I have two questions. I am looking for N scale Indiana and Ohio (IORY) and Central Indiana (CIND) engines. I was wondering if there are some good sources to locate these harder to find lines, is there a site where I can advertise my wants or do I just Google the internet every day?
My second question is if I were to decided to paint my own is an air brush a requirement? Since I don’t own an air brush and really don’t want to buy one, can I achive the look of a good custom paint job with just a brush. The prototype version of these lines like IORY are so patched over and with some weathering I wonder if just a brush paint job wouldn’t work.
Don
I’ve done pretty well with rattle-can spray paint, if you can find the colors that work for you. I mask the areas I don’t want painted with blue painters’ tape. I also print my own decals on the computer.
As you can see, it’s not difficult to get clean, sharp lines, particularly if you take your time and follow natural separations on the model. I intentionally chose a color scheme where the lettering is dark-on-light, because computer printers can’t do white, and light colors don’t work very well. You can get white lettering sheets commercially, or even create the artwork and have a single sheet of custom decals made up.
I like to build out of production locomotive kits in HO. Thanks to ads and reviews in old Model Railroader issues, I know what items were once produced. This would be the first question - were there ever any offerings in the paint schemes you mention? The old N Walthers catalogs would be one starting point.
If you know the item was actually produced, then monitoring e-Bay and calling well-stocked hobby shops that cater to N scale would be the two most likely ways to find and buy the item.
You can advertise your wants on some model train forums - just not this one. I would pick a forum that seems to have a large number of N scale guys.
my thoughts, your choices
Fred W
If you are on ebay, you can set up a search for specific items and it will email you when they are listed in the future. It’s also good to search completed listings to see if any have sold recently, as that will give you an idea of what it might cost you in order to guide your bidding.
Brush painting locomotives is not a good idea. i have seen too many that look just plain bad, even in published articles. You just can not get a good even coat over the small details and smooth surfaces. If you can’t airbrush, try to get a close match with quality spray cans. Dan
Ask around at the local train shops, with the emphasis on local. My own LHS carries a lot of Boston & Maine equipment, which is admittedly a fairly common line to model, particularly in New England. They do custom work, too, and they have some engines from the St. Lawrence and Atlantic, a short line in northern New England that you won’t find on any manufacturer’s roster.
But, you can do it. I’d go to a train show and pick up a couple of old boxcars or maybe a caboose, and practice. Get some decal paper (get ink jet or laser paper, depending on your printer) and try making your own decals.
There’s an article about custom painting engines in this month’s MR, by the way. Yeah, he uses an airbrush, but there’s nothing he’s doing that you can’t do pretty well with a rattle can.