Decal Prep and Paint on Diesel


ctulanko

ctulanko

Member
I was able to finish the prep on my brass diesel, cleaning it with lacquer thinner, soaking it in a vinegar bath, washing it with a baking soda bath followed by a good rinse and finally priming it with Tamiya Metal primer, which I wasn't aware was actually clear, followed by airbrushing it with Polly-Scale Brunswick Green acrylic paint, with two thin coats of color so as not to take away from the brass detail. The paint turned out to be a flat color and covered well.

I am ready to apply decals, however, I have never applied them to a flat paint surface, as I have always used a glossy finish. I have read of people using Krylon Crystal Clear to prep for decals, however I know that Krylon gloss paints in general are very thick and I want to maintain the detail look of the Diesel engine.

What can I use that is acrylic friendly and is thin enough to seal the paint so that I can apply the MicroScale PRR decals?

How would I paint the handrails yellow? With darker colors, in the past I have had to use a white base prior to painting lighter colors, such as yellow. Is this still the case?

I believe gloss yellow would work better...is this true?

Can I apply the yellow with steady hand and a brush and still get a good finish?

What should I clearcoat the model with once handrails are painted and decals are applied? A flat finish? Satin? What brand of clearcoat is recommended?

Finally, I do plan on weathering it once I am done. What do I use to seal the weathering?

Lots of questions, but then again, I am new to painting model railroad diesels. As an FYI, my new airbrush system worked out great and made a big difference when applying the base coat finish... I am very happy with Iwata and their products. As always, any and all help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Carl
 
future floor polish, pledge with future or whatever they call it now. i just brush it on, but some spray it on. you can thin it with rubbing alcohol(70%) or automotive windshield washer fluid(not windex or anything with ammonia). acrylic safe, and easy to remove if you get it somewhere you do not want it.
 
I use Model Master clear acrylic. It comes in Gloss, Semi-Gloss and Satin that I know of. I imagine it comes in flat also, but I've never used it. Whether you use a flat or satin finish for the final coat just depends on how weathered you want it to look. The older the paint and the dirtier the paint (on RL locomotives) the more flat it will be. Other model paint companies should also have the varied clear coats. I would definitely advise against Krylon because as you say it is pretty thick.

You can hand-paint the handrails, and I often do so. The paint tends to sort of wrap around as you paint from different angles and it will cover well. It will, however, be a bit thicker than if you spray it, especially if you're covering a darker surface. If I'm painting yellow over existing white, I brush it. If I'm having to paint yellow over black I'll go to the trouble of masking it off and spraying it. To get it to cover a dark color well with a brush just takes (in my opinion) too much paint and makes it too thick if you brush it.
 
Haven't read it yet but ModelRailroadHobbyist has an article on Decals in the latest on-line mag issue.
 
For a gloss finish, I use Model Master Metalizer Sealer. It's just like water right out of the bottle, no thinning required for airbrushing. Covers well and goes on thin. You will probably need a few coats to gloss up that flat paint.

Mark.
 
Thanks much for the responses guys!

Regarding the Future finish, I am not a big fan, but have not tried thinning it and the finish wound up yellowing on me over time. I may try it thinned out on some stock cars and experiment a bit, but I don't really want to use it on my Brass engines. Thanks for the suggestions though.

I am going to try both the Model Master Clear Acrylic in all flavors, as well as the Metalizer Sealer. Do these all come in glass bottles, ready to thin and airbrush? If so, could you recommend a supplier? I would want to buy enough for all of my projects this year and there are many.

I also saw a Testors Aztec Acrylic that is available, but I think that may be a bit too thick and looks like it is more for artist use. any thoughts?

Regarding painting the rails, I can mask and do them using the airbrush...sounds like a good way to go. Question though, would a flat yellow acrylic paint be thinner when applying by hand? Is there such a thing as Flat Yellow Acrylic? I found in the past that flat paints do not build up as bad as gloss, so this may be a solution to paint build up on rails, but wouldn't it also require more coats?

Thanks again for all the help and sorry for all the questions... I have several engines I want to paint and am pretty meticulous about doing it right the first time, so I appreciate your patience.
 
Not trying to be a smart-a** here, but if you are pretty meticulous about doing this right, you shouldn't have painted it with flat paint in the first place. You've just created excess steps for yourself.

Added hinderance is the fact flat paint isn't as smooth as gloss paint. You'll find once you attempt to spray gloss over this flat finish, it isn't going to be as smooth as you hope .... unless you spray on a lot of it. Then you're back to having more finish on the engine than if you were to have used a good gloss color coat to start with.

If it were me and I discovered this, not being into it too far, I'd strip it and start again with the correct paint. But that's just me ....

Mark.
 
ctulanko said:
Thanks much for the responses guys!

I am going to try both the Model Master Clear Acrylic in all flavors, as well as the Metalizer Sealer. Do these all come in glass bottles, ready to thin and airbrush? If so, could you recommend a supplier? I would want to buy enough for all of my projects this year and there are many.
Click to expand...

They do. I think they airbrush very well also. I use the semi-gloss because it seems to match very well with what comes out of the box as far as factory-painted units. Since I don't weather my units it's nice to have them all with approximately the same finish.

Regarding painting the rails, I can mask and do them using the airbrush...sounds like a good way to go. Question though, would a flat yellow acrylic paint be thinner when applying by hand? Is there such a thing as Flat Yellow Acrylic? I found in the past that flat paints do not build up as bad as gloss, so this may be a solution to paint build up on rails, but wouldn't it also require more coats?
Click to expand...

I use what's just called Insignia Yellow most of the time, as it matches the biggest percentage of what railroads paint their handrails when they use yellow. I *think* it's a flat paint, but I honestly can't swear to that. Obviously everything ends up with the finish of my final coat. Here's an example of both spraying and painting the railings, and remember this is in N scale so it's going to look thicker and less detailed than HO to begin with. The white and purple portions of the front railings were airbrushed and yellow was hand-brushed on top of that. You can see that painting the yellow on top of the white and/or purple does thicken it up just slightly but not to any huge extent as long as you apply it carefully. It'll at least give you an idea of the difference between airbrush and hand painting.

MV60-07.jpg
 
Mike, you did a great job on the handrails and I do see a difference, although it is minute when considering the scale. Well done! I am also very familiar with that specific yellow...thanks for the tip.

Mark, sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees! When you're right, you're right...I was so set on using the Polly Scale paint as it was a bit hard to come by and was a so-called scale color...I didn't expect it to be in a flat finish. I took your advice and just finished stripping the body, rails, frame and trucks and they will be soaked overnight to insure there are not any flakes left anywhere. I am thinking I may break out my ultrasonic parts cleaner, but it is currently buried in a storage closet. It did strip very easily and I was happy with the result. Thanks for setting this ole guy straight; your finishes on your website are phenomenal and if I get even a small percentage of that, I will be happy.

Any tips for getting the three bottles of Testors Acrylic Black Gloss I found on my shelf to the correct color? Scratch that...they have been there a while, so I will get fresh. I am thinking a little green will do it, not sure which green though...too many choices these days.

Thanks again.

Carl
 
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