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How do you paint a car with details that you can't remove for painting? Locos and rolling stock
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Regular poster 211 posts Arizona Gary Regular poster 211 posts
Arizona Gary

Back in the day, I purchased a number of Thrall All Door Boxcars from Walthers. Since I'm trying to model relatively contemporary, many of those cars are no longer usable in their current form. So either I sell them (limited market for them) or do something with them. Modifying them to what some of them became is beyond my current skillset. But painting them in a still in use paint scheme might be possible. NOKL has a number of them still in service for specialized wood products. Their paint scheme is a basic brown (box car red?) solid color. Nominal data on the cars.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1974032

The problem comes up as to how to paint the areas where the door bars (? term) are and also all the area behind the end bulkhead details without leaving a bunch of plastic untouched with the new paint.

Yes, I do have a decent airbrush and adequate skills with it. Maybe.

Of course, any recommendations on preparing the cars for repaint will also be appreciated.

Trying to set up projects for the long hot summer to come.

Thank you all in advance.
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ctxmf74 Super User 15,970 posts
ctxmf74

those hard to reach spots

tend to get grungy so I usually spray what I can reach with an air brush,then switch to a hand brush and try to poke it behind all the obstacles and hit the unpainted areas, then go over it with a wash or two of rust, grime,etc. till it looks like it was painted and is now showing years of use.....DaveB

1990.jpg 
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Graham Line Prolific poster 1,189 posts
Graham Line

Maybe

Reducing your customary spraying pressure will blow more paint into the nooks and crannies. You may need to adjust the thinning of the paint to do this, and lay up the paint in more coats than you usually apply.

Be sure to reset your compressor and airbrush immediately after you are finished so you don't surprise yourself in the next session.
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Arizona Gary Regular poster 211 posts
Arizona Gary

Thanks, Dave

Now I do have brushes. Fair brushes. But once I got an airbrush I sort of realized how much better a smooth airbrush coat could be. Also remember 60 years ago as a boy painting military models by brush with good old Testors. Shakes head.

But that sounds like a reasonable idea. Use a very small brush to fill in those places I can't cleanly airbrush. Then weather it to hide any "imperfections", which is what the prototype photos of the NOKL cars show a lot of, not to mention variances in primary paint color. I get the feeling NOKL was merely looking to get a coat on that would make them presentable without spending a pretty penny in time, material and labor.

Right now I'm going through my rolling stock collection looking for cars to advance my non-existent weathering skills on. First the blue boxes, then the Walthers kits, then the Walthers RTR that aren't likely to get used otherwise. I'll wait until I'm happy with a skill level before touching anything I really want to display and keep.

Now, if I only had patience...
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