question for weathering steam with airbrush?

I am lazy.  I know how to disassemble, mask, and paint.  I get decent results by separating the mechanism, getting it running on blocks, and simply shooting it with an airbrush.  Then, using Q-Tips and acetone, I clean the tires.  That works not only for weathering, but also for the initial paint.  The best painters disassemble and mask.  That is not difficult, at least on brass models.

I always airbrush with the engine on a set of rollers mounted to an old lazy Suzann. Real trains are in tact when they get dirty.

 

 

Here is one I did for Ben. The only thing I masked off were the windows.

 

Steve C.

Steve,

 

Beautiful work. If it was not for the middle rail, you could have fooled us into believing it was the real engine. Outstanding!!!

 

Yves

I just went for it with an airbrush and a normal brush to make streaks. Do your own thing! I just used two towels drapes in different places to make lines and such.

Steve that's a great rig (and enviable work) but I'm not going to be doing enough locomotives to make a rig like that make sense.  Maybe I'll just rig up a long straight track out on the deck and run the engine past the airbrush for several light passes.

Thanks for the compliment Ives.

To answer Wowak's question specifically, I do go back and clean electrical contact surfaces. However light passes are always best with an airbrush. You can always add more layers but removing them is tough. Just be careful of the traction tiers. Solvents and dull cote will stretch them and they have to be replaced.

 

Steve C.

Wowak you must have posted as I was writing mine. The rollers are not very expensive and the rig is just a piece of track on a 2x4. Elevating the engine allows you to hit some of the hard to get at spots with out too much trouble. You can find a cheap lazy suzzan at the dollar store. I guarantee it will make you life easier.

Steve C.

Or two cheap blocks of wood and a table that you can walk around?  Good lighting helps.

Running the engine is definitely the key

I was planning to remove any traction tires.  Heck, maybe I can grease the rails, couple it to a brick and just get the wheels spinning.   (I'm only half joking...)

You don't need any fancy rollers. Just raise the loco off the deck with some wooden blocks on the cab overhang and the pilot, or maybe under the frame.

Why would you remove the traction tires? You should NOT be painting the wheel treads anyway. Simply clip jumper wires to the pick-up roller & someplace on the frame, put the locomotive up on 1"X2" wood blocks (obviously with the drivers freely rotating), and let it run nice and slowly. 

I would remove the traction tires because it's a lot easier to get stray paint off of metal than it is rubber.

Since you are using an air brush and not a spray can, why even paint the treads/traction tires?

I am not good enough with an air brush to avoid tires.  Fortunately I have no rubber traction tires.

I guess I should clarify that I asked th's question while I was thinking about Weathering my Reading T-1, but I sidelined that while I've been kitbashing my Reading E-5sa from a Lionel USRA 0-8-0, so now I'm facing the prospect of painting an entire loco with my airbrush.  I have very little experience with the airbrush, and while I'm generally very fast to master the basics of any new technique or process, I'm still proceeding from the assumption that I will make mistakes, and trying to plan ahead to minimize their repercussions.  I have enough man-hours in this project that it's worth the time to take the tire off if it's one less thing I can ruin.  Also I'll be painting the sub-assemblies before I reinstall the motor and electronics, so I'll be manually rolling the chassis to paint the running gear.  Also, slightly related:  which is darker, Floquil Engine Black or Steam Power Black?  Which do you use as your base coat (or if something else, what) and why?