I have a 0-6-0 brass engine that I am thinking of painting,The lacquer coating on the engine is beautiful but the tender seems to have a fair amount of tarnish(?) or discoloration,maybe from someone handleing it.Can I paint scalecoat right over it?Do I have to strip the coating off both engine and tender?If so…what is the best way to do it?
When I paint brass models, regardless of tarnish and lacquer coatings, I prime them with Accupaint primer which I personally feel is the best model primer out there.
When you paint a brass model, you must prime it first; this gives the paint something to “bite.” I have never found a reason to strip the lacquer coating.
In most cases, I will wash a model with soap and water. This will remove any oils from the brass surface.
For all brass, my technique -
Remove all plastic. Soak in laquer thinner. Brush out corners etc. with a soft brush until any trace of anything but brass is gone. If there is any tarnish use Brasso on a Q-tip or some of that Tarn-X type stuff to get rid of that. If you have pitting, which I never have run across on brass, prime and then use like Squadron Green body filler putty to restore the surface before painting. Prime lightly with Floquil primer. Paint with whatever you like.
Brass is the easiest thing to paint. If you screw up, start over.