More painted brass


Espeefan

Well-Known Member
Did this one for a friend two weeks ago:

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And this one for me last weekend. It started as a factory paint which I upgraded. Before & after:

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Thanks Greg! Glad you like it. How long? My longest job took over a year, but I had tons of interruptions. The 0-8-0 I started on a Friday evening and finished that Sunday afternoon, but, there was no detail work (changing parts, etc,) no re-motor, no DCC. It was fully disassembled, blast cleaned and ultrasonically cleaned. I also installed window glazing and decaled it. I had no mechanical issues to correct, and that always helps. I didn't get much else done that weekend though! The GS was a Saturday-Sunday project. It was painted mostly already so I added the smokebox/firebox graphite and some other trim. It got re-motored, and DCC without sound, window glazing and decals too. I cheated on it when I painted the running gear. I didn't take it apart. I sprayed the drivers and wheels with everything assembled. Normally this is a No-No, but I know these mechanisms pretty well and I clean everything right away so paint doesn't stay where it doesn't belong. I'm also pretty good with the airbrush and can keep paint going where I want it to go. It really depends on your focus. The average job can be done in maybe 3-4 days of working time if you are being thorough. A sound installation would have added another day or two, and I accelerate the drying process by baking everything. I've been moving away from sound believe it or not. I have plenty of locos with sound but with this GS, I wanted to leave the structure original and not have a bunch of wires between the loco & tender. I also didn't feel like spending the extra hundred bucks! It's with me today and going to the club tonight for testing on the layout.
 
Very nice looking, Alan! I have admired your work before, but it's always nice to see additional works.
A couple of brain pickins if I may?
Do you prime before painting?
What brand of paint do you use?
How long do you bake and the temperature please?

Well - That's more than a couple, I guess> lol.
 
Very nice looking, Alan! I have admired your work before, but it's always nice to see additional works.
A couple of brain pickins if I may?
Do you prime before painting?
What brand of paint do you use?
How long do you bake and the temperature please?

Well - That's more than a couple, I guess> lol.

No problem Sherrel, always happy to share!

Primer, none, unless I'm painting yellow. Yellow can be a stinker. Over unpainted brass, it generally isn't.

I use Scalecoat mostly though I am currently going up the learning curve with Tru-Color. It's nice stuff but the acetone base means it's very fast drying. Gotta be careful or you get orange peel! Both of those jobs were Scalecoat except for the Daylight Orange I repainted the Pilot of the GS-4 with. That was Tru-Color.

I bake Scalecoat at 205 degrees for 90-120 minutes. Do not bake plastic! This stuff is all brass. I left the Kadee coupler box on the model and even 205 was enough to ruin it, and water doesn't boil at 205!. Fortunately I have about a million Kadee draft gear boxes! Allow Scalecoat to dry 24-48 hours on plastic. Check for odor. if it still stinks, go away and come back later! :)
 
Thanks, Alan.
It's been several decades since I painted anything. Hmmm .. I wonder if my paasche will still work. I probably have 50-60 full to half full Floquil bottles of paint and an unopened pint of dio-sol.
 
Sound like you have the process down. I do agree with you on the yellow paint and having to use primer. Although my fleet of Alco locomotives are plastic, I did have to work into getting the process down for good coverage. Started on a couple of Athearn Geeps and got it figured out and when Atlas came out with their Alco locomotives, I went hog wild with the air brush.

I used Floquil when I painted my brass locomotives. Pretty close to the same coverage as Scalecoat. I also did not prime the brass and baked the finish about the same way. Even with many years of handling, the brass locomotives that I do run on a regular basis have held up without any problems.

You've done some really nice work there.
 
Glad y'all are enjoying. There's more coming. I seem to be in the manic phase. Lots of production. Locomotive work & painting is my favorite part of the hobby.
 
Alan as usual,Awesome work. If I could afford it,I would send you my Southern 2-8-0,and let you paint it. The reason, I just don't feel comfortable taking apart a brass loco,and painting it without fear of screwing something up. Any other model,that's plastic,no problem, but irreplaceable brass,especially expensive brass,sorry I just can't do it. William.
 
Alan- You have come a long way from spraying a boxcar in an open box!
It is easy to see that you are a true artist with an airbrush.

I always enjoy seeing your work, please keep posting !
 
Alan- You have come a long way from spraying a boxcar in an open box!
It is easy to see that you are a true artist with an airbrush.

I always enjoy seeing your work, please keep posting !

Hi Mikey! Hard to believe that was 24 years ago. Looks like I'll be doing clinics at your convention, along with visiting for a while. It'll be nice to catch up. Until then, I'll keep the production coming!
 
Alan, Carey has been under the weather lately, and I haven't been able to get together with him. William.

That's too bad! I haven't spoken with him in a long time. He never answers his cell. Seems like he's under the weather more than on top of it these days.
 
That's too bad! I haven't spoken with him in a long time. He never answers his cell. Seems like he's under the weather more than on top of it these days.

Alan - I don't know Carey, but every now and then (and it's been quite a while) his name comes up in the 'CoffeeShop'.
From what is said - He is in pretty bad shape healthwise.
 
Hi Mikey! Hard to believe that was 24 years ago. Looks like I'll be doing clinics at your convention, along with visiting for a while. It'll be nice to catch up. Until then, I'll keep the production coming!

Alan- I'll be looking forward to seeing you. I'll plan on attending a clinic and learning a dozen or two things from you!
 
Alan - I don't know Carey, but every now and then (and it's been quite a while) his name comes up in the 'CoffeeShop'.
From what is said - He is in pretty bad shape healthwise.

That's what I understand as well. I've known Carey for a long time along with most of the Alabama gang. Maybe he'll turn up at the convention. I'd hate to miss him, I don't get down that way much these days!
 
Still going strong. That GS-4 I kicked up a notch looked so good I decided to give the same treatment to my GS-3. This is a particularly hard to find model. It is listed in Glaab's "The Brown Book of Brass Locomotives", but there is no data on how many were made.
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I found this coach at the Brass Expo in Chicago last year, and bought it unpainted. Here it is. I used Tru-Color's SP coach Olive color. Scalecoat for the black. Needs better diaphragms. The PSC ones kind of suck.

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What to do next? Hmmm... I'll think on it!
 
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