First off I have talked to lots of modelers who are just afraid to try painting an engine. But let me tell you, its not so hard[:)]. The first piece of rolling stock I painted was a GP35. There are pictures of it in my railimages link on my signature. I have decaled it since then but havent been updating the photos[xx(].
Anyway, I found a couple of athearns on ebay and the price was right, I got the pair for under $40. Even though they were painted for Southern Pacific (no offense to SP fans) it was an offer I couldnt refuse. This picture was taken after I primed the models, didn’t think of making it a clinic until after I was done priming. But I dont find the need personally to strip all the old paint off. Just prime right over it.
On the left is an athearn SD45 On the right is an athearn GP60
The colors my railroad uses are polly S Railbox Yellow and Modelflex Signal Red. Yes, i know it seems a little flashy but it looks great with weathering on top. I plan to start painting tommorrow and I’ll keep updating until this project is done.
It took a while folks, but you can see the above picture if you right click on the small photo and click on properties. Copy and paste the URL into your browser, but before you hit enter, delete the “.th” before the .jpg extentsion. When you hit enter, you’ll see the larger picture.
It’s great that you’re having success with painting! Funny, once you start with that airbrush it’s a little difficult to put it down!
In some cases you can get away with painting over previous colors, however, don’t forget to caution modelers that in doing so, if the paint is not “thin enough” certain details on the locomotive can be covered up.
Also as you progress on this project, for the benefit of the Newbies, list some of your details such as how many pounds of pressure you set your airbrush, what paint brands you’re using and the mixing ratios.
Now its time for the fun part, painting. I dont have a spray booth or anything, i just paint on a big box in my garage. Its not fancy, but it does the job.
Sorry about the bad picture quality, this camera has a shutter speed of a few seconds and my hands arent very steady.
Airbrushing is a fairly easy technique to grasp, and a good one to have in your modeler’s bag of tricks. I painted this first coat with Polly Scale paint thinned 10% with distilled water. I like to paint with about 38 psi for large areas (such as an engine) and a little less for small details and weathering. Some may say 38psi is too much, but it is what gives the best results for me. How much pressure you use really depends on how you paint. Its all a personal opinion.
Here are a few tips:
NEVER over-paint. A thin coat is always better. Keep in mind you can go back with another coat if you dont feel you have the coverage you want, but the worst thing you could do is to get impatient and flood the model with paint. Not only will it run and bead up, it will obscure all the details on the model. In a word, Thinner is better!
Before paint ever touches the model, you need to get a good, even spray. Use a blank piece of paper for this. Start off with the paint nozzle closed, and start the flow of air. Slowly open the nozzle until you get a nice even spray. Then you are ready to put paint to primer.
ALWAYS use primer, even if it is an undecorated model, primer will give the paint better “bite” and you will get a better looking coat that will last longer. I just use primer in a spray can that you can get at any hardware store. Spray cans put out a lot of paint so keep at least 8 inches off the model when spray can painting.
Use a little piece of pantyhose held to the end of the siphon tube with a rubber band, This will filter out any particles in the paint that could clog your airbrush.
That’s the beauty of these modern water-based acrylic paints - no flammable fumes to worry about! They also don’t partially dissolve styrene like the oil-based paints do.
