Hello Crew [:D],
Wanted to share this. It’s the Walthers Budd Baggage-Dorm car that I posted a few photos of on a previous thread.
I purchased it new from Happy Hobo Trains a few years back in the SCL scheme. I disassembled the car and stripped the shell with 91% alcohol. Like Rivarossi, the stock silver paint comes off easily.
I realize that although Walthers had decorated this series in SCL, the model is based on a New York Central prototype. But as a freelancer, I proceeded and finished it into the SCL scheme. The prototype #105 was a unit that was owned by the Atlantic Coast Line and survived through to Amtrak.
I went with a gloss dark-gray tone for the basecolor and the Alclad-2 metalizer over it followed by one coat of #600 Aqua Gloss Clear.
For weathering, I made a washes with these 3 colors from Pollyscale:
To me, the concrete resembles light colored earth in Florida when it’s saturated with pollen during the spring and fall seasons.
I applied the washes on the underframe, trucks, and wheel faces using a #2 Taklon paint brush.
Painted the interior using low key colors loosely based on photos from a book.
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Guys, forgot to mention.
This is what I had suggested to modelers that owned the original Walthers Pine/Regal units and the BLI CZ cars. IMHO, to give them an added depth of realism modelers could weather the underframe as I did to this unit. I’ve seen a number of vids and photos of the Super Chief prototypes and inspite of Santa Fe’s efforts with the silver paint and car washes…they did get dirty, especially on the ends.
On this unit and the others, after weathering the bottom sections of the fluting, I’ll seal them with a thin coat of Alclad gloss or semi-gloss clear.
I have an additional Baggage-Dormitory car. The metalized unit is on the roof top of the stock Walthers unit.
Under Florescent lighting
Incandescent lighting:
The stock Walthers Bag-Dorm car will likely be paint stripped and refinished into either Atlantic Coast Line, or the New York Central. The prototype ACL (and SAL) Bag-Dorm units had the baggage door much closer to the end and the window arrangement differed. But (hopefully, the prototype modelers can forgive me) I’m willing to freelance.
Guys,
There are some modelers that have tried this and have had some nice results (would be nice if they posted photos) however, at least one likes the finish without clear coat.
If you take this route please DO NOT use Walthers Solvaset for the decals. Solvaset can damage an unprotected Alclad finish. Use Microset to help you position the decals in place, then apply a minimal amount of Microsol to the edges of the decal.
I still suggest the application of one coat of the gloss clear to seal the metalizer. This tones down the high gloss level and provides a good foundation for decals. You can safely use Solvaset on a cured clear coated surface. As evident in the photo, my preference is still Microscale’s “Set and Sol” since I’ve been using them for years. Once the decals are in place, you can seal them with clear. If you think that your model is too shiny you can apply clear to the entire surface, knocking out 2 birds with one stone.
I think that your alclading was really successfull! I love the way it shines! If I didn´t know that it is a plastic car, I would have believed that it´s a die-cast metal/aluminium/brass car when looking at the photos! I think it´s a nice way to upgrade plastic “Budd” type streamliner cars, but it takes it´s time I guess. But the result is very good and can easily compete with the metal finish made by Walthers.
By the way: I like very much how you painted the interior! Looks really good! And I´m surprised that you put so much effort into the interior of a car, which is not much visible anyway because it´s a baggage dormitory. But keep on the good work! I would like to see if you managed to alclad a complete train consist or paint the interiors of it.
Tony-looks awesome as usual. On the car above, which metalizer color did you use? I tested Stainless Steel on a diner before everything froze here and it’s too dark. I want to re-paint it lighter (I did use the black primer).
Thanks
Wow! Neat seeing this thread again as it’s been over a year.
Deluxe - Thank you. Believe me, the interior was actually easy! I brushed the seats and the walls with a green mix similar to a color I’ve seen in a photos of prototype interiors. I paint only what can be viewed through the window, so the floor and areas that won’t be seen remain unpainted.
Some modelers wonder how I got the “Art Deco” twin horizontal wall lines on the wall to appear so crisp and straight?..It’s automobile pin striping that takes about 20 seconds to install.
HO Modern Modeler - Thank you. I always suggest the following to passenger car modelers:
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Do not use the Alclad #115 Stainless Steel.
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Do not use BLACK as a basecoat foundation.
The ALC-115 represents stainless steel with a satin or brushed finish that has a low chromium content, like what you see on kitchen sinks and traffic signal boxes. Alclad formula #105 and #107, inpsite of their “aluminum” and “chrome” names, represent polished Austenitic stainless steels much more closely when applied on passenger rail cars. The 107 yields a high sheen, while the 105’s sheen is slightly less. Both sheens can be toned down with Alclad clear coats.
Gray Basecoat colors will provide the most realistic results, imho. Using black as a basecoat will result in your model yielding a very dark tone.