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What grade of sandpaper should I use to rough up the surface of an aluminum passenger car so the "new" paint will adhere? I don't want to use too course of a grit because I  don't want to cause groves in the old paint.

The cars I am repainting are the Lionel, MPC, aluminum. I'm using the old paint as the under coat.

I thought of using steel wool, but it has a tendency to leave "shaving" of steel wool behind.

 

Thanks for any input!

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Just be real careful whatever you use. A ScotchBrite or the 3M pad (I have never used so can't say it's OK) would be best. Never use 'sandpaper' on aluminum as a prep step. Also make sure and degrease them before paint or it make come off after a year or so. If you have a food dehydrator I'd bake on the finish too.....I do that with ALL my repaints. 

 

 

atsf

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Originally Posted by AMCDave:

Just be real careful whatever you use. A ScotchBrite or the 3M pad (I have never used so can't say it's OK) would be best. Never use 'sandpaper' on aluminum as a prep step. Also make sure and degrease them before paint or it make come off after a year or so. If you have a food dehydrator I'd bake on the finish too.....I do that with ALL my repaints. 

 

 

atsf

Very nice, Dave.

Thanks for all the replies and info.

 

Carl: the two TCA cars I'm repainting are the mail car and the duplex sleeper. 

 

I'll look into the 3M pad. I currently have a "No" scratch Scotch Brite pad and a "Light Duty" pad. I also have some 400 wet/dry paper that I will give try. Guess the main thing is to use light pressure to prevent deep scratching.

Originally Posted by Rockyroad:

Thanks for all the replies and info.

 

Carl: the two TCA cars I'm repainting are the mail car and the duplex sleeper. 

 

I'll look into the 3M pad. I currently have a "No" scratch Scotch Brite pad and a "Light Duty" pad. I also have some 400 wet/dry paper that I will give try. Guess the main thing is to use light pressure to prevent deep scratching.

If you are going to use 400 wet/dry for sure use very light pressure.  I was just using some to remove some mold marks from some '80's F3A cabs and that did not require much pressure to accomplish.

 

I'd like to find an inexpensive RPO TCA car in the $50 range as I was able to do with several other TCA cars from that set.  I actually found a use for the Skytop lounge car of all things.

 

Good luck with your project.

 

 

Last edited by Pingman

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