calling all painters.......help please!

hello, im getting ready to paint my first locomotive. it is a GP9 Proto 2000 that is un decorated. i have all my paints and decals and a picture of the proto type. question is this… do i paint the yellow color first, then tape it off and apply the grey or does it matter? thanks in advance!
steve[8D]

Steve,

Is the grey a primer gray, or something with a name like, Lark Gray? If it’s a light shade (or primer color) I would shoot the whole body with it, mask and then add the yellow. You don’t say what road you’re painting so it’s kind of difficult to visualize how much yellow you need and where you need it. That might make a difference in which color you use as the base color, too.

Paint the lighter colors first, then darker.

ok guys, thanks for the info and advice. and by the way, im painting the GP9 in Union Pacific colors. thanks!

I would paint the entire engine with a light grey color as a primer. I suggest that because if there are different color parts on the model (grey plastic, white plastic, black plastic, brass, etc) they may show as different shades of yellow if you put the yellow straight on the model. If all the details are in the grey portion of the locomotive then it won’t matter that much.

Dave H.

Steve,

Paint the entire engine with UP ‘Harbormist grey’, this will provide a good base coat for the entire model. Then mask and paint the UP ‘Armour yellow’. Yellow is one of those ‘chrome’ type colors and you need a good base coat so that it will cover evenly without the need for many coats for coverage. Putting a good grey basecoat on a model helps when you have detail parts that are other colors that the main engine shell. I shoot a nice coat of grey on all of my Milwaukee Road engines before I spray the ‘orange’ on the body.

Jim Bernier

Go with the lighter color first.

BTW: Hope you don’t mind my curiosity. What type of paint are you using? Acrylic or Solvent based? What type of aribrush are you using?

In either case make sure your surface is absolutely clean and allow plenty of drying time so that the tape won’t peel off the gray. Have a “scrapper car” standing by to test your paint on first before you shoot the Geep. (old Tyco and Bachmann cars are good for this and cheap!)

Hope that your job goes very well!

Cheers and High Greens!

hey everyone, i really appreciate all the good suggestions, i followed your alls advice and shot the entire model with the harbour mist grey first, that was last evening. i have some of the 3M blue tape to mask it off with, its the 1/8". then ill cover the remaining grey color with Scotch brand tape. the paint im useing is Floquil brand and the gun is a Badger Athem. thanks again for all the help.[:D]