N scale resin vehicle kits from Rasputen

[TechnicalATSF]

A Small Tribute to Brian – Rasputin Vehicles

This is my little tribute to Brian’s work and my collection of Rasputin vehicles. Everything shown dates from 1956 or earlier, as I’m keeping things appropriate for my layout era.

The Buses
The buses are absolute standouts:
4 × Greyhound
1 × Trailways
1 × Pacific Electric
The Greyhound and Trailways versions come with decals, so they’re very straightforward to finish. The Pacific Electric decals were downloaded, laid out in Pages, and printed onto decal paper — a bit more effort, but well worth it.

The Cars
I’ve used a mix of manufacturers, but Brians are my favourite.:

GHQ
Lineside Models
Showcase Miniatures
Classic Metal Works
MAC (Shapeways era)
Rasputin

Close up, I’d say the MAC cars are probably the sharpest, Showcase the most technical and complete. Lineside are the least accurate (full windows), but honestly, at the classic 3-foot rule it’s almost impossible to tell the difference between gloss black painted windows and proper openings.
With the Rasputin cars, painting the interior a contrasting colour really helps show that the windows are actually open. The resin takes paint well and the cars are robust.

Painting & Finishing
After trying spraying and a few other methods, I settled on brush painting with Humbrol enamels to get a smooth shine. Masking just became too much hassle at this scale.
I initially tried matching colours to period catalogues… but that quickly became more trouble than it was worth. Close enough is good enough.

One lesson learned: don’t mix colours. On these tiny cars you’ll almost certainly need to touch up chrome trim, and even the slightest colour shift shows immediately.

Chrome: Molotow, brush applied (liner pens are too thick for this scale).
Windows: Glue ‘n’ Glaze by Deluxe Materials. It’s thinner than Krystal Kleer and gives a smoother finish. Applied from the outside, it even produces a slight curve on later cars.

Layout Context
As I’m modelling Los Angeles, I need a lot of vehicles. Brian’s models have made it possible to populate the area around Los Angeles Union Station with a good variety of period-appropriate cars and buses — without having to remortgage the house!
Thanks again, Brian — these really bring my scene to life.

Hmm, couldn't upload my photos.......

[peteski]

Nice writeup TechnicalATSF. Yes Rasputen's stuff is nice!
As for photo uploads go, see https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=43673.0 and https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=42854.0

[nickelplate759]

Nice writeup.

You need 25 posts before you can upload photos.

[TechnicalATSF]

Thanks @peteski and @nickelplate759 . I was looking forward to showing off my extensive range of Brian's cars and my traffic jam on the Arroyo Seco Parkway but now understand why the site keeps saying "YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO ADD A PICTURE". Guess I'll just have to describe the scene....... Now there's a picture of a pink '55 Cadillac under a palm tree........no, just kidding, 18 posts to go before pictures can be shown 

[pmpexpress]

Thanks @peteski and @nickelplate759 . I was looking forward to showing off my extensive range of Brian's cars and my traffic jam on the Arroyo Seco Parkway but now understand why the site keeps saying "YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO ADD A PICTURE". Guess I'll just have to describe the scene....... Now there's a picture of a pink '55 Cadillac under a palm tree........no, just kidding, 18 posts to go before pictures can be shown 

Responding and/or commenting on other members' posts will get you to 25 very quickly.

[Rasputen]

Thank you for the comments on Glue n Glaze, I'll have to try that and see how it compares with Gloss Medium, Micro Scale Krystal Kleer, and Gallery Glass.  One of the most often asked questions I get from customers is what to use for window glazing.

Regarding Mini-Metal autos, at one point I was going to write an article on how to improve them, but I'm too slow.  Now that they are not being produced anymore I dropped that idea.

[TechnicalATSF]

@Rasputen. As soon as I can post photos, I can show you what I mean. For nearly all of your cars, Glue & Glaze is perfectly sufficient. The trick with curved windows is to use a sharp toothpick to follow the outside curve of the windscreen and lay down the thinnests of beads all around the opening. Then a good blob on the pick and a quick flick across the opening, the glaze will only adhere to the bead and will follow the curve. You won't get it to follow a 57 Chevy front windscreen but even at 100mm away, you can't see that fact.

I have tried to take an imprint of the inside of the windows with Miliiput, waiting for the piece to harden and then forming 0.2mm clear pvc around it in my vacuum-forming machine. it doesn't work for a 57 Chevy as you have to cut the bubble so precisely to fit into the opening that the end result looks worse than liquid glazing. In fact, there is visually little difference between the vacuformed solution and the liquid glaze and liquid glazing is so much easier.

[Dave V]

So... I deeply regret having sold all my CMW Mini-Metals vehicles with the Juniata Division 1.0 back in 2017. They came in prototypical colors.

I'm probably going to place a big order here of cars from the 30s through early 50s, but I'm scared to paint them because I don't know what paints to use. What do you guys do? I know I can Google what colors were available for which model cars, but where do you source the model version of the paint?

[Jimbo]

So... I deeply regret having sold all my CMW Mini-Metals vehicles with the Juniata Division 1.0 back in 2017. They came in prototypical colors.

I'm probably going to place a big order here of cars from the 30s through early 50s, but I'm scared to paint them because I don't know what paints to use. What do you guys do? I know I can Google what colors were available for which model cars, but where do you source the model version of the paint?

Dave,

My philosophy is that I model TRAINS.  Not buildings, not cars, not people.  So, for me, I worry only that the surrounding elements such as vehicles don’t look anachronistic and help with establishing the setting.  “Close enough” means colors that LOOK like they’re right.  (And, given the quality of pigments used in the mid-20th century, it’s unlikely that “factory” colors would have remained so for long… fading was quite common.)

Having said that, I’ve successfully airbrushed the primary color using (believe it or not) craft paints.  They’re cheap, and they come in a wide variety of colors.  (I use rattle-can primer first!)  For secondary colors (when applicable - two-tone cars were common in the 1950s) I carefully mask and spray the next color.  Chrome highlights are then added using a Molotow chrome paint pen, sometimes in conjunction with masking.  I do a photo search online to see what colors look “right” and use paints that match these colors most closely.

Loren Perry did a terrific 3-part series on how he paints these in N Scale Magazine a few years back.  He’s pretty hardcore, though.  Mine don’t come close to his level!  But, again, my philosophy is different.

One thing to share… CMW vehicles are very nice, but at the same time, there are some elements in the earlier ones (e.g. wheels) that really detract from otherwise excellent models.  @Rasputen cars overcome these issues; his models are truly works of art.  He also has a wide variety that cover multiple eras.  The downside, though, is that you have to decorate them yourself.  If you don’t want to do that work, then his vehicles are not for you.

Hope this helps, but if it doesn’t, I’ll give you a full refund on what you paid for my thoughts.   

Jim

[garethashenden]

Have a look at classic car listings to get a sense of what colors were common. Try to avoid the super customized/hot rodded cars obviously, but you should be able to get a sense for what looks right. Hemmings is a good reference for this, you can search by year. Select all the ‘50s for instance and you’ll see a wide range of colors. Teal was much more popular than it is now for instance. It’s an era where all the manufacturers offered far more colors than they do now.

For the actual paint, I’ve been using Vallejo, but that’s because that’s what I have. Him is correct that the paint faded, but what’s more important is that there wasn’t anything like modern clear coats before the ‘80s. So the paint lost its shine pretty quickly.

I would advise that most of the cars should be from the 3-4 years preceding your chosen timeframe. There was no rust protection, and none of them were built all that well, which leads to a high attrition rate. Particularly in the Northeast.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Luckily auto enthusiasts are often as nerdy as we are.

When I'm working on a car model I'll usually just google it along with "paint colors" and then pick something close from the paint shelf. I'm not pressed if it's slightly off.

The biggest challenge I've found is trying to determine what was "common". Not every Mustang was in grabber blue.

But luckily, again, car enthusiast websites tend to have lots of useful info and image searches for "1950s parking lot" will give you a good sense for that latter aspect.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I would advise that most of the cars should be from the 3-4 years preceding your chosen timeframe. There was no rust protection, and none of them were built all that well, which leads to a high attrition rate. Particularly in the Northeast.

This is a really good point. Things got slightly better with longevity in the 70s, but not MUCH. For example, when I looked it up, I think the average lifespan of a car in 1978 was 8 years. That's a BIG difference from today.

[bbussey]

So... I deeply regret having sold all my CMW Mini-Metals vehicles with the Juniata Division 1.0 back in 2017. They came in prototypical colors.

I'm probably going to place a big order here of cars from the 30s through early 50s, but I'm scared to paint them because I don't know what paints to use. What do you guys do? I know I can Google what colors were available for which model cars, but where do you source the model version of the paint?

@Dave V,

You can get auto colors in model paint.  People still build kits of vintage automobiles and the model paint exists to support them.  Another option is Krylon and Rustoleum, decanted.  They have colors that are close to vintage auto colors.

[dougnelson]

Here are a few of my finished Rasputen vehicle castings.  They fill a great void for 1940s-1950s vehicles.  I typically brush paint with different brands of acrylic paint.  Google image searches for particular model and year shows realistic paint colors.  Detail paint is applied with a very small brush or sometimes a sharpened tooth pick.  As mentioned previously, there is plenty of corrections made as needed.  I also work with a magnifier.

[robert3985]

So... I deeply regret having sold all my CMW Mini-Metals vehicles with the Juniata Division 1.0 back in 2017. They came in prototypical colors.

I'm probably going to place a big order here of cars from the 30s through early 50s, but I'm scared to paint them because I don't know what paints to use. What do you guys do? I know I can Google what colors were available for which model cars, but where do you source the model version of the paint?

@Dave V - Dave, I've got a big batch of Brian's resin-cast vehicles appropriate to my 1947 thru 1954 era, but I haven't got around to painting them yet.  Loren Perry gave us some posts here on his techniques for finishing these fine little models, which you can review here:  https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=31890.60   You have to wend your way through all the comments to get the full gist of Loren's techniques and his reasoning, but it is fully worth the "wending" to discover how Loren achieved his fine results.  Unfortunately, Loren's photos that Brian published in the thread aren't visible any longer, but, luckily I had the foresight to download them so here they are, photo and modeling credits going to Loren Perry, the setting being on his excellent "Hollywood Era" layout...

Photo (1) - 1946 DeSoto Suburban


Photo (2) - 1948 Chrysler Business Coupe


Photo (3) - 1949 Mercury Station Wagon


Photo (4) - 1950 Buick 4-Door


Photo (5) - 1952 Chevy 4-Door


As for what paint to use, I'd follow Loren's advice and techniques, especially dealing with the "chrome" areas of these models.

As for the brand of paints to use, I've had great success airbrushing several of my customer's projects using Tru-Color paints, but, these are formulated for airbrushing and Loren's techniques only call for airbrushing gloss black to the chrome and detailed grills, followed by airbrushing the entire car with Alclad "Chrome"...assuming painting the grill areas at a high angle so that the "Chrome" fades into the previously applied gloss black.  The rest of the cars Loren brush-paints with glossy Acrylic model paint, so....I haven't tried brush-painting Tru-Color paints, although I've heard highly negative reports of attempts to do so.  Too bad, because Tru-Color has a pretty comprehensive selection of automotive glossy exterior and flat interior colors as well as brushable flat engine block colors.

I'm going to do some tests on brushing Tru-Color airbrush-ready paint just to see what the problem is, but I'm pretty certain that it has to do with its fast-curing time. See what paint Loren recommends and if it's no longer available, maybe something similar will work the same.

As for what colors are accurate, I don't worry too much about spot-on vehicle accuracy unless they're painted in a recognizable RR color.  Automotive colors can be "close enough" as long as the chrome and detail portions are sharp and well defined.  However, to get close, I do a Google search starting with just naming the car company, model and year, and so far, I've been able to find full-color photos and ads of the 1940's and early 1950's vehicles I've got as well as optional colors and two-tone schemes.

I'm planning on it being a lot of fun!

Cheers!
Bob Gilmore


EDITED FOR TYPOS & GRAMMAR