I will soon be painting two brass HO scale cabooses. Body all bright red, roof, underbody and trucks black. I have done a fair amount of air brushing over the years but have never tackled any brass items. Any suggestions? Tips? Cautions?
Make sure the surfaces are completely “clean” of any oils of any kind including fingerprints. I usually dunk mine in household ammonia in the ultrasonic cleaner for a few minutes but you can do the same thing without the cleaner, just shake it about in the ammonia a bit and then rinse it with cold tap water and let dry thoroughly before painting.
I normally wash my hands with Comet before handling them when painting them but surgical gloves would be even better but rinse them off first as they usually have a slight powder on them.
Mark
RMR
As said above - get them very clean! And I also use non-powdered surgical gloves to handle items after they are cleaned and while painting…
Use Scalecoat and bake your paint on (175 for 2 hours per paint layer). That way you can paint one color, bake, mask, paint second color, bake, mask, paint last color, mast, paint. After the last baking, you can remove all of the masking tape. Then you can decal directy on the paint (because of the glossyness of scalecoat), overcoat and bake.
David B
I second what David says but will add, make sure your oven has a good accurate thermostat. You dont want to go much over that 275 temp. I dont quite back 2 hours, I find 45 to 90 mins to be enough on these small models. I use a cookie sheet covered with alum foil to keep the kitchen boss happy! Once the model cools, then you can lay down the next color or start decaling. Prior to painting I run my models thru the dishwasher, obviously not the motors or trucks, just the body shell, this removes all oils from the surface. Once the model is air dried, I prime the model with a surface etching primer. I find this helps with keeping the paint from chipping so easily, even on baked models. The primer coat also will show me if there are any rough spots where any body work might be needed or some sloppy solder joints that I need to dress up with a jewelers file. If your going to be adding working marker lights, drill the mounting holes prior to all the pre-paint prep work. I find that a pair of Tomar brand lighted markers really enhances the caboose. I mount a micro slide switch in the floor of the caboose and mount a single AA battery holder from Radio Shack to the floor. I find a good quality battery will last the better part of a year with normal use if you remember to turn them off when your done running trains. Last thing I do with my brass cabooses is use the siffer clear plastic from a “blister package” to use as window glass in all the windows. Good luck. Mike