undecorated car rant....

I agree there is a lot of junk out there.  When I say I buy inexpensive I mean at the best price possible, not cheap.  Generally I buy only scale and the best fidelity rolling stock models I can find, usually in the $75 - $95 list price for freight and such, but you can usually find that new for about 15% - 25% off if you shop around. While I have bought new when I really need something for a project, I try to find stuff I am going to repaint used.   At major TCA regional shows here in NC I have had very good luck finding used stuff of this quality at greater discounts - there is a lot of junk, yes, but for the cost of a couple of pleasant hours walking through the hall, I usually come home with some real bargains. I avoid RMT stuff because it is not only not scale but I've had terrible luck with paint and primer incompatibility with whatever paint RMT uses - some primers don't like it at all and I end up having to strip the whole thing down to bare metal or abs, which isn't work the trouble. 

Enjoy reading this tread. Being new to O gauge, but a very long time in HO and did a lot of custom painting using Fluquil and Scalecoat paint, I have a question or 2.

Since the models are much larger and the steam engines are cast (I'm use to brass and plastic) is the procedure and paints used for O gauge the same as HO? I ran my spray gun at about 25 to 30 PSI, always used a primer on all my models, brass and plastic.

I can see going through a whole bottle of Floquil primer on 2 steams engines, and then I have no more. I am not a fan of Polly type paints, as I have never been able to get them to flow as smooth as enamel paints.

Is there any article on the Forum that address painting O gauge models? Am I making a big deal out of this and that painting HO or O is no different as regard to paints, air pressure, etc?

RAY 

A simple solution to obtain undecorated cars from manufactures would be to go the Big Boy  MTO made to order route.  When catalogs come out manufactures could offer undecorated cars, if the pre-orders have enough buyers they make them, if not enough of a certain item are ordered then they are not produced.  A win for manufactures to make some $, without having to blow them out at a loss if customers do not order them.

Jack

Old Atlas 2-rail O scale boxcars, gondolas and cabooses are great candidates for re-paints. Sometimes you can find them unpainted, just black plastic, for $5-$10 each.

You will have to add your own 3-rail trucks though. Weaver trucks and couplers work best.

It's assumed that if you're going to paint over and re-decal a model that you're probably going to need to do a minimun of body prep (possible body work/clean/primer) so your modeling skills are certainly up to the task of stripping a painted model to get the car you want. There's no real market for undecorated models, if there were the decal pickings wouldn't be so slim in our gauge along with a better selection of paints. There's just way too many in our gauge who don't really do modeling anymore and just want it ready made, not sure if it's just that they don't have the skills, lazy or are just becoming part of the current "I want it now and I want it the way I want it crowd." 

Jerry

Why would an artist not want to start with a fresh canvas instead of trying to paint over a finished painting? Or in other words, why would one want to further clog up intricate details by painting over paint when it would be better to have a clean surface to start with?

I belong to the "I want it the way I want it crowd", which is why I am reading this

thread with interest.  I CAN live without the "instant gratification".

Wow!

I agree that preparation is the key to good results, but I prefer to avoid stripping the original paint off if I can.  If the car or loco is new the original paint will not hurt anything if well prepared first, and stripping might hurt something - not likely but when it does, it's usually a disaster.  I've had that happen only twice - once with an RMT BANG that had a scratched shell and I had to strip it - whatever paint came off easily but there must have been something wrong with the plastic because the rather benign detergent melted/softened the plastic shell and it was unrecoverable, and a MOW car I bought that had been repainted once before with who knows what that had some sort of paint that wrinkled easily but would not come off - eventually I did get it off but it took two weeks of soaking.  

I  remove all the lettering, etc., using progressively heavier-duty methods until its gone completely (Goo Gone first, sanding last if nothing else worked), then lightly sand (#600) and clean the car/loco well and prime it with a light coat, then sand and smooth that before painting.  The real skill, if you can call it that, is one in filling and body-work if there are scratches, etc., and two, in learning to control the sheen by how fast and from how far you spray on the paint:you can make flat anything from flat to lightly satin, satin anything up to nearly semi-gloss, etc. by controlling flow.  Something I learned when I was taught to shoot auto paint.  If you're doing, say, six cars as I did when I repainted the LFT passenger cars recently, getting the sheen precisely the same is a key to overall good results. 

I've never seen any evidence the "canvas" you start with matters at all: my Victorian train I completed recently worked out perfectly: all six passenger cars had lettering and needed bodywork (holes that had to be filled where the funeral bunting had been attached, additional detail I made and added, etc.) but they look factory to me - good paint, smooth and evenly matched sheen car to car.   

I buy lead weights intended for automobile wheels at Harbor Freight.

Lead weights are better in many respect, but I use pennies.  I have a big jar - probably five pounds of them.  They are heavy, modular, fit many places, and cheap.  I epoxy or glue them in place. 

  Funny I should be reading this thread. Just stopped at a mom & pop shop 

and bought one of several Lionel 6-16266 Crayola boxcars. About as

undecorated as it gets gave 16.95 for it.

   I have repainted cars and locomotives,it can be done.  There is an experience factor so I reccomend starting with a "throw away" so a disaster will not affect anything, then do your project. The paint may or may not have to be removed depending on what you want to do.

  The Weaver baggage car I did this year had all of the small parts (foot steps, grab irons etc.) in a small plastic envelope and had to be individually installed. This made things very easy cosidering the labor involved in bending a thin wire to the needed shape on one of my previous projects.  Maybe they could sell just the add on parts as a seperate item so any car could be detailed without having to bend those wires.

   My biggest problem with repainting has been the small detail lettering such as weight classification and safty warnings. An Atlas undecorated car I purchased had all the teeny tiney details already painted on so only the road name had to be applied.  This is the only way to go if you model a less popular or custom rail road and want scale detail.

  Some models are more challenging that others. If all a locomtive needs is a road name and a number it is a different job than one with complex stripes and patterns.

  Lee your idea of pennies for weight is a good one. I too have a big jar of pennies that I never use.

Douglas

Geez, and I was thinking he was spot on.   

DANG! You've been listening to too much Carly Simon!!!

Some freight cars are painted so well that it will take a great amount of work to remove the layers.

Andrew

I understand the undecorated thing. but I have a question in some videos I see people pulling 60+ of the same car are those repaints or did they spring for 60 of the same car or did they go to the manufacturer and ask to have that many made. how do you come up with so many of the same car. buy undecorated ones and paint them all the same?  I wondered this so I'm asking  it seems to fit this conversation alittle .

You know I kind of think you owe me an apology, but I have reported your remark to the moderators. it's one thing to disagree with someone, it's quite something else to lower yourself into the gutter and sling no class insults.

Jerry

Whoa!  Easy now fellas.  We're just talking about cars without paint.  Don't come all unglued on the subject.

Ron

Well, actually, sometimes you do have to take them apart to repaint them.  

Is it possible to just reletter something without repainting the whole car?

Sometimes.  I used to do in in HO quite a bit.

Rusty