This Southern Pacific E9A Locomotive started as a brand new Rapido Union Pacific E9A. It was completely stripped and re-detailed using purchased and many handmade detailed parts.
Unlike many other locomotives I’ve done, I wanted to capture the unique weathering of a locomotive abandoned in the dry California environment where there is less rust and more oxidation and paint streaking. The base coat paint was applied with an airbrush, but all the color was hand painted with many different colors of oil paints so each of the body panels took on their own shades of color and streaking caused by water.
Outstanding modeling! A labor of love. The level of weathering realism that can be achieved by the skillful, if not artistic application of oils is truly amazing. Great photo too! As well as a delight to the eye, your work is an inspiration.
Might I inquire as to the location of the photo? The hillside rock formations are reminiscent of the Columbia River gorge.
This is the 1st time I’ve seen a Rapido unit that has been completely paint stripped and refinished to another road. If you don’t mind my asking, what did you use for paint stripping?
Holy cow! Our models can look like that? It is a work of art. Can only imagine the time this took. Definately this weeks winner of the “that kicks brass” award!
Thanks for the comment. There was actually a disapointing story behind the paint used by Rapido on this loco and the side grills… which I won’t discuss here…
I’ve stripped many locos of every brand including Rapido using Alcohol, but on this loco Alcohol just made it a sticky mess. Then I tried Scalecoat II paint remover which did nothing. Finally, I tried the older ELO from Testors which did the best. It took me over two weeks to strip to bare plastic (instead of the normal two days)!
I made a YouTube video of this project and it shows it stripped.
You’re most welcome! Your unit would make a good article for MRR Magazine. What is the name of your YouTube page as I would like to see the video?
Thanks for your reply. I’ve stripped many models over the years, but not a Rapido (yet). 91% ISO alcohol was my usual “go to” model paint stripper for years, but switched to the purple “Super Clean” product as I’ve found it to be effective for some stubborn jobs. I’m wondering now if it would be effective on a Rapido shell.
If this is a model, yes it is that good and I try to tell it as it is, I may have found a item that was not perfect, mine you, may have. If you look at the back of an air horn you can make out what looks to be whats left of a parting line after blowing the picture up to G scale.
Here’s a link to a photo of an SP E9A in the same condition. Once you see the real thing, it’s very easy to distinguish the model. Couldn’t find a picture of SP E9A 7925, because SP 7925 was a U30C.
You’re most welcome! Your unit would make a good article for MRR Magazine. What is the name of your YouTube page as I would like to see the video?
Thanks for your reply. I’ve stripped many models over the years, but not a Rapido (yet). 91% ISO alcohol was my usual “go to” model paint stripper for years, but switched to the purple “Super Clean” product as I’ve found it to be effective for some stubborn jobs. I’m wondering now if it would be effective on a Rapido shell.
BruceK
AntonioFP45
Bruce, outstanding realistic results! .
This is the 1st time I’ve seen a Rapido unit that has been completely paint stripped and refinished to another road. If you don’t mind my asking, what did you use for paint stripping?
Thanks for the comment. There was actually a disapointing story behind the paint used by Rapido on this loco and the side grills… which I won’t discuss here…
I’ve stripped many locos of every brand including Rapido using Alcohol, but on this loco Alcohol just made it a sticky mess. Then I tried Scalecoat II paint remover which did nothing. Finally, I tried the older ELO from Testors which did the best. It took me over two weeks to strip to bare plastic (instead of the normal two days)!
I made a YouTube video of this project and it shows it stripped.
This was a very different project for me, mostly where most of the painting was done with oil paints and a brush rather than an airbrush. The colors used is also missleading. To get the “once was gray, but now oxidized” the colors I used where different shades of Blue!
The windshield wipers were not purchased. I made them from scratch with mutiple very small etched parts to give it a “working look” rather than a single “flat” etched part stuck in a hole.
E8’s and E9’s shared the same outward appearance just about down to the last rivet. There may be a few VERY minor differences depending on when a particular E8 was built, or road specific details. But the change over to the E9 was strictly a mechanical equipment upgrade.
No, I didn’t take any picture of the final painting process. Below is some of the basic information I remember.
At first, I didn’t even know if painting with oils would even work, but knowing the oils would be easy to remove mineral spirits, I thought it was worth experimenting. The reason behind even thinking about using oils was because when I studied the prototype photos (I must have spent over 10 hours taking notes) I noticed some important, and challenging observations:
The color looked more blue than gray. I used Photoshop on the prototype photos to validate this. I also did some tests on the prototype photos to see if camera setting/film used or when it was developed if the “white balance temperature” was too high which would make take on a blue hue. From what I could find, the temperature looked correct.
Each side panel of the locomotive had its own different shades of color, not to mention all the different streaking colors. Even if I used my Iwata HP-BH airbrush which can do very fine lines, I knew it would look like it was airbrushed.
I didn’t want to lose the details of plastic shell. When I removed
Thank you so much for the detailed explanation of how you painted the shell. It must have taken a considerable amount of time using such a tiny brush. Your choice of colours (i.e. blue over rust) is quite intriguing given that the final result has so much depth to it.
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