Afternoon everyone, It's been awhile since I posted anything here, just lurking about. Health issues, mine and a few others, have kept me from doing in railroading for most of last year but I was able to get the Christmas train on display again this year after a two year absence. I'm guessing it got about 600 actual miles on it this year. At this rate I'll need to get a new locomotive. Anyway I'm finally back. Ijust picked up some brass locomotives today and have some paint questions. One is a Hallmark GP 15-1 that has been painted red with no trim colors. It has just enough run time to know that it runs properly but has never been put in service or had the paint scheme completed. No idea what kind of paint and no way to find out so I'll try a few types of solvent and see if I can simply wipe it clean with a bit of elbow grease. The others are two are Nickel Plate Products EMD Phase II F-3 A-B units. Neither set has been ever been painted and I'm not sure they've even been test run but for the price I simply couldn't leave them. I am not at all sure now what roads these will be painted as. I don't model any particular road or time period so I'll research a bit to see when these were in use. What would be the best type of paint to use on these? Will they need to be primed? Most modeling paint jobs I do are types I've done many times but brass is new to me. Later in the year I'll also be refurbing some older steam locomotives in HO and hopefully completing a Shay I bought through here a few years ago. All are metal of some type, no plastics involved. Most of my build projects the last couple of years have been RC airplanes of different sizes and materials so I'm honestly looking forward to some research and detail work on this. I want to make progress on my HO layout. Let me know what works best for you on brass. Thanks. Rick H.
brass does well with being stripped [in lacquer thinner or similar] and then a light etching before the paint [vinegar or similar] ... no primer is needed but the paint will be tougher if it is baked on [oven at very low heat] and don't forget to re lube afterwards
I will say one thing, those Hallmark F3's were not good runners at all, we ended up sending them back to Hallmark. I use Scalecoat for my brass, no primer needed and the gloss finish makes it easy to decal. Rick Jesionowski
Interesting, I don't think any of these have ever been run at all. Looking through some of the information that came with them it looks like the EMD units were operated by the D&RGW among others. I have a couple of cars for that line and once went on an excursion trip involving steam and a narrow gauge D&RGW consist. It was a lot of fun and probably why I still have some box cars in HO. As for the F3, if it doesn't run well I guess I can always build a diorama for my layout. Sometimes I think those scenics are more fun. Rick H.
It looks like Scalecoat is out of business. Ran into something called Trucolorpaint.com so we’ll see. Rick H
Hi, First I submerge my brass models in a glass tray in automotive brake fluid for 12/24 hours. Just rinse under the tab after that. Most old paint will simply wash away,To remove the subborn paint remnants my favourite way of preparing/cleaning brass (or 3D prints) is using an Air Eraser air brush gun(alu grit blasting). These air guns are cheap and work like a charm. Now you have a very clean and well adhering surface for painting or priming first if you prefer. Primer is Mr Surfacer Primer 1000 (10-15% thinned) and paint is TruColor paint (perfect paint and may colors). Good luck!.
Just found out that a father and son group has purchased Scalecoat from Minuteman, glad the paint has been saved. I do not like Tru-Color as it does not spray out of the bottle as advertised and I blame this on their use of plastic bottles that breath and cause changes and evaporation even to closed bottles. Rick Jesionowski
I finally took all three to a friends house for paint. He’s a serious modeler, warbirds mostly, and has a huge supply of paint types and colors. All three were painted silver and I’ll trim and weather them soon. After quite a bit of testing the best I can say is one of them runs like crap and the other two are really bad. I’ll probably put all three in a junkyard diorama on my short line layout. I’ll post some photos soon. Rick H.
