I have a HO scale undecorated locomotive I need painted professionally for Union Pacific.
Is there anyone out there who does this?
Thanks,
Cowboyred
I have had several steam locos painted by B.C. Enterprises of Gardner, MA. Google their name and you should find their web site. It is not cheap and it takes several months, but their painting is beyond excellent.They are also excellent at brass repair. I had a locomotive damaged in shipment and BC made it good as new.
Where do you live? Having an engine professionally painted can be expensive, but if you can find someone local you can at least save on the shipping costs.
Maine Trains in Chelmsford, MA, (www.mainetrains.com) also does custom paint work. I’ve seen the results, and they’re very good.
On the other hand, I’ve seen excellent work done by the people here who post regularly on Weekend Photo Fun. For the price of a couple of custom engine painting jobs, you could set yourself up with an airbrush and learn to do this yourself. One of my favorite things about the hobby is learning new skills and improving old ones. I’m not an artist, or any kind of professional modeler, but I did this one by myself, starting with an undecorated model:
I don’t have an airbrush, so I used rattle-can sprays. Of course, I have the advantage of being able to choose any off-the-shelf paint, since it’s a custom paint scheme. I also learned to make my own decals. Really, there’s nothing in this hobby that you can’t learn to do yourself, if you want to.
Texas
UP is such a ubiquitous road name that it might be cheaper just to buy a shell and replace the undecorated one on your loco.
Then you could use that shell to practice your own painting techniques for the next time around.