I have three undecorated details west boxcars arriving this weekend. I’ve never painted a car with an artist’s brush or an airbrush and therefore don’t know how much paint to buy. The cars will be painted a single color (either BN green or Oxide Red) and white decals will be applied later. I will be using ModelFlex paint which is sold in 1 oz bottles. Since I’ll practice first on some old athearn cars, I’m thinking two bottles should be plenty for practice and to finally paint a 50’ boxcar, correct? Do I need to purchase a primer or any other additive to assist with the process? Thanks for any advice! 
Two bottles will be fine, gives you plenty to practice with.
Is it acrylic? or solvent base? I think most is acrylic now. Clean up with water, 70% alcohol (or 90, whatever you have), or you can use Windex for a cleaner, also. Solvent base, you’ll need paint thinner, or lacquer thinner to clean up.
If your going to air brush, you’ll probably need to thin. I use distilled water, but I THINK you can use the alcohol, check on that.
You want it about the consistancy of 2% milk, for spraying.
Primer is up to you. Many use the spray can primer.
Make sure the model is CLEAN. Finger prints will show up. I usually hold on to it with latex gloves, while painting.
Others will have things to add.
Mike.
Hi,
I will assume you are looking at HO scale models…
The first thing you should do is wash the bodies of the cars with warm water (and a bit of dish soap) just to get any oils removed.
I don’t believe a primer is necessary but some may disagree. I do believe that two coats of good well mixed paint should do a good job.
For three HO cars, I would think that two of the 1 oz jars should work just fine.
Using an airbrush is the best way to paint a rail car, but a can of quality model spray paint (like Tamiya) would be my second choice.
Yes, you can use a brush, but make sure the brush is of good quality, the paint is thin and flows on easily, and you brush in the same direction.
And of course, a practice run or two will be worth a world of experience!
Good Luck!
What is the color of the plastic on the DW models? If they are a dark color like Athearn BB in black, a grey primer may be necessary to ensure coverage that does not show through. This is particularly true for the BN green. Also if you have added detail parts that are a different color than the base plastic primer will be necessary so all the parts will look the same color.
While I’m not a fan of ModelFlex paint, I’ll just mention that a bottle of paint might easily do a dozen cars if it were airbrushed.
Yes, there’s an outlay for the airbrush and some time needed to practice to get somewhat proficient, but it might be something to keep in mind if you decide to get deeper into the hobby.
Wayne
Where’s that embarrassed emoticon… I purchased a Badger 350 airbrush and compressor 20 years ago but never used it… At that time, I had read an MR article that said a 350 was good airbrush choice for a novice but that may or may not be the case today with a number of new models.
The DW cars are undecorated HO models and they are solid black in color. Sounds like a primer is likely needed. I also appreciate the heads up that cleanliness during preparation is huge.
I have not ordered any paint (no LHS within 120 miles) so changing paint company is easy enough to do. I was thinking Modelflex because no mixing or dilution is needed (as stated by the manufacturer but may/may not be true?) Dr Wayne, what is your paint brand of choice? I would be willing to use spray cans if they made BN green and oxide red. The more I’ve read about airbrushing, the more I realize there is a learning curve with a number of variables…
I don’t have a paint booth and was planning on painting outdoors but may not be very a smart idea due to dust etc.
Looking around, Kelly Green appears to be a good match with BN green I’m going to play with bottle of Delta Creamcraft Kelly Green with a brush.
Scalecoat II has a 6 oz spray can of BN green for $11 that may be worth trying.
I’m not sure what Wayne will suggest but for the past five years or so I’ve been using Scalecoat paints exclusively for brass and plastic locomotive and rolling stock painting.
I prefer its high gloss finish which is ready for decals without the added step of applying a gloss clear coat before decals are applied.
https://www.minutemanscalemodels.com/category-s/127.htm
It is a solvent-based paint so there is a little more involved with cleanup but with planning and the right solvents cleanup is fairlt routine.
You must practice, then practice some more before getting to your final project. Be sure to have a holding fixture for the car bodies so you can paint, and set the car down for drying, without excessive handling.
Goos Luck, Ed
Scalecoat II comes in 6 oz spray cans in both of those colors.
For freight cars and locomotives, my preference would be Pollyscale, but only because I’m fortunate to have a fairly good supply of it. It covers well, dries quickly, and is durable. It’s also suitable for brush painting, levelling well and yet drying fairly rapidly.
I also invested fairly heavily in Scalecoat, when it seemed that it too might disappear. While it’s a good durable paint, it dries much too slowly for my tastes and practices.
I do a fair amount of steam locomotive painting for myself and friends, and I can do a five colour (well, five variations on black) in a single session using Pollyscale, while the same locomotive and colours done with Scalecoat is at least 15 days, due to its slower drying time between colour changes.
For these jobs, I seldom do masking with tape, and prefer to simply shield the just-painted area with a piece of cardstock while I spray an adjacent area with another shade. If I happen to get some of the second colour on the one first applied, with Pollyscale I simply change the bottle back to the first colour, and overspray the error - by that time, the second colour would have already been dry-to-the-touch…very simple and quick.
With the Scalecoat, I still use the cardstock as a mask, but because some of the colour separations need to be very distinct, the card has to be touching the area which it shields - not possible if the first-applied colour is not at least dry to the touch.
My paint shop is in my garage, about 100’ behind the house, and heating it for a painting session in the winter is not too big of an issue.
However, heating it every three or four days to use Scalecoat, in order to apply one colour is a nuisance, and it’s not that easy transporting freshly-painted items, still wet, through the cold air, let alone if it’s also snowing. Each item has to be car
I only use acrylics - Protopaint, Acryl, craft paints, etc. I pretty much ran out of Pollyscale. As pointed out by Wayne, they do dry fast and it takes a bit of practice to use them with an airbrush. I always use two bottles during my painting sessions: one for the paint, and one with demineralized water. Between coats, it’s important to switch bottles and clean the nozzle by flushing the nozzle with water against a rag.
Simon
Thanks, lots of helpful information! I think I will put these new models away and plan on finishing them next year after I retire. Meanwhile, I’ll get some paint and play around a bit to see which I like best. Plus, practice, practice and practice to achieve a degree of proficiency.
I reached out to several companies yesterday and about half replied. I received a thorough reply from Modelers Decals & Paints, and probably will start off using their product in my airbrush.
That’s what I have, and use. It works for what I do.
Mike.
Simon, have you used Delta Ceramcoat craft paint on rolling stock? The kelly green in this paint matches the BN green on my p2K GP30, Athearn GP38-2, Athearn boxcars, and an atlas master series boxcar. I’d like to try it on a boxcar but not sure how to apply with an airbrush and don’t know if it works decals…
Hi there. I have used craft paints on rolling stock. I can’t remember the makes… I have some Ceramcoat bottles in my stash, and don’t remember much of a difference with the other brands.
Generally speaking, the finish of the craft paints is not quite as fine as with higher quality paint: I end up with a bit of an egg-shell finish on mine. But I find it acceptable for rolling stock. I can’t really comment on durability though, and I would recommend a good primer first. i find that the tricky part is to get the right thickness - I start with something thicker and go with trial and error with my airbrush by gradually adding thinner (I use Vallejo solvent for acrylics). There is a lot of variability between colors… I also use a strainer, and mix the paint thoroughly first. I’m told that the pigments for the craft paints are not as fine as the higher quality paints.
Simon
I use Delta Ceramcoat in my airbrush and it works very good. I do use an Acrylic Craft thinner, didn’t have very good luck with distilled water. The crafters Acrylic paint doesn’t stick very well to plastic without a primer. As I use a lot of True Color paint I stock their primer and it works very good for the crafters paints.
Mel
My Model Railroad
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
Bakersfield, California
I’m beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
My experience with the craft type acrylics, is the pigment is pretty thick compared to other model paints, and it does take some practice with thinning and application.
I used on my buildings, and I did a lot of experimenting to get it to spray with good results. Of course, you can put up with a little bit uneveness painting a brick wall, but not on the side of a box car. I’ve never tried it on rolling stock.
I’m thinking, using it with rolling stock, your need to gloss coat it after everything dries good, do your decals, and then you can fade or weather to your liking.
I’ve used distilled water, and alcohol, with mixed results, so using the craft acrylic thinner that Mel mentions makes sense.
As Symon mentions, keeping a bottle of water handy is good advise, as the thicker pigments can dry out and clog a gun real fast. When you start to notice the blobs, it’s time to clean.
I’m sure there are others in here who use the craft paints, and will chime in with tips and techniques.
Mike.
Just wanted to make sure you understood primer isn’t an additive. It’s the first coat of paint you would put on before painting the car the color or colors you want for the final product. I generally use Tamiya spray can primer gray, it’s nozzle is designed to create a much finer spray than the typical “rattle can” does. I also use Tamiya spray cans for the gloss finish coat needed to seal in the paint and allow for a smooth surface for decaling, and for the flat finish coat to seal in decals.
Thanks Stix, good catch. I do know that a primer is not an additive but the earlier sentence gave an incorrect impression.
Simon, have you ever used one of the “Make your own” thinners? MRH has an excellent publication “guide to acrylic painting in a post Floquil world” that gives three formulas for making your own thinners. I’m going to try one of them with Delta Ceramcoat. May result in better craft paint coverage and less clogging of the airbrush. Thanks for sharing your experiences!