Walthers Hiawatha cars

I have a complete set still boxed and unassembled. I must have bought them 40 +/- years ago with an eye towards retirement.  Well I'm there now so,  do you have any pointers or recommendations about painting the clear plastic observation end? It seems to be a piece that could be easily screwed up or even destroyed. 

Billy Bassoon posted:

I have a complete set still boxed and unassembled. I must have bought them 40 +/- years ago with an eye towards retirement.  Well I'm there now so,  do you have any pointers or recommendations about painting the clear plastic observation end? It seems to be a piece that could be easily screwed up or even destroyed. 

There’s no easy way of masking that dome but this is how I did it.

Each window, I placed a piece of frog tape into and slowly cut the tape to the shape of the window using a brand new exacto blade. You don’t have to be perfect as the window gaskets will cover up a lot of the overspray or any small leaks. I use the inset edge of the window as my guide with the blade. Once cut, i will go over it with a Q tip to make sure all the tape edges are flat against the model. Usually takes me an hour to do this. Biggest thing.. take your time. No need to rush as that’s how mistakes occur. 

Hopefully this helps you. 

Thanks!

James

Many thanx!  Time I've got.  Back when I bought these kits Frog tape didn't exist and I didn't trust regular masking tape or free hand.   Did you airbrush or is there a rattle can which is the proper shade of orange?

Billy Bassoon posted:

Many thanx!  Time I've got.  Back when I bought these kits Frog tape didn't exist and I didn't trust regular masking tape or free hand.   Did you airbrush or is there a rattle can which is the proper shade of orange?

Good evening! 

I air brushed what you see. I have turned to Tru color recently as floquil paints (what i used before) is no longer producing paints. What we found with Tru color is that using MEK in a 1 part paint and 2 parts MEK works pretty well. We had problems with the tru color paint going on the model dry with acetone even with a very low pressure on the air brush, and it would chip off the model. The acetone would evaporate so fast, the paint never made it to the model wet. 

James

James,

That is why I have used ScaleCoat II for years. You can use even paint thinner to cut the paint. I have tried TruColor but don't really like it that well. When I got back in the hobby, I was a BN fan, well the Floquil paint was a poor match for BN (cascade green) color. A friend suggested I use SCoat which gave a better rendition of the color.

Dick

CBQer posted:

James,

That is why I have used ScaleCoat II for years. You can use even paint thinner to cut the paint. I have tried TruColor but don't really like it that well. When I got back in the hobby, I was a BN fan, well the Floquil paint was a poor match for BN (cascade green) color. A friend suggested I use SCoat which gave a better rendition of the color.

Dick

Ya I’m not a fan of Tru color but the colors are spot on and it truly took some trial and error to figure out. I have used scale coat as well and they have some very nice colors but difficult to find the orange and maroon. Fortunately engine black is in abundance. 😁

Thanks!

James

let make just a comment on tru color paint. If your trying to spray it over scale coat it will not stick.

Used by it self it is remarkable, but you have to use there expensive thinner. Do not try and use anything else.

Bob Harris

E21 James posted:

CBQer posted:

James,

That is why I have used ScaleCoat II for years. You can use even paint thinner to cut the paint. I have tried TruColor but don't really like it that well. When I got back in the hobby, I was a BN fan, well the Floquil paint was a poor match for BN (cascade green) color. A friend suggested I use SCoat which gave a better rendition of the color.

Dick

Ya I’m not a fan of Tru color but the colors are spot on and it truly took some trial and error to figure out. I have used scale coat as well and they have some very nice colors but difficult to find the orange and maroon. Fortunately engine black is in abundance. 😁

Thanks!

James

You can get ScaleCoat paint direct from the new company in New Hampshire (name escapes me). Postage will not be cheap.

Dick