Recently I visited the Suncoast Model Railroad Club to bring over samples of HO passenger cars that I metalized with Alclad2 in various finishes. Great group of welcoming, friendly modelers. My wife and I took over 40 photos. Below are some of the better shots. My apologies since the photo quality isn’t outstanding as they were taken with an Apple Tablet(or whatever that thing is called). Picks up florescent lighting rather oddly. My reliable camera’s batteries went “kaputzky” earlier (talk about timing!).
The members present understood that I was a volunteer tester for Alclad2 and that Tony Hipp is in the process of gathering feedback from passenger train modelers before releasing the new easy-to-use formulas onto the market. I requested that the group be blunt about the finishes. My wife also recorded the verbal comments from the club’s membership. Responses were positive and constructive; especially from the club’s president who is knowledgeable about prototype passenger equipment and operations. I forwarded the responses from the group to Tony. His idea is to keep this as simple and user friendly.
Although there are many variables in real life, for this there are 4 BASIC categories:
A. New/Restored Appearance: Excellent condition. 1 to 5 years average age. High Reflectivity. Dark SS tone.
B. Moderate Age/Wear Appearance: Very Good/ Well Maintained Condition. 5 to 15 year average age range; Good to Moderate Reflectivity. Medium to Dark SS tone.
C. Aged Appearance: Generally clean; but worn SS surface that has lightened in color. Moderate Reflectivity. Light SS tone.
D. Neglected Appearance: Faded surface; Low SS reflectivity. Light SS tone.
I have Categories A thru C represented. There is much more detail but that’s putting it simply.
Just looking forward to seeing more modelers giving this a go at it, as passenger train modelers can easily create their own “stainless steel fleets” whether they have older run corrugated Walthers units, Athearn and Model Power “shorties”, Rivarossis Budds, or anything that’s a model of a stainless steel or aluminum vehicle.
These are transit buses I was referring to. I rode (and drove) fishbowls years back and remember that the unpainted aluminum sides and tailgate on a good number of them were worn, yet shiny. Back in the 70s, some NYC transit buses looked like they were survivors from a war zone!
So I’m looking forward to applying Alclad on these as well, although it will be one of the Aluminum finishes.
Awesome job Antonio! The cars look great especially with the backdrop!
I’ve metalized all my MARC cars. I have some photos on my news/blog. I’d post them in this thread buy I’m not trying to take away your moment to shine (pun intended [;)])
I have a fleet of cars presently undecorated that I intend (in the future) to treat with Alclad. So I’ve followed your postings closely. One of these days when I can work down far enough though my “to-do” list, I’ll be pulling your posts up for reference when I finally start.
Kyle, why don’t you create a thread and post photos of your MARC units? My primary interest is in the classic Budd & Pullman standard cars. Would be good to see modelers showing their modern era equipment.
Garr,
Good questiion. Sorry for not mentioning details.
I used Scale Coat II underneath the Alclad metalizers to get the “look” I was aiming for. The catch with Scale Coat II is that you must allow it to cure properly before applying Alclad2 on top of it. Otherwise, the Alclad2 solvents will attack the uncured Scale Coat II finish (yes, I’ve had that happen before). While some modelers in the past recommended that I wait a week or more to allow Scale Coat to cure, I found that in 3-4 days my SC2 finish was tough enough and did not crack. Primary factor is temperature and humidity.
Alclad2 has recently developed new, high gloss basecoat colors specifically for stainless steel railroad cars. You airbrush them on to your model as you would Scale Coat II, except that (cool factor 1) no thinning is required. Then (cool factor 2) you can apply the Alclad2 metalizer…20 minutes later! Then follow up with clear coat. Twenty minutes? That got my attention very quickly.
The Alclad clear coats, which I have, are second to none. No thinning, fast curing and they can actually be used over other paint brands.
So basically, instead of waiting several days to have t
I wasn’t too satisfied with the way the base, gloss black from Alclad went onto my Walthers Superliner test shell when I tried it. I came accross “Swammy Models” (a website that talks about using alclad among other things) and they suggested Krylon which is found in most wal-marts. It too is airbrush ready, and you get way more quantity for your money. The only mid-step is that the paint has to be de-canned which is addressed by taking a straw and spraying directly into the straw which is placed inside the paint jar.
It goes on very smoothly and I’ve had the most success with this. It hasn’t failed me yet [:)].
This new formula sounds intriguing. I’ll have to give it a try but I’m just as likely to stick with what works for me. As Tony ponits out, the drastically reduced curing time does make me want to take a look at this new base coat from Alclad. I have to say however that with the way my schedule has been working the last few years, doing one stage per day hasn’t been to bad:
Day 1: clear base coat
Day 2: gloss black/dark gray coat
Day 3: Alclad 2 Chrome application
Day 4: Clear coat application
Day 5: Decal application
Day 6: Clear coat application (to seal the decals)
Day 7: Rest [:)]/(unless you include final assembly [:)]
Each of the above steps could be handled in an evening after work (which I’ve done before, especially if a model had a goof midway through; I’d have to strip it and start from scratch and play catch-up with respect to the other models in the batch)
I like this product and your work. Guessing the disassembly of 20 plus Walthers and BLI cars would make this prohibitive? In particular removal of the glazing?
Just keep it simple, do one to two cars at a time…and enjoy yourself in the process [:D]. My suggestion to passenger car modelers is to look at metalizing in a similar mindset that many of us tend to view DCC and DCC-Sound: A way to enhance realism and the enjoyment of this hobby.
I have to admit, that for disassembling a Walthers unit, a bit of patience is a must. In my case, after refinishing my 2nd Walthers car, disassembly seemed easier and became more of a routine in removing the roof, which now takes me an average of between 1 to 2 minutes. The windows “pop out” easily as there is a minimal amount of glue present.
Rivarossi cars are, imho, the easiest as I can take one apart in less than a minute. The windows “fall out” with a light touch.
However, you mentioned BLI (Broadway Limited) cars. They’re already metalized and look very attractive. Do you have BLI cars that need to be refinished? Or are you trying to match your older run Walthers cars to BLI’s finish? I’ve never disassembled one before, but I’m assuming that great care must be exercised.
I’m assuming that you do have BLI units with detailed diagrams in each box. Can you tell if the cars seem relatively straightforward in disassemble? Are they similar to the Walthers Budds?
I agree. I had to take a scrap shell and get used to the process and “see it for myself”. After my first project (the finish was great but the model itself turned out to be a dud [:(]) I had the confidence.
It’s worth learning how to use an airbrush (assuming you haven’t before) for this kind of application.
So far, all my Alclad projects have been on kits. I haven’t had to dis-assemble anything yet (that’s not entirely true; my defacto test shell was a Walthers Superliner that I had to take apart and it was a pain).
If I had all the free time in the world, I’d work on all the RTR stuff I have too (assuming my paint job could come close to the factory jobs as far as markings go) but since I have such a backlog of projects, I only work on the stuff that absolutely “needs” it.
Guys, something that I’d like to clear up regarding questions about airbrushing I’ve received via my personal email.
Yes, you can spray the Alclad’s metalizer, clears, and basecoat colors with a single action airbrush!
A dual action airbrush is not necessary. If you have a good quality, single action unit such as a Badger 150, a Paasche’ H, or Iwata HP…it will work fine. Alclad’s owner, Tony Hipp, uses single action units to test Alclad.
I use dual action airbrushes simply because that’s my preference. In addition to welding and fabrication, I performed many paint jobs in my former career at a transit system shop, so my equipment had to be versatile since it was hard to predict what type of challenging project my boss was going to hurl at me…uh…that is, present me and my crew with.
Not a shameless promotion for the Paasche VL’ as there are plenty of good airbrushes on the market to choose from…but I’ve been using the Paasche’ VL for metalizing due to its ruggedness as a workhorse and the needle/air cap setup versatility. A modeler can use its standard #3 (medium) setup and get excellent results. I typically use the #3 for all of my solid colors and clear coats where good flowout and leveling is essential. But by being able to switch to a #1 (fine) setup, I wind up using slghtly less metalizer material and get outstanding atomization. Doesn’t seem like much…unless you’re doing a large number of units as in my case. In addition to metalizing my personal fleet of Walthers and Rivarossi units, I’ve been recently asked to refinish a fleet of streamlined units for a group. So, the ability to switch aircap/needle sizes winds up being a money saver.
To make things easier and faster, I now keep two VLs in my work area. One is with a #3 setup, the other with a #1 setup. How
