If a kit is designated as “undecorated”, is it usually unpainted, as well? I just bought an undecorated Bowser 55-ton “fishbelly” hopper to detail for the AC&Y. It’s black in color (what I want) but it’s not painted.
My understanding is that I’ll need to paint the car first before the decals will adhere properly.
Tom
Having built a lot of models from “undecorated” kits, I can say that what you have is common. They’re usually unpainted, and will look awful if not painted first before applying decals, although decals may successfully adhere to unpainted surfaces.
Some of today’s manufacturers offer cars primered but unlettered (such as Tangent). They still typically need paint.
Undecorated usually means the raw plastic as it came out of the molds. Will decals stick? The LION does not know. The only place the LION ever got decals to stick were on his toes and on his nose. LION was NOT impressed, but what could he do. Even LIONS have limitations.
ROAR
At the very least washing the car to rid it of any mold release compounds would be needed in order to get anything to stick to it whether it be paint or decals. If it the car body is smooth and shiney after the washing then you may need to prime it so the decals will stick. Generally paint does not stick well to things that are real smooth and shiney.
The decals on an undecorated car will look awful if you don’t paint the model first. The bare plastic is too shiny for a prototype look. (Some plastics the decals will not adhere or will adhere and eventually fall off.) I like to decal and build from undecorated kits. I always put on a light coat of primer before painting. A gloss color is supposed to be used before applying the decals, followed by a coat of Dull Cote after the decals are applied and the car is weathered.
I tried decaling on bare plastic just once, and the decals just pealed right off. I always paint an unpainted car, I will prime black plastic with a light colored primer and then apply the color coat, even if I am painting with black, although I have stopped that practice since I have been using Scalecoat II which does not require a primer. But I have found I get a better covererage even with Scalecoat II if I do use a primer for things that are painted with white, yellow or orange.
Using Scalecoat II avoids the gloss coating before decaling as it dries with a gloss finish right out of the bottle. I usally follow that up with dullcoat to seal the decal. Also use a decal setting solution to make the decal snuggle down over rivits etc.
Rick J
Tom,
Not trying to make trouble here, but your question speakes directly to the changes in this hobby over the 40 years I have been at it.
In 1968, every 12 year old with an HO train knew the answer to your question and expected nothing more of an “undecorated” model.
For me and others, this is a hobby about building stuff.
Bachmann makes it a point to define their “unlettered” products as “painted and unlettered” - not undecorated.
Do you have an air brush?
Sheldon
The term can mean either painted no lettering or unpainted. I’ve seen it both ways. Also some cars (usually cheaper lines) are lettered directly on the plastic (don’t know if Bowser is one of these) so undecorated is also unpainted.
Paul
“Airbrush? We don’t need no stinkin’ airbrushes…” [;)]
Well, if you really want to shoot that car with a color you can’t get pre-canned for your pleasure, then yep, an airbrush is necessary. Tell, you the truth though, I have several airbrushes and it’s a once a year thing for me to bother with that. Eventually, I hope to set up a spray booth to make that process more inviting. Not dissing them, but spray can paint works for me most of the time.
I think you want anything “undecorated” to be totally naked to start with. If you’re bashing or otherwise cutting or adding materials, then you don’t want a previous paint job in the way, even if it’s all one color of primer. Same thing with a kit, otherwise you need to scrape each joint area to ensure a good bond.
Leaving the kit bare leaves the builder with the most options. You can paint parts on the sprue or you can assemble then paint or whatever combination works best for the specific model.
Undecorated always means what you have there, raw plastic. Some kits are available “painted / unlettered” or “painted / data only” which means that the basic data (length, height, built date etc.) is there but no railroad specific lettering.
Plastic tends to have “waves” in it due to the process of filling the molds, so just using a plastic kit “as is” usually is a bad idea. If I were building the kit, I would paint at least the body primer gray and then black, then spray gloss finish for the decals to be applied over.
Yeah, I always interpret ‘undecorated’ as bare palstic, ‘unlettered’ as painted but no lettering.
Accurail then adds a few more options, because they offer a lot of their models with dimensional data only - so they are painted and have the dimensional stencils decaled on, but no road name or number. For those that freelance their railroad name and have their own decals for that.
–Randy
Athearn and similar kits that were or are offered “undecorated” are indeed unpainted raw black plastic (some Varney undecorateds were a rather odd gray swirly plastic), but Sheldon, remember the old Globe “undecorated” dummy F units? They were painted, just a very improbable set of colors such as gold, which at least served as a sort of primer surface for the real paint to follow. The Walthers firm has long maintained that they were “saved” by the Globe F units because there was suddenly a huge demand for decals in HO.
There are really three (at least) levels for what “undecorated” could mean – bare raw plastic as in the Athearn and Bowser kits, painted but totally unlettered, and painted with dimensional data lettering painted on but no road name or logo or other identifier. All have been comercially available, including back in the day.
And then there are the oddball things like the really very nice Kurtz Kraft boxcar kits which were lettered (rather nicely in fact) but not painted! My Central of Georgia 40’ boxcar was black raw plastic with the football logo and lettering added.
Of course what Walthers has long called “craft” kits (a somewha
Decals will stick to any smooth, glossy surface including plastic. If the plastic is the color you want wash the car with isopropal alcohol & apply the decals . Use a setting solution & give it a good coat of Dulcote. Weather it & another coat of dulcote. You won’t be able to tell it from a painted model & you will save time & money. jerry