Painting freight and passenger car wheels

[Flashwave]

My local hobby store ha a package of 12 metal wheels for 9.

You may have to use the truck there but swap the wheel, that’s not too hard. And be sure to check your stock of wheels. there are 33s and 36s for freight and pasenger respectively, and you don’t wanna have to go back and buy 30,000 wheels like I have too…

This is excellent advice, but I have to add, check the weight load of the freight car also. Many model cars in the 90 to 100 ton range mistakenly (or negligently) are sold with 33" wheels; they should be 36". Cars in the 70 ton range should generally have 33" wheels. Some intermodal cars have 28" wheels.

Ray

Did not know. What size are the Bomardier car wheels?

[rayw46]

Sorry, I’m not familiar with the Bomardier cars.

Ray

[Flashwave]

Sorry, I’m not familiar with the Bomardier cars.

Ray

These:

http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATH2580

I have a few, they don;t roll right, and the wheels is way too small to be 36s, 33s, or aI suspecvt a 30 anything.

[Isambard]

Using a very small brush I paint the front and back faces of both flat back and ribbed back metal wheels and plastic trucks of freight cars with undiluted Polly Scale “Dirt” followed by a alcohol/india ink wash, cleaning any errant paint off treads before it drys hard.

I have not found paint adherence a problem with plastic trucks, as another poster reported. I paint the entire truck surface, with the exception of the bolster load bearing surface and the axle mounting holes of course.

I also usually brush paint the underneath of freight cars with Dirt. Wheels on passenger cars also get the Dirt treatment, but trucks and underneath surfaces are painted Polly Scale Grimy Black.

I don’t use any fixtures when painting individual wheel sets and trucks,other than my fingers, and while it takes time to do four or six-axle sets, it makes for quiet contemplative work when I’m not in a hurry or am not up to more challenging tasks. [:)]

[rayw46]

Sorry, I’m not familiar with the Bomardier cars.

Ray

These:

http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATH2580

I have a few, they don;t roll right, and the wheels is way too small to be 36s, 33s, or aI suspecvt a 30 anything.

I only have experience with the inexpensive Athearn Blue Box passenger cars. Sorry. But from the net I learned that the Acela passenger cars have 36" wheels. That’s a start.

Ray

[spidge]

Micro Mart has a paint jig for wheelsets but before I paint all mine the same I will would take photos of the prototype and look very closely at the wheels. If a car has sat for a while it may have a streak down the side of the wheel. Cars from different areas move through where I live. I can tell because the wheels, trucks, and underframe are different colors. As mentioned above, the hoppers sitting up at Cemex in Victorville will take on a greyish/brown hugh from the soot and wind, yet a car that has been in San Berdo will take on a darker grey to brown color.

Then again to give everything the same base color would make it look like it belongs.