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With train funds tight, what I made from selling my Marklin collection is all I have to spend, I decided to see if I can achieve the same quality of a paint job that I normaly pay Josh from Blockchoice to paint for me. Sorry Josh, your stuff is great, but seeing if I can pull it off on my own. Engine is a simple one, PFM/United C&S HOn3 Mogul #21. I stripped it, soaked it in a jar of Vinager for 1/2 hour to etch the finish, sprayed with Krylon satin black (my fav basic steam engine color), I had masked off the smokebox during this paint step, I then hand painted the smoke box using Testors silver, along with the tube for the Ridgeway spark arrester. I then hand painted the headlight and shelf black. I also fully disassembled the chassis, painted it the same way with the same paint. Everything then went on a cookie sheet with a piece of alum foil on it to bake for 1 hour at 180'. I see suggestions from 175-200' for baking for 1 hour, I split the differance with 180'. So far so good, engine looks awsome and should be out of the oven in about 15 min. I will take some pics of it cooling on the cookie sheet pan. I already have decals on hand, so once she cools I will set about decaling and reassembly. I do plan to remotor this engine with a kit from Roundbell Hobby as the original old KTM open frame leaves lots of room for improvement. I will post up a before paint job pic in a few min. Mike
Nope, only things you dont bake are any insulated wheels, so the tender trucks, drivers, pilot truck and of coarse the motor must all be removed. It normaly takes around 275' to melt solder from my research. I have read to bake brass around 175 to 200 degrees F. I split the differance with 180' and it seems to have worked great. After dinner I will get busy with decaling. I cant find the prototype info to see which class of 2-6-0 the #21 was on the C&S. I still need to purchase some MV lenses for class/marker lights and the headlight along with the new motor. New pics coming shortly. Mike
Boy folks cant read these days, says right in my first post that I was baking at 180' for 1 hour per some of the best brass painters in the industry. Our oven is a nice upper model Whirlpool with digital temp control, did the job quite nicely I might say. I am uploading new pics as I type this. Mike
OK, here are the pics of the C&S #21 and the TCC #89. The C&S is the above mentioned PFM/United import from the early 60's. The #89 is a Far East Distributors Spartan Series 1910 era Mogul. FED is an offshoot of NWSL, and despite a poor running reputation, some simple mods to the power pickup and a can motor works wonders for them. For now both have thier open frame motors. Both will get can motors in the near future. The FED engine is avaiable for sale if anybody would like to buy it. I plan to stick with C&S power at this point. I performed the power pickup mod already, as built it used only the tender trucks for power pickup, 2 axles for each rail. Now its like any other brass import, tender picks up one side, and the engine picks up the other. I added a spring wire to the drawbar to transmit power back to the tender frame. The tender trucks are mounted to a piece of PC board so they are isolated from the tenders frame. Strange design if you ask me. PM me if intersted in the engine. Enjoy the pics! Mike
Thats Jerome, I am pleased with it, needs weathered now! I am going to enjoy it being shiny and fresh from the shop for a bit, then have it weathered professionaly but a friend that is good at it. Really needs a can motor. I think the kits from Roundbell are a bit high priced, I dont mind being able to see the drive shaft part. They supply a fine wire drive shaft that is less visable. What I need is a small NWSL or Sagami can motor that is flat sided and single shafted. I need to take the tender top back off and take a measurment to see what will fit. The small NWSL can the local shop has is about an 1/8th inch to tall, if it was flat sided instead of round it would have been perfect. Motor needs to have some good torque so it wont run hot when I run the engine for a couple hours straight at shows when I display the new layout. Coal loads are also in the works for both engines. Thanks Mike
Looks good, though I'd suggest a graphite color rather than silver for the smokebox and firebox. Brass is actually pretty easy if you can keep your head and get through the disassembly/assembly process. Much easier than the plastic stuff!
Thanks guys and Josh. Josh, when you get caught up with the back log and can do a quick turn around, I would like you to weather it for me. That is one part I wont try to do. By the time your caught up, I will be ready to loose the new car shine it has and I should have it remotored and a crew on board by then. And the silver is correct per my C&S color guide. They list silver as the color for the smoke box and not the darker graphite color. Mike
Use a super low heat.Maybe 200 deg.or lower.fer maybe 2-3 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! From experience 
