Rock Island Model Parade

Too bad The Rock never did any passenger units in that clean/classic red & black freight scheme. Would've been cool!

-Mark

 

What are you waiting for Mark, you were looking for another project weren't you??? lol

 

There, all better




-Mark

 

Mark,
Looks great! That makes a huge improvement.
A couple of questions;
Did you spray the handrails with any kind of adhesion promoter before painting them?
Did you paint the trucks and tank grey? The pics are a little dark to tell.

Now I want to get mine dolled up...

 

Sorry, let's try this again with some more light -



I didn't prespray the handrails with anything - just 4-5 light coats of red and that's it (it took me that many tries to get the right shade of red). I left the trucks and fuel tank black for now, although if I ever decide to really Alco-ize these things (IE, grunge them up) I'll probably re-do them in grimy black.

-Mark

 

Mark do you have any problems with the paint chipping off your handrails with your spraying of light coats?
I ran across a product that works fantastic for the derlin handrails. PPG SX-1050 plastic adhesion promoter. Found it snooping on the web and some other forums. I got it at my local Body Shop supply house. A couple quick coats and your ready to paint. So far the two SD40-2's and a few other units I've done, the handrail have held up pretty good. You can get a good amount of flex without the chipping, I just used Floquil on them. I think there are several different brands; Bulldog, 3M and I think Krylon has a Fushion that some use.

Not trying to be a nut bolt counter, but if you repaint them and not ALCo-ize them, use Floquil Reefer Grey or Harbor Mist Grey for the trucks and tanks on the red and yellow units. I always thought they were black, until the LifeLike GP18's came out. Even though their gray was way too light, I lost a bet with the LHS owner saying they were black. Ooops, now I own both numbers of the LL GP18's.

 

Gray, really? They sure look black to me in proto photos (or at least like they started out black).

-Mak

 

Well that's what I always thought. Until I made that stupid bet before double checking.....

 

Here's a few more...



Some are a little hard to tell because of the road grime, but the others are unmistakable.
Most didn't stay gray very long due to the differed maintenance. It's funny how you're mind and eyes can play tricks. For years I thought they were black as well.

 

Yep, you're right. Although I think I would call that "charcoal gray", which I've always considered a close kin of black

-Mark

 

Wooden 'HACKS'

 

Nice looking caboose!

 

As a "somewhere between black and gray" color, I think it would probably be dead-on perfect. As for Life-Like, I too am a bit mystified by their rather odd choice -



-Mark

 

Yep, they had the right idea, just the wrong shade!

 

I use Badger's grimy black with some white added in as it was a little too dark.

 

You're right, I tried Floquil Grimy Black and it's a bit too dark. On the other hand, Reefer Gray is a bit too light. Will have to (as you suggested) mix somthing up.

-Mark