Hi guys! I'm about to start decaling and detailing my CB&Q "Local" train, and those older Con-Cor cars have clear windows. What can I use to tint them blue or green? Heck, which is accurate? Aiming for this: http://qstation.org/PhotoGuide/BNSF/BNSF_28.jpg http://www.qstation.org/BNSF_Biz_Cars/jpeg/BNSF_car_01.jpg Thanks!!
I was just chatting yesterday with a fellow modeller (HO) about what he used for his windows. He said he used a sheet of Railway Classics "ProtoCorrect" tinted glass. I haven't found it in stock in many places but here's a listing on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Railway-Cla...349829?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item231e4f0285 I wonder how much it would take to do a full N scale train like the Kato CZ? Also, I'd like to improve the looks of my Amtrak Superliners. I think they need more of a smokey tint. Anyone know a product to get that color?
tamiya makes red,green,blue,and smoke tint paint that is great. i use a air brush to paint model air craft glass with it. try it out you will like it.
I have to second this method. I haven't used it myself, I read in a model car magazine about painting the sun tinting at the top of the windshield. They used a light coat of a transparent blue-green color sprayed from an airbrush.
Based on years of riding CB&Q/Metra commuter cars, I would say green. If I was back in Aurora, I would be more than happy to use this as an excuse to take a ride up to Union and check the Nebraska Zephyr for you. That tinted paint sounds excellent, however.
When my son was involved with theater while in college he used to have lighting gel color swatches on rings. I would go through hundreds of different colors till I found what I was looking for and order a sheet. The thin film works well for windows. I cut strips of it on a paper cutter and applied it behind the window openings.
I don't know which color to use, but when I want green-ish (for Pullman cars) I use Roscolux photo filter gels. One sheet will do many, many cars. I use CC15 Cyan (#4315). You can get them from a real photo supply store.
Fantastic, guys!! I can't wait to work on this! Ideally, I'll cut off the thick plastic "windows" on the Con-Cor roofs and glue the stuff into the cars' walls with Microscale krystal klear. Good stuff, but a bit too opaque to show off painted seats and passengers....
I use stained glass paints found at any craft store. Light coats until you get the desired depth of colour.
For reference, here's the Roscolux Cyan filter in a New Haven 14-4 car (built from one of those wonderful ESMC sides kits, with Rapido Trains 41-BNO-11 trucks).
Stop by your local auto glass tinting shop.... get some scraps, cut to size and apply or tape to the back of the window plastic. Use double layers if it's not dark enough. Cheap , quick and easy ! eja
I agree with eja stop by a glass shop that does tinting tell them what you are doing they should just give it to you. I would . I own a glass shop and we always have cut offs.
Nickelplate, that looks killer! Since I don't have an airbrush the plastic sheet is a better option than painting the stuff....
Hey, nice ESCM 14-4 ... I'm building one too, didn't know about the tinted glass. The car plans called for "Solex" heat-resistant glass for every window except the bathrooms, which had "prism" glass, which I assume was frosted or mirrored. In pictures it looks like a very very light tint of green. Since I'm using Kato windows for my car I guess I have to spray them.
Well here we are five years later, within a week or so. I took a long break from this stuff but now that I am back at it a lot of my old questions are answered. I found a new trick for lighting and coloration that seems to work pretty well and it's a lot simpler than what I was trying before. Check it out! I took a set of Kato cars and a lighting gel and viola! I think I have achieved that tent that I was looking for and it reduces the ridiculous brightness of their cars as well. You will see a couple photos, I think it is clear which cars have received the treatment. For less than $10 I think it's one of the best modifications I have done! NYC set and my Empire Builder are nearly done, I can't wait to finish my Hiawatha in the same fashion!
Where did you purchased the gel? I'm about to put lights into Kato's Nippon Sharyo Bi-Levels that are used for their 2016 Operation North Pole set. They have a version 2 of their lighting kit which is LED and it comes with an optional clip that turns the white LED into something warmer. I don't have the kit yet but I think it also lessens the brightness of the white LEDs. If your light kit version 2? In your third photo they are pretty damn bright!!! Edit: the Operation North Pole cars all have "paint" on the windows a la vinyl wrap on the prototypes. I don't know if that will dim the lights even more.
Amazon sells packs of gels around $10. You can buy one color cheaper alone on eBay! Lighting kits are all Kato 11-212 (DCC friendly) and the little amber "clip" they include is worthless. Don't even bother with them LOL they barely tint and it's still horrendously bright! Third photo: Greenish is tinted, center (burning like a thousand suns!) is Kato bare kit, third car is again tinted. I can't even tell you how absolutely nice this looks in person.... and I got a multicolor gel pack so I will be experimenting with orange, red, yellow and blue too! My Pioneer Zephyr is horribly "blue" and bright, I think I will put tiny gels over the LED's to tint and dim it as well. LED's are cold so no worries about contact heat/warp either!
Another photo or two... see the GN cars, dome is greened coach is not. I think I'll wire up a second lamp in that observation to better light the markers and the end seats, but I won't use a Kato kit (wrong angle) I'll just use an LED with a resistor above the light bar end (where it meets the red insert) and put foil on the underside so it disperses to the light diffusers but doesn't "shine down" on the end seating area.
