SBS ?

Hi Rick, Funny that they want you to spend time writing a how to do it but they won't spend the time it takers to spell out 3 words :> ) ......DaveB

Steps

Step #1

Buy a beautiful ExactRail boxcar. Love their rolling stock!

OK this was about four years ago and after joining the MRH forum I was really excited by the weathering I was seeing from people that had some serious chops.

Step #2

 Destroy the beautiful car with a really ham handed approach and add some commercially available graffiti decals that were nicely done but on top of this yellow car turned it into a gypsy circus wagon. Also make sure the roof and lower portions of the car had so much paint on them that they looked coated with six inches of mud. etc. ad nauseam. Notice the two other victims patiently waiting behind the circus wagon.   2015.......bad year for boxcars .

Close up

Step #3

Hide the car in a storage cabinet and vow to someday do a better job on it.

Hey Dave!

Welcome to the saga. It was "Young Master Goober" who got me started on this "tell all". I think that he thinks that I am in full control of my wits and fully understand the language used on this continent. This will show him! After looking it up and being quite surprised at some of the definitions, my wife gave me that "look" and said "step by step". She used to teach English to "Second Language Learners" so I guess I qualify.

Advance to mid 2019

From this point on there won't be as many pictures until the final comments where I'll put some arrows and notes to kinda explain how it came to be what it is currently.

Step#4

Get into a creative funk in the layout room and decide to pull out some basket case from the past and see what happens. 

Step #5 

After inspection and ruminating about it for several days realize that there is no hope to correct anything.

Step #6

Go look for the Paashe Air Eraser that you bought close to 30 years ago. For those that don't know what that is.....think miniature sand blaster. Airbrush that throws abrasives at small models.

Going to quick synopsis as the steps get really complicated due to so many back and forth movements from the paint booth and the outdoors to sand blast it again.....wish I had taken pictures but I was getting very frustrated and it looked like curtains for the poor boxcar. It was at that point that I gave up on yellow, Off yellow, faded yellowish white, various shades between white and gray and one special layer that turned it pink because I hadn't cleaned out my airbrush as well as I thought.

Light bulb over head

Give up on a light colored paint and do what the railroads did. Boxcar Red. Boxcar Brown. Oxide Red etc.

I masked and sprayed (Floquil) with those basic colors mixing slightly different shades for different panels. Redid the roof to reflect the overspray that had changed to a red based approach.

Pan Pastels were used both straight and mixed to feather the different paint colors together. Raw Umber oil paint in a diluted (turpentine) form was carefully run down the panel seems and other details to induce depth and appearance of shadows. Here's a couple of photos with some notes. I'll give the skinny on the decals in the next post.

Starting with the roof.

Grafitti

This one will take a little time. Try to get it on here later.

Can I borrow that light bulb???

Wow Rick, I would have never guessed!!!  Genius!  Whew!!!

Wicked fine!!!

Nick

Nick

I'd gladly send you a lightbulb. I'm not sure which one it is as it was very brief and somewhat dim. 

OK. Grafitti

I have not been able to paint graffiti on my rolling stock that resembles anything like the real deal. Others can....not me.

 I have been using decals and early on used some of the Microscale sheets which are excellent but I found that for my needs many of the images weren't what I was looking for. So after pulling the ones I liked I bought quite a few off of Ebay. They varied from awful to sorta useful. Got somewhat frustrated that even the best ones didn't have the colors and character that I wanted. I'm not a color expert or anything near that but I use a very limited palette of colors on my layout and I wanted to continue the theme.....as much for photographic reasons as anything.

 So, out comes the camera, photo editing and I started making my own decal artwork. Ended up using about half my photos and half found rail images. Then I found the secret weapon! Bill Brillinger the Canadian Flash was nice enough to work with me and now I use decals for everything from graffiti to road markings. 

I often change colors of sections of graffiti while editing to get the feel I need. Also I cut them up in smaller pieces to get the blend happening.

 On this boxcar I used a full 50' length decal but after living with it I didn't like the color of the door and it just didn't work with that center section of the decal. So......I masked and repainted the door, decal and all. Then found a section of a larger decal that was basically an orange circle, put it in the lower center of the door. The color was exactly right for the door and the other decals but there was an odd blank area around it so I hand painted a white splash around it to tie things together.

 Often I will hand paint over sections of decals to change the color and have been known to put a decal on just to use as a template to hand paint it entirely.

KCS waiting its turn at sawtooth

I dislike graffiti but it's very realistic

I dislike graffiti but it's a very realistic job.

Rick nice job and nice

Rick nice job and nice writeup - thanks for sharing.  I have started to “revisit” some of my early weathering projects too. One can strip and repaint a car many times. Or just paint over; that top edge 3D corrosion you achieved is a nice effect. 

it’s a form of recycling. We are saving the planet one boxcar at a time!

Jeff

Jeff

Thanks for the nice comment and I agree that the texture does have some utility. At the rate that it took to finish one side and top of this boxcar (the other side is just a basic red right now) I'll be busy for years updating my other early efforts!

BTW what method are you using for stripping off the original finish? I just didn't have the knowledge/nerve to dunk it in a chemical bath but the air eraser method is really a pain for an entire car.

91% isopropyl alcohol

It strips  many of the factory paints used in the last 40 years.  Many stores carry it.   And it must be 91% or stronger.  70% won't do anything.  And don't leave it uncovered, because it soaks up moisture from the atmosphere and turns itself into 70%.

Get yourself a heavy duty ziplok freezer bag large enough to hold the model.  Pour the alcohol into the bag and press out most of the air.  Leave sut for an hour or two then scrub with an old toothbrush.  Keep the brush wet with alcohol as you scrub.  Might take a second or third dunk & scrub cycle.

And do the scrubbing someplace where you don't mind little bits of paint flying all over the place.

Scott Chatfield

Thanks Scott

Very useful info. Much appreciated.

stripping paint

     Hi Rick, I clean my airbrush with ammonia household cleaning solution, it works well on home applied acrylic paint but I've never tried it on factory painted models.....DaveB

Dave

Now that's an interesting idea. Might try that on spot jobs. I've got a good spray booth but am curious if you use booth or go outside to avoid fumes.

+1 on 91% ISO

Rick

Mr. Chatfield is spot on. I just stripped a Walthers GP9 using that method and it came out great.  A few added observations:

1. Sometimes the iso removes the paint almost instantly and sometimes it takes an overnight soak.  factory lettering can be the most stubborn part. 
2. Toothbrushes are good but sometimes a stiffer nylon or plastic brush is needed like the one in this set. https://www.harborfreight.com/3-pc-detail-brush-set-69638.html I’d avoid the metal wire brushes that could scratch the plastic. 
3. on one or two occasions I’ve had some small plastic details like freight car side steps sort of melt off when soaked for too long. Perhaps the ISO was too “chemically hot” for that particular plastic. I forget what car did that it may have been a low end train set car. This has been rare but something to be cautious of especially with highly detailed models (I typically run less detailed locos and cars). It seems to dissolve some glues as well so you may find parts like windows separated from the body. 
4. you can reuse the ISO infinitely. Mine is a grotesque brown orange now but it still works fine. 
5. Don’t trust the ziplock bags. Sometimes the iso eats through it and causes a leak especially in the bag corners and top near the zipper. I put the bag in a small plastic pan for insurance. Mrs. K5 would be non plussed to find a quart of melted paint stew all over the kitchen counter. 

And Yes air erasing a whole car would not be fun!  Great tool though.  

Jeff

Jeff

Thanks for filling in some of the "cracks". I sure hope that I never have to use it but I've got enough info now to at least feel I got half a chance of not melting the car! Half a chance is better than no chance.

 Someday I'll fess up about using a "low temp" convection oven to speed up the drying times between fading coats on another boxcar. Oh yeah, I also tried a heat shrink gun for drying too....very carefully. Never again. 

I now have a hair dryer hanging permanently by my work desk. Only takes a "few" disasters for me to wise up.

"Might try that on spot jobs.

  Hi Rick, When I clean my airbrush with ammonia cleaner I just pour a little in a dish and dip the airbrush in it for a couple of minutes then take it out and rinse it with water. I've heard that it can eat at the inner seals but I've never had a problem by limiting the time it's in the airbrush. The ammonia also works fast on home applied acrylic modeling paint, I've brushed a thin coat on a freight car and seen the paint come off in a couple of minutes. I wouldn't try spraying ammonia as it smells pretty nasty. Janitorial supply websites could probably tell you more about safety and it's uses....DaveB 

Now this is a "STEP BY STEP"

Rick, you have performed an outstanding job!!! This is an excellent presentation of how to weather and apply graffiti.  

THANK YOU VERY MUCH'

For taking the time to explain all the particulars in exceptional detail'... It is very much appreciated'  You my friend, are a great asset to the MRH forum'...

Looks great

very nice work as usual Rick. Modern cars can have a lot of character albeit ugly character. I see lots of BKTY boxes and INTX covered hoppers that beg to be modeled around here   

 Thanks for the write up too!

Thanks Sir Goob and Mr. "Shop"

I always value your input.

Goober...I don't ever remember being called an asset.......IIRC it starts the same but only has three letters. In my best Groucho Marx voice.

Truck, my friend......beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In my best Mae West voice........No, forget the voice. Visualizing that is just too twisted. As I adjust my John Deere cap and try to look macho.

Alternatives to plastic bags for isopropyl dunk

https://www.amazon.com/Tupperware-Spaghetti-Dispenser-in-Peacock/dp/B07KRJFYL8/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=Tupperware-Spaghetti-Dispenser&qid=1563638445&s=gateway&sr=8-2

I do my soaking in a Rubbermaid Spaghetti dispenser, from the local thrift shop.  It's a 12" long plastic container with a snap seal - perfect for those long cars.  I filled it with Isopropyl 99%(?), and it's done a couple dozen cars with no signs of poor performance yet.  Trick is to prevent it from soaking up water from the air.

If you can't locate one of those, go to a paint store.  They should have 'roller keepers' for paint soaked rollers; those will also suffice for most cars, though the one I have won't take a full length passenger car; the diameter may not be quite big enough for Plate F cars, though - I haven't tried.  E.g.:

https://www.amazon.com/Obvious-Solutions-897049001033-Roller-Keeper/dp/B008J16Q8C/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=paint+roller+keeper&qid=1563638581&s=gateway&sr=8-1

If you buy the three pack shown (we can get them as singles at our local home improvement store), use one for backdrop blue, one for fascia (not starting that debate by specifying a color...), and one for Isopropyl.

Blair