Painting brass frame and wheels!

Why remove the motor? Cover it before you paint .

Paint brush will not give you the results you may desire. An airbrush sure will…………
there should be 2 or 3 motor mount screws from the bottom, visible by removing the rear truck……

I’d only remove the side rods, valve gear and and parts you don’t want paint on, then prep the areas for paint, then mask the tires with fine line paint, and let the airbrush get to places the brush couldn’t dream of,…😉

Pat

I have an alternate suggestion.   there is a liquid product called "Neo-Lube".   Micro-Mark among others sell it.   It is an alcohol based product with graphite in it.    It is conductive, and it is a lubricant.    I have been "painting" my wheels and rods with that for some time.   It gives the shiny rods a polished steel look in my opinion.    It will rub off on the rods with handling but I don't find that a problem.   It cleans up with alcohold.    the color is sort of dark graphite but smoother.

Brush painting the wheels saves a lot of masking.   I have done that too.  

I have also masked the tire treads and sprayed the frame and wheels.   I don't do that anymore, I may brush paint wheels, and I use neo-lube on the rods and tires.   It does not matter if some gets on the treads but I try to avoid it. 

I am fairly lazy.  I build my own, but when painting time comes I rarely disassemble.  I set the mechanism on blocks, get it running slowly, and shoot the whole thing with Floquil flat black out of my Paasche model H.

Then I take a few Q-Tips dipped in acetone and clean the tire treads.  If I need polished rods I just use more Q-Tips.

Always better to disassemble and carefully paint each component, but I do win prizes with my models, including properly judged NMRA contests.

Prrjim, could you post a picture of the wheels and rods with  Neo- Lube?  Bob2, I am with you on Not disassemble-- too many projects to spend much time on the undercarriage. THANKS

Here are some photos of two locos with the wheels and rods done with Neo--Lube.    The M1 is a current project that is finishing up.    It was entirely unpainted brass.     this is the one with only the mechanism in the photo.    The entire wheels on this one were done with Neo Lube. 

The L1 is a Sunset 3rd Rail factory painted loco that just has the rods, tires and front truck wheel done with Neo-Lube.    This is the one with the entire loco in the photo.   The driver centers on this one were already black.   I did have to do the axle ends.

Prrjim, thanks for the pictures,  that's what I'll do with the wheels! Don

The flash kind of washes out the photos.   Neo-lube is sort of translucent, like an old fashioned wood stain.   The good thing is if you don't like what you see, just wipe it off with alcohol.     It cann look pretty splotchy when you are putting it on.

Neolube is a great product.  The one caution associated with its use is that it is electrically conductive and can bridge the thin insulation of driver tires or other places where continuity of electrical charge is undesirable.  Bear this in mind before you slosh it on.

I've been using Neolube for years on valve gear as prrjim describes above. Provides a terrific finish in my opinion.

Bob