David... Thanks for sharing. I loved hearing the actual process and the the end results were certainly worth your effort! Thanks for doing both engine "right". Even at 12" to the foot scale, that is important. It sure makes painting our steam locos back at Castro Point seem pretty easy. Bob Hogan
--- In [email protected], <djdewey@...> wrote: > > Back when I was painting locomotives for the Western Pacific Railroad Museum > (back then it was called the Portola Railroad Museum) we had the luck of > some period photos and someone found the original pattern for nose wings. By > following that pattern, and photographs that showed where the wings passed > through the nose vent louvers (which are on backwards ( or I should say the > left louvers are on the right side & vice-versa) from a wreck rebuild back > in the 1950s or 1960s--someone didn't realize there is/was a left and a > right to those panels--if you didn't know it, the noses of these locomotives > are made up of smaller pieces welded together). The roof black "point" > (which, if I recall rightly, is wrong on the SHS version) had been repainted > a few times by the railroad, who wasn't real particular about laying out the > point curve--there was a 6" difference from side to side. Back to the photos > and looking for bolt heads and rivets to be more precise. Since the WP805A > had had a lot of repaint by other railroads, some "buried" paint clues > weren't there anymore, but the WP 918 was handy to take some rubbings of the > orange band curve below the cab windows--the current curve is one done by > the railroad just before donating the Fs to various museums, and does not > follow the earlier curve! > Yes, I am noted for being particular when it comes to restoration work! > The WP2001 was another mystery, as the previous work done on it had stripped > the noses down to the bare metal. Back to the books, which gave the width of > the tiger stripes, but not the angle nor where one should start. Back to > photographs! Fortunately there are lots of hints on the nose--number board > boxes, ladders, marker light housings--and in our case, the cover for the > deck light in the bottom center of the nose. We found one photograph in > service where someone put the cover on upside-down, which established the > exact point of one stripe's edge--just enough information for me to lay out > the striping! > The lettering on the side of the WP2001 was another vexing problem, but we > lucked out in that not all of the paint had been sanded away. We found a > computer font that matched the WP lettering closely and had vinyl masks > made. Where there were variations from the original, I was able to modify > the masks to match. For those of you painting your models, here's how I did > the prototype. Very first is to open access doors and paint the openings > and inside edges of the doors--for this I went with silver, as the > predominant color. with the doors slightly ajar, now start the outside > painting process. First black in the lettering areas, nose areas, and the > cab roof, then apply masks. Now orange where orange should be ( at this > point, I became known as "Orange Man"--BTW, wearing protective clothing and > respirator the whole time--it gets hot in that thing!). When the orange has > set a few hours, carefully remove the lettering masking. This is tedious > work, as the paint sometimes wants to pull with the masking--razor blades > and unmasking techniques (like pulling the masking over itself so it cuts > the paint edge and doesn't pull the paint off the surface) help a lot > here--and would apply to model painting too. Now mask off the orange, sand > the areas with orange "overspray" into the silver area, and now Start > painting the silver metallic early in the morning starting from the roof > down, change thinner temperatures as the day warms up, and as the day cools > down. I didn't paint all day, as there was some "between coats" time but > mostly ten hours of spraying paint. Because of the large surfaces, one needs > to utilize the edges of the car body to have start/stop points where > overspray will not happen, or will be less noticed--like the cab edges. The > next day, carefully remove the masking! Now the painted railings can go back > on, and it begins to look like a locomotive! > Oh, I forgot to mention that radiator louvers are removed and painted as > units, so that both sides of the operating louvers are painted, then put > back on the locomotive, with louvers shut for the overall paint job. After a > few days, one can close all the access doors and touch up with a brush any > chips or misses. Unlike the model, few folks get within 30 feet of these > areas, and the brush marks aren't visible. Oh, yeah, the next week you dig > out the NOS cab WP logo decals and tediously apply them so there aren't air > bubbles underneath!! > As we used an HVLP Turbine paint system (that paid for itself in the paint > savings on the first locomotive!), we would paint the trucks and fuel tanks > last--very little masking required because of the small amount of overspray > from that painting system--one advantage of the 1:1 scale!. > Well, I hope this wasn't a complete bore for y'all, thought you might get a > kick out of the process. Somewhere I may even have some pics of the process. > BTW, on the F units, I would have to paint the roofs first--lots of fun > walking around all the stuff on the roofs and avoiding falling off, stepping > on the fresh paint, etc. We did paint the fan grills on the ground, and > bolted them on afterwards. Once again, the savings grace is the 30 foot > rule! Not like an automobile where folks can get their eyeballs right next > to the finish and see orange peel, overspray, etc.! > And, no, I did this 20 years ago, and I don't believe I could do it > today--arthritis, etc. (don't say "OLD"!!!!) > Oh, one reason I did the letters first, is that they would be recessed from > the rest of the paint, and would last longer that way. The nose wings on the > WP805A were painted over the orange, white first, than the red (red is so > hard to cover--that was an easy decision!) > Run 'em if ya got 'em! > S' > David Dewey > ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! 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