David, I enjoyed the post. I shot the Frisco 1522. I still remember the most scary thing about it was shooting the cab roof. I had shot the cab while it was off the loco. I did not shoot the red roof untill after the cab was installed. I didn't like being way up there without any thing to hang on too. Mike Swederska
--- 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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