Prepping brass caboose

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  • August 31, 2018 at 2:04 pm #6145
    Daniel Duckworth
    Participant

    Hi – I have a couple of the Hallmark MP cabooses (cabeese?) that are painted in the gold finish from the factory. Should that be stripped before painting? And if so, with what? Nothing seems to affect it.

    Thanks!

    September 1, 2018 at 7:51 pm #8997
    peggyrothschild
    Participant

    Back in the old days we used lacquer thinner but make sure you don’t put the wheel sets in as the thinner will dissolve the nylon insets used to insulate the wheels.

    Here’s a thread where Don Wirth also recommends using lacquer thinner and Don does a lot of custom painting for guys. http://www.frisco.org/shipit/index.php?threads/need-info-painting-a-frisco-brass-caboose-ho-scale.6335/

    September 1, 2018 at 8:54 pm #8998
    Bud Moss
    Participant

    I agree with Charlie, lacquer thinner works on this paint. Will probably need some scrubbing too since the paint is THICK. The main surprise you will have is the nasty solder joint that are uncovered. They are good joints, just ugly. The BCR paint you use to paint the cars will cover them nicely.

    Jerry Michels

    September 1, 2018 at 9:48 pm #8999
    peggyrothschild
    Participant

    Jerry mentions BCR but according to Ed Hawkins the Mopac used a boxcar brown shade in the 1940-1950’s and Ed recommended TruColor MKT as a good match. Paint number 188 in their line. I’ve used Floquil BCR for years and being green-red color blind it doesn’t bother me but my most recent models I did start using 188.

    September 2, 2018 at 3:35 pm #9004
    Bud Moss
    Participant

    My choice of BCR for MoPac cabooses is just a common term. There were many shade variations of this common reddish brown both as originally applied and as faded by sun and darkened by soot and dirt. In my opinion, unless you are intending on replicating a fresh from the paint shop caboose, the shade, within reason, is inconsequential. If you have a string of cabooses on a layout, varied shades of “BCR” will look more realistic than a string of glossy cabs in the “correct” color. Just my opinion. Jerry

    September 2, 2018 at 5:44 pm #9005
    princessclyne69
    Participant

    I too have always used plain ol’ boxcar red, first Floquil for many years, and now mostly Scalecoat II spray cans. I also use a lot of Tru-color for brush touch-up, say coupler cut levers and corner grabs. Scalecoat has a decent variety of freight car colors, so I’ve mostly done ok. I’ve tried to tell the difference between this color and the more recent ‘BCR #2’ and ‘BCR #3’, and the oxide red which I use for any of several railroads who I know use it.

    My color consultant is of some help, but she has limited experience with freight cars.

    I have several colors that I use for tie strip painting, but that should be the subject of another message.

    Anyway, since I’m modeling the early sixties, I will need sometime soon to develop a technique for simulating the faded and flaking paint on wooden surfaces. I’ve done ok with some experiments on roofwalks, using the Tru-color 348 weathered gray wood, 349 seasoned brown wood, and 350 natural wood. Tru-color also makes a color 354 galvanized steel, which looks better than any I’ve ever seen.

    I’ll note here that I’m mostly addressing plastic surfaces. I haven’t painted anything brass in a while.

    RG7

    September 3, 2018 at 12:46 pm #9009
    Bud Moss
    Participant

    Ron, a friend of mine that passed away a few years ago, Virgil Young, simulated peeling paint by first painting a base color, then applying very lightly moistened oatmeal to the surface, letting it dry, then painting the top coat. Once it dried, the oatmeal can be brushed or rubbed off. It worked pretty well. The oatmeal can be left as is out of the box or ground up to a finer size. The irregular size of the flakes mimics the randomness of flaking paint.

    Jerry Michels

    September 8, 2018 at 2:59 am #9019
    Daniel Duckworth
    Participant

    Thanks to all! I’d tried a little bit of lacquer thinner, didn’t appear to have any effect, but I’d just brushed it on. Looks like I’ll need to sink the car into a dish of it. I tend to user better trucks (Tahoe, usually) so no need to do anything with the brass ones.

    Ben

    @cduckworth wrote:

    Back in the old days we used lacquer thinner but make sure you don’t put the wheel sets in as the thinner will dissolve the nylon insets used to insulate the wheels.

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