Planning to re-paint an HO locomotive, specifically a LL P2K BL2, the particular C&O scheme requires a single yellow stripe. The model has too much yellow and the blue is too light.
While I have painted locomotives before, striping with paint is something new, in the past I have added a decal stripe. I would like to tackle painting a stripe.
My question is what are the preferred methods of painting a stripe? My concern is cutting masking tape to a consistent width, say 1/4", seems challenging.
In my mind I would paint the stripe color first, then mask off and then paint the body.
Any assistance would be appreciated. Thanks.
91 percent isopropyl alchol (rubbing alcohol) works great to strip engines. Alcohol is one of the best solvents. I purchase mine at Walmart for under $2.00. Soak the engine for half an hour then scrub it with an old tooth brush and a dental pic in the corners and other parts that did not come off. Resoak and repaet scrubbing. In about an hour the engein is stripped. Wash in warm water with a little dish washing detergent. Rinse off and let air dry over night. VERY IMPORTANT: Wear either plastic or rubber gloves so that the oil on your skin does not get on the clean engine from then on when handeling the engine untill it is painted.
He's striping, not stripping.
An old trick was to set the engine up on a surface plate (a glass mirror might do fine for this) and use a metrology tool holder with a blade or pen clamped at 'reference height' to achieve all-around datum level. You could easily cut or scribe a 'level' top and bottom for a masked stripe...
basementdwellerWhat are the preferred methods of painting a stripe?
Using a decal.
basementdwellerMy concern is cutting masking tape to a consistent width, say 1/4", seems challenging.
As with many things, Tamiya to the rescue again.
Tamiya makes top-quality yellow painting masking tape in many widths.
basementdwellerIn my mind I would paint the stripe color first, then mask off and then paint the body.
That would probably work well.
OvermodAn old trick was to set the engine up on a surface plate (a glass mirror might do fine for this) and use a metrology tool holder with a blade or pen clamped at 'reference height' to achieve all-around datum level. You could easily cut or scribe a 'level' top and bottom for a masked stripe...
Have a machine shop mill an HO gauge slot into a piece of 1/4" alluminum plate and get a used Starrett surface gauge from eBay.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
For striping, you can use decals, dry transfers, or paint.
This one was airbrushed with yellow paint, then the areas to become stripes were covered with masking tape, cut to different widths.
Cutting masking tape requires only a little skill, a straight-edge, and a sharp blade.My work surface on an old student desk is a sheet of glass, and all that's required is to peel-off a suitable length of masking tape, then placing it sticky-side-down on the glass, keeping it as straight as possible.Next, using a sharp blade in your X-Acto handle and a metal straight-edge, cut the edges off the tape...(masking tape that sits around in your workshop collects dust and fuzz from the air and, over time, loses some of its stickiness at the edges of the tape).
Next, decide the width of stripe(s) you wish to create. You can use calipers or a draughting compass, set to the proper width on your HO scale ruler or use the measurements on a tape measure or yardstick, whichever seems most appropriate.Place one edge of your measuring device against the masking tapem near the end, then use the tip of your X-Acto blade to make a minute slit in the tape where the other point of your measuring device is located.Repeat this operation at the other end of the tape, then position the straight edge at those two slits, and make the cut. Depending on how many stripes are needed, repeat the process accordingly.You can also cut similar strips to act as "stripe locators"...for example, let's say that you want a stripe 15" (HO scale) above the bottom edge of the area to be striped...all you need to do is repeat the above outlined process to create the proper location. Place it parallel to the bottom edge, then add the piece which is intended to cover the pre-painted area that will become the stripe.
I painted this doodlebug (made from a Rivarossi passenger car) yellow, then added masking tape of various widths to locate the positions and widths of the stripes...
...and used the same methods later to create a couple Athearn cars as trailers...
These stripes were all created in the same manner...
...for the lettering on this one, I used masking tape for the stripes, but used dry transfers as masking devices for the pre-painted yellow lettering...
...so that when the green paint had dried, all I needed to do was use scraps of masking tape to pick-off the dry transfer lettering material.
More masking tape stripes...
This one required a little more masking tape...
I painted the plow area white, then cut enough strips of same-width masking tape to cover the plow's area completely. This ensured that all of the black and white areas would have stripes of the same width. To add the black areas, all I had to do was remove every other strip of tape, then airbrush the black.
I did four of these...
...and 66 of these...
...using masking tape for the stripes and different colours, and dry transfers as masking devices for the lettering. The painting process for all required multi-step masking and re-masking. The first 2 or 3 dozen were brush painted, the rest airbrushed, when I finally splurged and learned how to use it.
Wayne
Some seem to think this is about striping, others about stripping. A mispelled word can lead to the wrong kind of help. Which is it?
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
riogrande5761Which is it?
From the original post:
basementdweller I would like to tackle painting a stripe.
Cheers, Ed
basementdwellerPlanning to re-paint an HO locomotive, specifically a LL P2K BL2
I'm afraid there just isn't enough paint to cover up an ugly locomotive like a BL2. Okay, just kidding...kinda.
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
I appreciate the replies and advice, I was careful to make sure I spelled striping and not stripping to avoid confusion. Lol.
DoctorWayne, your in depth reply is most helpful and inspiring, thanks. You also answered my next question about keeping the stripes parallel. Thanks again.
As for the ugly BL2, I agree. This P2K loco belongs to our rr club and no one likes it, fair enough, the factory paint job does it no favors and is not quite correct anyway. At least when I run it there will be the satisfaction of the all the members groaning.
I decided to hardwire in a decoder and improve the paint job. Hence my question about stripes as I have done them with decals in the past. This just seemed like a fun project.
Thanks.
When I was in N scale, the Life-Like BL-2 was one of the first good running affordable locomotives. It was available undecorated, and a few found home on the STRATTON AND GILLETTE.
-Photograph by Kevin Parson
The BL-2 will always have fondness from me. They ran and ran earning their keep until I purchased enough Kato EMD locomotives.
I still do not have one in HO scale.
I made a post on my blog about air brushing a pair of Cary Cast Metal E7s in Southern Pacific Daylight colors, it’s a bit lengthy but shows how I went about the masking.It went well enough that I ended up painting all of my Daylight locomotives and passenger cars using the same technique.https://melvineperry.blogspot.com/2014/11/november-9-2014-airbrushing-my-cary-e7a.html Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, CaliforniaGrowing old is a bummer, aging is definitely not for wimps.
The rear ¾ or so of a BL-2 is attractive... if you leave out consideration of how worthless the design was as a road-switcher, where you might actually want gangways or visibility from the cab to the hood end...
At one point I rather savagely painted the pedals and chain guard of a '40s 'art deco' bicycle on the obvious feature line -- with a nod to Otto Kuhler on the Lackawanna, I considered making the pedals rotate.
There is nothing wrong with the homely nose and oversize misshapen windshields that a little surgery to substitute a bulldog nose and cab won't ameliorate. You can even bash a workable nose platform and 'corners' a la what ATSF did with the FP45s. The 'bow wave' scheme on some slantnose E units translates quite well to the chainguard shape, some careful trompe l'oeil striping might mask that awful snout, and dark paint around the windshield area hides the problem there.
We should start a 'silk purse' contest to see what can be done with the BL2. After all, it's a canonical YouTube foamer favorite...
My contribution of sorts: I always wanted to bash a centercab transfer locomotive with two BL2 hoods and a cab with adequate windows...
OvermodWe should start a 'silk purse' contest to see what can be done with the BL2.
I've never seen any connection in the BL2 to a silk purse...it seems more like a Big Load of #2 in one of those clean-up bags for dogs.Perhaps the designer was more interested in becoming a cartoonist.