Large Scale Central

Hmm, repaint LaPorte to my freelance colors?

Modeling Motive Power
#1

Hmm … HLW La Porte - do I wanna strip and repaint to one of my freelance HO RR’s colors?
Wheels are Tamiya’s acrylic color named Park Green; though HO is painted with bottle acrylic, it is available in spray and I could get some after payday. And their spray primer works on metal, meaning the brass domes.
Dome decorations are paper wrappers, they can be soaked loose.
Would probably use rattlecans for maroon and blue.
Think I’d leave the HLW factory boiler finish.
Would have to figure out how to do the required gold lining. (which the HO has been waiting a decade plus for me to do)
Cab would work fine as is.
Question is, what rattle can paint would stick to La Porte’s unpainted frame molding.

–> Okay, I’m now committed to doing something, the dome wrappers are off and the red stripes on water tank are off. Wonder if I’ll finish this before turn of the 22nd century.

HLW La Porte and freelance HO 4-4-0

#2

I find that if I scrub plastic with a cleanser and old toothbrush, rinse it and let it dry well. Then I can spray paint the plastic with a good automotive primer. I have done many models that way over the years. I use light gray primer if the top coat is going to be a light colour, red or brown primers for a red finish colour. For dark colours it really doesn’t seam to matter if I use a light or dark gray primer, although the dark gray is recommended for dark colours.

#3

Ah, that works, Duplicolor grey gets used on the model rockets. Don’t think I have any red oxide color auto primer.

#4

I’ve never had issue with Krylon sticking to unpainted plastic, even the “slippery” plastic used by LGB on their trucks and the like.

Later,

K

#5

Okay. Come to think of it, have used some of the their “Fusion” paint for plastics on something in past.

Got sand dome stripped and drilled for sand pipes - my method is admittedly crude, but it got me there.

And, yes , drilling by hand with pin vise went through the brass. That is, however, something I’m not going to do every day, have health troubles, and now my hands really hurt.
Over the spring months I gradually carried most all my hobby tools and supplies down to our little burg’s itty bitty model train club - my back says that there will be no constantly hauling stuff back and forth, now that it is there, it stays for a while. Oh well, is only 2 miles from home.

HLW Laporte - drilling dome

#6

Hmm, have seen this Forney, and in a book a Peoria & Pekin Union Forney with elbow pipe water hatches on tank.
Might just have to do some scratchbuilding
Go down page to “Illinois Central Teakettle 201, an Unusual 2-4-4”
http://www.breitlinks.com/Paul_Breitsprecher/vintage_steam.htm

#7

Adding the sand pipes really spiffs it up, a bit out of proportion to how little work is involved. And the pipes really are pipes, used 3/32 - correction, 3/64 - brass tubing since it is easier to bend than solid rod.

HLW Laporte with sand pipes

Sand pipe detail
HLW Laporte sand pipe detail

#8

And while I was at it, the long dormant PRR Hartland 4-4-0 project got some love. Totally not prototypical paint job; yes, and …? (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)

The more or less 1/24 scale Hartland 4-4-0 now has 1/20 scale Bachmann stack and bell.

HLW PRR 4-4-0 repaint and detail

Trying something on the headlight. Warm white LED from a string of Christmas lights. Oriented vertically to simulate, sort of, the oil lamp used in the big box headlights.

HLW PRR 4-4-0 headlight detail