Painting a Legacy Crane Car

Sounds like a cool idea as I am a B&M fan but I haven't done it myself. I got the black M.O.W version on one of the first runs so I have the flexibility to run it with just about any road. I personal wouldn't go any further than re-lettering it. I wouldn't have the patients or blood pressure to tear it down and do a full re-paint.

Many consider the tear-down of the TMCC crane to be a one-way street!   I've had one apart, but I'm not eager to do it again!

Sounds like a plan.  Hopefully the cab can be removed without having to disturb the lines.  I'm thinking of ordering the DT&I crane with either MOW or SP boom tender.  If I go with SP, it will be re-lettered (or full repaint) to Lionel Steel.

I wasn't going to paint the whole car, just the boom tip, hooks, hand rails and steps. Then re-letter the cab. I may have second thoughts once I have it in hand.

Steve, if you do a repaint, keep us posted as to how the job goes.  I would very much like to have a B&M TMCC crane myself and it appears that doing a repainting job will be the only way to get it.

I found another couple of pictures of a B&M crane. This is why I think I could get it looking good with what I plan.

This will just be another of the many projects I have planned. Just not enough time!

Steve, I did almost exactly what you are describing here to a MTH RailKing crane as pictured below.  Paint detailing work, added a boom tie-down and some chains and hooks, replaced decals and re-lettered, changed out the trucks and even added working spot lights to front and rear.  It was actually a fairly easy and fun project to do.  Not sure I would say that if I had to completely strip and repaint the whole thing!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Joe,

That looks really great and actually what I had in mind.

Did yours have a different road name? If so how did you remove it? Someone else had said they used a magic eraser to remove the old decals.

Steve 

Thanks, Steve.  Yes, same road name, but different logo (it came from MTH lettered with the later CNJ logo...I wanted the earlier one).  I also renumbered it from "6" to "4", and removed quite a bit of lettering from the boom.  I used dry transfer decals and lettering. 

Yes, I used a small piece of a Mr. Clean magic eraser and just a few drops of 90% iso alcohol (and a little patience) to remove the factory logo and lettering.  And yes, I did have to do some minor touch up to the paint below, but not a big deal because it was black!  Once I applied a coat of flat, clear finish, everything blended quite well.

Here's a link to my thread documenting the progress of my wreck/service train custom-build project.  The crane is just one part of it.

Joe,

I looked at your link. You said,"I am a true newbie at this, and a few details are beyond my current level of ability!" I can't wait to see what your things look like when you are an old timer!

Steve