Painting a MTH Steel Arch Bridge

I painted the bridge and 2 extensions rust 15 years ago, used Keylon paint formulated to work on plastic ( laen chairs etc)  worked great. Bridge was originally silver. 

My friend Chet and I painted this one.  I can't remember what color it started out as.  

Hey Kevin. First give it a bath to remove any oils or impurities from handling, etc. Let it dry and then spray it with a plastic compatible primer.

I would use gray primer for almost all colors except rust. For that, I would use a red primer. This will give the plastic some "tooth" for the top / color coat to adhere to.

Acrylics will work fine. I prefer the cheap big box store paints myself. There are a lot of camouflage colors out there that look good. I like the olive green color and then I spritz it with a wash of India ink and alcohol. On my new layout I used a combination of "metalized" silver with a little flat black overspray.

Good luck and post some pictures!

Donald

Oops Kevin...this is my Atlas bridge, not MTH.

David Minarik posted:

My friend Chet and I painted this one.  I can't remember what color it started out as.  

3rail posted:

Oops Kevin...this is my Atlas bridge, not MTH.

Great work David and Donald. 

Donald, the Atlas photo aside, I presume the instructions are still the same.  The bridge will be added at the latter stages of the construction and I will be sure to include photos.  I will most definitely use the silver bridge as the base model to start the priming/paint job on.

Kevin, do you plan to mount the bridge prototypically; i.e., bridge shoes, etc..  Or will the shelf-style mounting prevent that?

Pingman posted:

Kevin, do you plan to mount the bridge prototypically; i.e., bridge shoes, etc..  Or will the shelf-style mounting prevent that?

Carl, 

I plan on having the 5 inches at the each end of the bridge to be screwed into the shelves for support with the 20 inches in the center spanning the gap between the two shelf ends.  So to answer your question directly, it won't be a prototypical mount. If you don't mind, I'm going to refer you to my ceiling layout build thread for further details and discussion .  Thanks.

Kevin:

I agree with Donald - especially the initial cleaning. I have used both enamels and acrylics without issues but always give the one coat a few days to dry and I also tend to use Dullcote after the paint dries.

I will add one recommendation. When I build plastic structures for customers I sand all plastic prior to paint. On stuff I can't sand I use steel wool. After paint I spray Dullcote to even out the surface in preparation for decals (some recommend gloss coat but I never had issues with Dullcote). You obviously can't sand the bridge but you can spray the bridge with Dullcote first to help adhesion and also between enamel and acrylic to avoid any potential issues. If you want a dull/rusty look the Dullcote will tone down any satin or gloss paint you use.

Joe

Thank you for the information Joe.

I have used Krylon primer without any problems. Just follow the directions for drying time before you paint with your acrylics. 48 hours is usually safe. Washing it first is good practice, but I don't always follow the rules. Also, don't make the primer coat too thick, or you will lose some of the rivet detail of the plastic model.

George

Thanks, Kevin.

Hi folks just saw this thread and I plan to shortly paint one of the MTH arch bridges green. My question is did you disassemble the bridge before spray painting or leave it in tact. I am definitely going to take off the black walkways but am hoping to avoid a major break down.

Thanks, Miketg

Well, I took a good look at the bridge this afternoon and realized it should be an easy breakdown. About a dozen screws on the bottom and six on the top and it came apart like a 1950s Lionel bridge. Luckily, the walkways popped out no problem and the bridge light was an easy disconnect.

So next stop is the slop sink for a good cleaning and then off to painting.

Miketg

Had a gorgeous day today here in southeast PA. I finished spraying half the bridge and should finish the other half tomorrow. Pics to follow.

Well, I sprayed the three large parts with Rustoleum moss green and they turned out great, please see the attached photos. The top piece did not come out so well so I spent two hours stripping and cleaning it with 91% isopropyl alcohol. I just did a respray and so far so good.

Miketg

I would spray with Painters Touch or Krylon. Krylon has changed its formula since the days of the Johnny Bench commercial so it can run.

clean the structure with soap and water or alcohol to remove any oil.

if you want to add rust use brown primer and satin orange paint.

have fun

Hi Alan, thank you for the kind words. I should have been more specific as I used Painters Touch. It was my first time using it and I like it. They are right though, spray the second coat within the first hour or weight 48 hours for it to cure. I waited 24 hours thinking it would be fine, but that was a mistake. Normally, I use an airbrush or Tamiya cans but being a lift bridge, I wanted a paint job that would not be delicate to the touch.

Question, should the paint be dullcoated or satin sprayed? Looks like a pretty tough finish to me.

Again, my first time using the product and so far I am pretty happy with it.

Miketg

Mike,

just take a look at it after the paint has dried. Sometimes even glossy paint dries more flat on rough surfaces. If you want to flatten out any glossy spray paint color, just paint on high humidity conditions.

You can spray a matte finish on any color to flatten it out. Another way would be to dust it with flat black.

Hi Alan,

Since I will be at York a good part of the week, I am putting any extra coats on hold until at least the weekend. So far it seems to be not too glossy. This time I will try not to be my normal self and will be patient.

Thanks! Miketg

@Miketg posted:

I never did paint the bridge 4 years ago and it's packed away in storage.

@Miketg, I love the green tone that you used on the bridge.

Hi Kevin,

Thank you for the kind words. I too did not like the silver. By the way the 91% alcohol easily removes the silver paint.

All the best,

Mike

Good morning everyone,

Well, I finally finished painting and have mounted the bridge using the big hinge made by East Coast Train Enterprises. It is a very nice and well machined metal part. I am pre-weathering my track for the bridge and just painted the tubing that will hold some wires that I need to run under the bridge. Since the layout is two rail track, I have to raise it up a a little over a quarter of an inch and some framing from Evergreen plastics will solve that problem. I am very glad to be moving forward on this project as I really do not like crawling under the layout.

Miketg