Bead Blasting

I,ve been a Pro Painter for 40 years and Aluminum Oxide is a better bet, its faster and would have done the whole Caboose in two minutes.

Aluminum Oxide ?

Would that work in one of the so called "eraser" type guns used for modeling or would you need something larger? Reason I ask is that I'd like to try something like this with scratchbuilt brass models to remove the gunk that's accumulated during a build.

Bernd

Bead Blasting

I don,t see why not, it would probably be easier because it is finer, make sure you wear a good quality face mask.

Yorkshireman, I will bet you my first born....

..........that you cannot "do" that caboose in 2 minutes, pro painter or not!

Peter

Badger Abrasive Gun

Peter,

I have been using for the past 20 years a Badger model 260 Abrasive Gun along with their aluminum oxide abrasive material.  This material is a very fine abrasive so you must be very careful when and where you spray it.

I use this sprayer every time I paint a piece of brass equipment including locomotives and rolling stock.  At one time I painted so much brass I had a homemade sand blasting booth. But do to space issues I had to take it apart.  

If I was doing that caboose I would first soak it in a glass jar filled with paint thinner, scrub it with an old toothbrush.  Then blow dry it with compressed air then oxide blast it, then wash it with clean thinner (I use my airbrush for that) then primer it with a good metal primer.  Not counting the soaking time this would take me about an hour from start to finish.  I included a caboose that I painted in this manor  An Alco models PRR N8

Hope this helps 

Andy Hauser

@Andy, that's a nice paint job......

.........on that caboose. 

My comment was tongue in cheek of Mr. Yorkshireman's 2 minute assertion. BTW it's an O scale caboose!

I think my first born is safe. 

I'm not familiar with using aluminum oxide as a blast medium.  I purchased a Badger Air Eraser some time ago which I think came with a jar of it but I found it to be very slow and suited more to gently remove lettering.  That is why I got the blast cabinet and glass beads.  Obviously you are using something a bit more robust.  Is the aluminum oxide reusable like the beads in a cabinet or do you blast and keep refilling the gun?

Peter 

Yorkshiremans reply Andy thats a nice Paint job

Eyup lad its not tha fault snapped a couple o pictures fo thee, 'O' Caboose 4 minutes 'HO' 2 minutes

Aluminum Oxide filtered at the back of the Booth back into the holding Chamber, 50lb bag $75 lasts me a year.

Blasting Gun Sears $40.

IF THA GUNNA DO IT       DO IT REYT OR NOR AT ALL.

Excellent choice in Cabooses

Peter,

I think I saw the caboose in your pictures on Ebay (probably the auction you won).

I stripped, repaired and painted a very similar caboose. At first glance they looked like the same model but upon closer look - not quite.  Here are a few pics and a description of the process. of painting mine

My model started out as a purchase from a friend.  The caboose was painted in his freelance road colors.  I decided that the model was close enough to a Hetch-Hetchy caboose to do a stand in version with HHRR markings. 

I first had to remove the original paint.  This proved quite difficult. A soak in paint thinner removed some of the paint but left the details plugged.  Next up was acetone, followed by paint stripper and finally bead blasting to get to the degree of removal you see in the photo. One of the side steps had come off of the caboose. I saved it very carefully in my parts box.  I ended up losing the step, finding it again and then losing a second time. At that point I scratch built a replacement (insuring that the original would show up (it hasn’t yet).

Basic paint coat.

Masked and painted black on roof.

I added some weathering decals and detail painting. 

After it was done, a buddy of mine who is an ATSF fan immediately recognized the model as an Iconic caboose associated with the ATSF – I won’t be fooling him (or other ATSF fans) into thinking it is from the HHRR…..

I would love to see your completed model.

Guy

@David..............

.........you  Yorkshiremen are nearly as funny as the Irish but Yorkies are a far cry from a Red Setter!!  LOL

Thanks  for the pictures. 

Peter

@Guy...............

I had to laugh at your step story. I have done that too many times to count. You'd think we'd learn.

I cannot see much difference in the two cabooses other than yours is HO and mine is O scale. You do really nice work. I was looking on your website and I was convinced it was O scale until I read it was HO. 

I never use anything to remove the paint except the bead blasting. I have tried using different paint removal methods but found they made more of a mess to remove than to just blast it all off with the beads. Have you tried that??

Great work, Guy. 

Peter

Bead Blasting

Peter,

I bought a knock off air eraser to get the last of the paint off of the shell. I now have a buddy who picked up a sand blasting booth similar to David's. I will be using that in the future for other projects.

On the lost step: I recently painted some brass locos...Mindful of the step incidents, I was very careful about keeping all the parts together. I didn't lose any but I did end up with parts left over (oh no)... They locos turned out well (even with missing screws)...

Thanks for the kind words on the modeling. I didn't notice that you are in O scale. I think your right about the cabooses being the same model - the stove pipe on yours has some guy wires and the sheathing around the cupola is more detailed.

Guy

Peter Bead Blasting

With regards extra or lost screws as I disassemble a model I immediately put the screws back into the now vacant holes .. Do not take all the screws out and then try and find the correct holes that they go in it can be very frustrating.