This goes for any loco that has seperately applied railings and grabs. Should I paint the loco with the railings on or off. I am guessing the best route for the grabs are with them in place then paint but the railings have me guessing a little.
How do you paint your locos?
Mike
If I have a choice I paint them with the railing off. It’s a royal pain in the butt to get behind them if I’m using a brush. If I’m using spray or an airbush I leave them on.
By all means, I remove the walkway railings. I’ve never brush painted a shell, so not comment on that method, but when spraying, the railings will act like a mask preventing paint from getting behind them evenly unless you attack it from numerous different angles - even then, you’re not applying the paint evenly.
As for grab irons - it depends on whether I need to do any masking or decalling where the grabs are located. It’s very difficult if not almost impossible to properly mask through a grab iron or decal over it without removing it first.
Mark.
i always leave the grab irons and handrails off the locomotive before painting it. Usually the grab irons and handrails are a different color so paint the shell first then paint the handrails before installing them. another thing i do is run a pin vise drill into all the holes where the wire rails attach so that they will slide in easily without scratching the paint job from a misaligned handrail / grab iron wire from a hole that’s too small. Once the grab irons and handrails are ready to install, I put a drop of CA glue in the holes with a toothpick before inserting them in the hole…chuck
It;s easier if they are off, but if it;s a pain to do so, then paint with them and be sure to shange the angle your painting at to cover them acting as a mask.
Thanks chuck that is a great help. I have 2 athern gp-9 and an altas rs-1. I have some other ones but these 2 are the ones I was worried about. Thanks again chuck and all the rest who have voiced techniques.
Mike,I perfer to leave the grabs and hand rails on since they have to be painted anyway especially today’s spaghetti thin grabs and railings.
The handrails and grab irons are off when painting. Detail parts that can be masked are applied before painting. The “rubber” handrails after being used as a pattern for wire handrails are tossed in the trash. Paint dosen’t stick to the rubber very well either.
You can do it either way. With railings and grabs off, you get numerous chances of scratching the fresh paint job when you do attach them to the freshly painted model. With railings and grabs on, you get just as many chances of putting paint smears on the shell as you brush paint the railing and grabs in a contrasting color.