ones were added they were not always the same colour. Having different colours IMO would add to realism and just be another step in making the layout look more real.
This pole is from the KVR. All insulators are white on this pole but not so on every pole.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
JeremyB Cheers, I will have a poke around at the shop
Most Nail Polish is Arcylic Enamel, perfect for representing porcelain insulators, will stick to most anything. You could even use Day-Glow colors that would be interesting in night scenes. Have Fun!
Jeremy:
Tamiya makes clear green X-25,and clear blue X-23. The green is pictured below.
Mike
Rick and Brent,
Good point on there being more than green insulators.
Brent,
I think what we're mostly seeing in the pic are the pegs that the insulators screw onto. There is a insulator on the right side, but most are wood.
Mike,
That Tamiya stuff looks great! As does your layout.
Thanks,Mike!
I think there was an article by Cody Grivno awhile back,where he painted the insulators silver,then applied the clear colors. I like the look of them directly over the brownish plastic. Tamiya also makes clear red and orange,which look great on warning lights and vehicle tail lights.
As to good looking layouts,Mike,I'm running out of adjectives for yours...I'm going to have to get a thesaurus!
You're right Mike. Not the best example for sure. Were all the pegs wood? The reason I am asking is because I could swear that there were broken porcelain pegs and bits all around the ground of many of the poles. Lots were split in half. They had threads on the inside as if to take a bolt from below. I am the furthest thing from a lineman so I yield to anyone else's wisdom on such things.
On another note, not only were the insulators different colours, but also varied in sizes. I find this strange, because in old photo's the telegraph lines all appear to be the same gauge of wire. Maybe when replacements were installed they went to a heavier insulator if the lighter ones were failing more frequently than they should have been. The weather in those mountains is brutal to say the least. Who knows.
Yep, the pegs were all wood, and most were like a screw in that there were grooves for the insulator to be turned onto the peg like a nut on a bolt.
I lived next to the NKP/WABASH joint line and I would say only about 20% of the pegs had insulators on them, the rest kids (like I was back then) would throw ballast stones at them to break them or knock them off.
Thanks again guys,
I did find a glossy green that might work for me, ( model master ) if its too bright I can weather it down with some pigments.
Thanks again guys
After giving it a little thought not all the insulators that I have seen, they are not all pocelain. If my memory serves me correctly, the green looking translucent ones were Glass, the ones with the horizontal ribs going around the diameter of the insulator. And some dark Brown ones were bakelite.
I'll cast a vote for the nail polish. The green I got was somewhat translucent and does a nice job representing the light green glass insulators. A slightly cloudy white should make a nice representation of the clear onesl For the brown porclain ones I would go for a high gloss brown.
Good luck,
Richard
I used Gunze Sangyo Aqueous Hobby Color H89 - Metallic Green. I found it among the paints in the RC car and airplane section of my LHS.
Wayne
I first paint the insulators silver, then with transparent green stained glass paint Ipicked up at Michael's, it's very thick like white glue, and comes in a squeeze bottle with applicator tip.
this gives the insulators the look of real glass as light passes thru and reflects off the silver