| CHAPTER 3 PAINT & DECALS |
There is not much to say about the paint other than it is GOLD. Everything is painted gold.
What I will say is that it took me a couple weeks to find the "right" gold. Below is a photo of all
the different paints I tested except one. I also tried Testors Acrylic gold. I threw the bottle away
long before I took this picture. The best one was HUMBROL. To my eye it matched the best
and it sprayed beautifully through the air brush. The runner up was Tamiya. It also sprayed
really great through the air brush. Tamiya was to light though. I wanted to stay away from
mixing colors and I definitely wanted to stay away from anything that had metallic flakes in it.
HUMBROL and Tamiya may have metallic flakes in them, but you cannot see them at all. I
thinned the Humbrol about 30% with lacquer thinner and it went on very smooth and thin.
As you can see, I even tried hobby craft paints. They went on OK, but they needed a million
coats to get a full opaque coverage.
What I will say is that it took me a couple weeks to find the "right" gold. Below is a photo of all
the different paints I tested except one. I also tried Testors Acrylic gold. I threw the bottle away
long before I took this picture. The best one was HUMBROL. To my eye it matched the best
and it sprayed beautifully through the air brush. The runner up was Tamiya. It also sprayed
really great through the air brush. Tamiya was to light though. I wanted to stay away from
mixing colors and I definitely wanted to stay away from anything that had metallic flakes in it.
HUMBROL and Tamiya may have metallic flakes in them, but you cannot see them at all. I
thinned the Humbrol about 30% with lacquer thinner and it went on very smooth and thin.
As you can see, I even tried hobby craft paints. They went on OK, but they needed a million
coats to get a full opaque coverage.
The first paint I tried was the Testors Acrylic gold from their Model Masters line of paints. The
color looked good, but it just would not spray good and i got a heavy build up. I could not live
with it so I grit blasted the model at about 20psi and it took the gold down to what I considered
a nice primer gold color. That is when I started testing all the gold paints I could find. Ron at
Des Plaines Hobbies suggested that HUMBROL would probably be the best match and he was
right.
color looked good, but it just would not spray good and i got a heavy build up. I could not live
with it so I grit blasted the model at about 20psi and it took the gold down to what I considered
a nice primer gold color. That is when I started testing all the gold paints I could find. Ron at
Des Plaines Hobbies suggested that HUMBROL would probably be the best match and he was
right.
Above is a photo of everything after I grit blasted the first painting session of gold off or rather
down to a thin gold primer layer. After cleaning all the parts, I set them aside until I could find
the correct color. The below photo is with the HUMBROL paint. The air hoses got painted
black with the glad hands silver and the hose connectors color coded yellow, red & blue per
prototype photos.
down to a thin gold primer layer. After cleaning all the parts, I set them aside until I could find
the correct color. The below photo is with the HUMBROL paint. The air hoses got painted
black with the glad hands silver and the hose connectors color coded yellow, red & blue per
prototype photos.
At this point, the model is about 90% done. I still need to add the DCC board, head & tail lights
as well as the MV lenses for the lights and class lights. Put the couplers in and it will be done.
Your probably saying "what about weathering?". That is not going ot happen to this model.
The person who bought it wants it to look new. I have to agree with him though. It is
prototypical. There was a time in its life when it was pristine. Not everything has to be weather
beaten.
All the decals are by Microscale. The window gaskets were done the same way as I did them
on my EJ&E GP38-2.
The final clear coat was a 50/50 mixture of Testors Gloss Coat and Dull Coat thinned 50% with
lacquer thinner.
That is about it for paint and decaling. I'll finish it up and get it running and then take finished
photos.
as well as the MV lenses for the lights and class lights. Put the couplers in and it will be done.
Your probably saying "what about weathering?". That is not going ot happen to this model.
The person who bought it wants it to look new. I have to agree with him though. It is
prototypical. There was a time in its life when it was pristine. Not everything has to be weather
beaten.
All the decals are by Microscale. The window gaskets were done the same way as I did them
on my EJ&E GP38-2.
The final clear coat was a 50/50 mixture of Testors Gloss Coat and Dull Coat thinned 50% with
lacquer thinner.
That is about it for paint and decaling. I'll finish it up and get it running and then take finished
photos.