Make sure you totally de-grease it before you paint it. I use rubber cement thinner/remover made by Union Rubber, Inc. called Bestine which is pure N-Heptane. It's harmless to plastics and CA and epoxy glues. It stinks but is fairly benign (about like Methanol) and evaporates extremely quickly. However, it's extremely flammable, so use caution. You can buy it at Michaels. Ask for "Bestine" rubber cement thinner and they'll know what you're talking about.
I've built a Traincat UP cantilever signal bridge and I soldered it together with my resistance solderer. I used my airbrush to paint it and carefully applied a smooth, thin coat of Polly Scale Flat Aluminum, which I then cured with a hair dryer set on HIGH.
Interestingly, the rivet detail was almost obscured by this carefully applied coat of model paint because it is barely there to begin with.
I would hesitate to use anything other than "model" paint because it is designed with finely ground pigments to both cover well but not obscure details. Any paint you buy at The Home Depot, Wal Mart or Lowes would be a no-no on any Traincat model in my opinion.
Hope this helps.
Bob Gilmore
Modeling the UP in 1951 between Ogden and Wahsatch
