Detailing and Painting 3 AC4400CW's


Angelic

L.A.P.T. Fan
well the first locomotives I bought was 3 Athern Ac4400cw (2 powered and 1 dummy) but being the inexperianced moron I was (and still am) I preaty much lost the all the accesserys that came with them including Horn, numberboard, sunshades and Handle bars.

I wan't them to look like this

ac4400cw.JPG

So now since have striped them of their KCS and CP colors, I want to detail these 3 powerhouses i was wondering what do i really need to detail them and where could I get them from. I really dont' like the plastic accesory that came with them and I want them to look like a model and not a toy so what accesory Items do I need?

Will
 
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Hi Will and welcome to the Model Railroad Forums, Horizon hobbies own Athearn nowadays so the missing parts you'll need can be ordered from them
http://www.horizonhobby.com/Stores/Products.aspx?StoreCatId=T&CatId=TH
To make a highly detailed unit you'll have to get detail parts from certain suppliers like Details West or detail Associates to name two. Walther's online catalog will have most of them, so the first thing you'll want to do is make a plan of how you want the finished model to look like. Just take it a step at a time like a couple of questions at a time and you'll get lots of suggestions I'm sure.
Here's the Detail Associates search At Walther's http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?quick=Detail+Associates&quicksrch_butt.x=55&quicksrch_butt.y=7

Cheers Willis
 
Hey I can do it for ya! Anyways, if you have any specific questions I'll be happy to answer, the links posted so far are great.
 
When I superdetailed my Athearn AC4400CW, I used Details West Products.

235-236 (Details West MU Cable)
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/235-236

235-267 (Details West Air Hose)
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/235-267

235-266 (Details West MU Hoses) http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/235-266

Another good place to check out for super detailing is Details West's website, www.detailswest.com They have examples of model locomotives that they have detailed with their products, and include a list of which products they used. They even did an Athearn AC4400CW which might give you a few ideas of what you want to detail.
http://www.detailswest.com/AC4400 Info.htm
 
well I guess I better ask what is the best way to get the risidue from the primer off when you strip them, I soaked them in alchol for about 3 days and it still didn't all come off, is their something i can use to get the rest off it looks like some one took white paint and and just flung paint at it. and i don't think I should Prime over it cause it does seem to be kind of rough
 
Pine-sol. Put it in a bath of it for about 30 mins, then rub with a soft bristle brush, like a boot brush, or a tooth brush, then rinse with water. Repeat if its still patchy. You can also take some fine (600 grit or higher) sand paper and clean up the patches of paint. I'm going to assume it looks a little like this:
View attachment 5112
 
Pine-sol. Put it in a bath of it for about 30 mins, then rub with a soft bristle brush, like a boot brush, or a tooth brush, then rinse with water. Repeat if its still patchy. You can also take some fine (600 grit or higher) sand paper and clean up the patches of paint. I'm going to assume it looks a little like this:
View attachment 5112

Yea thats what they look like, so I'll try the pine sol and see what it does and then when I'll go to the next question so I hope it's ok but this thread might get pretty big
 
Yea thats what they look like, so I'll try the pine sol and see what it does and then when I'll go to the next question so I hope it's ok but this thread might get pretty big
Just remember, if its not completely clean, make another pass. I managed to strip a Bachmann shell, then the unit you see above, but the 3rd shell didn't turn out as good, as the Pine-sol was too loaded with paint. So I'd say two shells per 30 fl oz. I bought the 48 fl oz (1.5 qt) bottle, and have just under half left. I also bought one of those $.97 (at Wal*mart) Sterilite plastic "shoe boxes".

Stick the the original, and use it twice... I only filled enough to do one side at a time, as I can flip the shell over...
 
Angelic;

What kind of alcohol did you use? I've always used denatured alcohol for stripping most plastic, back when I was painting professionally, and it worked better than 91% isopropyl and it always removed 99.9% of the paint. There was no lingering smell or residue left on the shells. For really tough paint, I've had good success with Polly Scale's Easy Lift Off.

For shells that alcohol/pine sol/ELO etc, didn't affect, I use a sand blaster loaded with super fine grit, baking soda, or one of the non abrasive cleansers.
 
Yes! Primer has a tacky base, it covers and imperfections an leave a nice even finish, so when you do the actual painting, it'll turn out cleaner (not spotty), and it helps the paint adhere better.
 
One example of where I always need primer, is when I kitbash something and some of the styrene is white or light gray (ex. Canon cab) beside black (ex. Athearn bluebox shell). A medium gray primer coat reduces [doesn't completely eliminate] the contrast so when I spray the actual color it looks all the same.
 
I also have a question about primers I'm going to be doing some painting using rattle cans of model paint. does any manufacturer have a rattle can primer?
 
I just use the cheapest primer I can find at K-Mart or Wally World. Basically, I use sandable gray primer. If it's good enough for a car, it's good enough for my models....

Kennedy
 



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