BC Rail (ex-CPR) 2-8-0 3716 build

[craigolio1]

Today the masking was applied.





And I shot the flat black.



Everything was great!!!  And then it wasn’t.



Both sides of the can went fine. One side of the tender was perfect. This side not so much. I didn’t use a primer as I’ve always had great adhesion with Tru-Color. Perhaps I should have. Also I couldn’t give this one bath as it has the electronics installed. So I cleaned it with alcohol and a cotton swab. Perhaps I missed a spot?

I cleaned up the black edge.



On a few days I’ll clean the area with an alcohol swab again then gently mask it, and reshoot the Tuscan.

All and all a small set back I can deal with. I’m very pleased thus far.

Craig

[Sokramiketes]

On a few days I’ll clean the area with an alcohol swab again then gently mask it, and reshoot the Tuscan.

All and all a small set back I can deal with. I’m very pleased thus far.

Craig

Ouch, I've been there too.  Tamiya fine primer works great as TruColor prep.

As someone who's also been here recently, careful with the alcohol on TruColor as well.  It wipes off so easy, you won't even think it's paint.  In my case I attempted to clean some misted on polyscale weathering off a panel.  It was painted with TruColor base color about 3 days earlier, so good and dry.  But that TruColor wiped off to primer immediately with 91% IPA. 

[craigolio1]

Ouch, I've been there too.  Tamiya fine primer works great as TruColor prep.

As someone who's also been here recently, careful with the alcohol on TruColor as well.  It wipes off so easy, you won't even think it's paint.  In my case I attempted to clean some misted on polyscale weathering off a panel.  It was painted with TruColor base color about 3 days earlier, so good and dry.  But that TruColor wiped off to primer immediately with 91% IPA.

Mike that’s really good info. Thanks! 

I opted not to clean it with alcohol. I don’t know why it peeled but I know I cleaned it.

I masked it again but this time with Frog tape instead of Tamiya. Frog tape has a much more gentle bond. Not so great for curves but perfect for this.



A few light coats of Tuscan and everything was a fixed up. Even though I left the whole panel unmasked, I only painted the damaged section so that it would blend. I didnt want a tape line. I painted it with my #1 nozzle (Pasche VL) which is for fine lines and such so I had a ton of control.



Next I moved on to masking for the white tripes on the cab and boiler walkway. I didn’t want to use decals.



I liked how the cab turned out but I did the walkway stripe too wide. It was too much white and on the prototype it’s just a thin line at the top of the side panel.



So I remasked the walkways again, this time leaving the white only from the rivet line up. I’m more pleased with this look.



Vs before.



And with that it’s decal time! So the can and tender got a coat of gloss clear.



Hopefully decals go on tomorrow night.

Craig

[nickelplate759]

Your masking-fu is impressive!

[craigolio1]

Your masking-fu is impressive!

Thank you!

[peteski]

Problem  resolved well!
Isn't Frog Tape green?  I only see amber color tape.
Speaking of Tamiya and frog Tapes, Tamiya tape (which I use almost exclusively) is a Washi tape but I was lookign for wider tape than what Tamiya sells.  I tried few wide Washi tapes from amazon but they were not to my liking.  Then I looked in my local Hardware store and Found out that there is a Washi Frog tape, and it was available in the width I needed.

I have been using Tru-Color and before that similar Accu Paint paints for few decades. I almost always paint them over well cleaned bare plastic shells and I don't ever recall having masking tape peeling the paint up.  I like that those paints do not require primer over plastic as those paints go on in very thin layer, and primer just adds more thickness to the paint job.

I always thoroughly wash the plastic shells with warm water, soft brush and dishwashing detergent with no hand softener.  I use either Joy or Ajax brands.  Tru-Color paint does contain some acetone blended with other solvents.  As I see it, acetone gives the paint a bit of a "tooth" to "melt" to the plastic surface.

The plastic bottles those paints come seem to be permeable to the solvents in those paints. Since  acetone is the most volatile of the other solvents in the paint, it likely is the first solvent escaping the bottle. Maybe add just a touch of acetone to the paint (not too much).

We have discussed Tru-Color paints in the past.  For some interesting reading see:
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=57227.0
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=50584.0

[craigolio1]

Problem  resolved well!
Isn't Frog Tape green?  I only see amber color tape.
Speaking of Tamiya and frog Tapes, Tamiya tape (which I use almost exclusively) is a Washi tape but I was lookign for wider tape than what Tamiya sells.  I tried few wide Washi tapes from amazon but they were not to my liking.  Then I looked in my local Hardware store and Found out that there is a Washi Frog tape, and it was available in the width I needed.

I have been using Tru-Color and before that similar Accu Paint paints for few decades. I almost always paint them over well cleaned bare plastic shells and I don't ever recall having masking tape peeling the paint up.  I like that those paints do not require primer over plastic as those paints go on in very thin layer, and primer just adds more thickness to the paint job.

I always thoroughly wash the plastic shells with warm water, soft brush and dishwashing detergent with no hand softener.  I use either Joy or Ajax brands.  Tru-Color paint does contain some acetone blended with other solvents.  As I see it, acetone gives the paint a bit of a "tooth" to "melt" to the plastic surface.

The plastic bottles those paints come seem to be permeable to the solvents in those paints. Since  acetone is the most volatile of the other solvents in the paint, it likely is the first solvent escaping the bottle. Maybe add just a touch of acetone to the paint (not too much).

We have discussed Tru-Color paints in the past.  For some interesting reading see:
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=57227.0
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=50584.0

I’m pretty sure it’s Frog Tape. I don’t have the plastic container it came in but I think that’s what it was.

Today decals went on the tender and cab.

The Black Cat decals are beautiful to work with. The film is VERY thin.

First to go on was the cab border which came as a single piece on the set but needed to be shortened so I did each side in two pieces.



I moved onto other projects while that dried so I could add the four individual numbers without issue. Here’s the finished product. For some reason BCR didn’t centre the numbers on the cab. Sheesh.







The cab sides were challenging. I cut L shaped pieces that covered most of one long side and one short side.  For the two remaining corners I then cut just corners to fill it in. It was very difficult to keep such a thin stripe straight. I used a straight edge to check as I adjusted.







I realize now the Tuscan panel comes down too far on the tender side. Oh well. Next time will be better.

Finally the rear number and capacities. I had to do these under magnification. The decal set included a 3500, but not a 3600 for the oil capacity. I decided not to correct it. Haha. It was painful enough aligning the four loco numbers back there.





And that’s where I’m at so far. All and all I’m very pleased. It’s really coming together. Now I’ll be into just fine details to bring it home.

Craig

[Lemosteam]

Gorgeous. That black and Tuscan. Awesome.

[peteski]

Gorgeous. That black and Tuscan. Awesome.

With gold pinstriping no less. That is a very elegant paint scheme!

I'm curious, are those decals printed using metallic gold, or imitation gold (non-metallic)?

[craigolio1]

Gorgeous. That black and Tuscan. Awesome.

Agreed. The CPR Tuscan was a little more red or purple maybe than many of the others. Very striking.

Craig.

[craigolio1]

With gold pinstriping no less. That is a very elegant paint scheme!

I'm curious, are those decals printed using metallic gold, or imitation gold (non-metallic)?

Black Cat offers two CPR steam decal sets. One for earlier locos which is “gold leaf”. They really do look like gold leaf.

This set is for later locos. “Dulux Gold”. I don’t know what the printer uses for each but the gold leaf set definitely looks more gold than the Dulux Gold.

I was tempted to use the Gold Leaf cause it just looks sooooo good but alas, in the 80’s I doubt they were sticking gold to these locos. So Dulux it is.

Craig

[peteski]

Gold leaf or not, the Dulux (imitation) gold, it still looks very snazzy!

[craigolio1]

Gold leaf or not, the Dulux (imitation) gold, it still looks very snazzy!

I’m also very pleased with it. I thought it looked too dark in the decal sheet hut on the model it’s just right.

[NorthWestGN]

Really nice work Craig, getting those nice straight decal lines with rounded corners is challenging work!

Great job on the masking and maroon tender panel repair as well. Almost every multi colour paint job I've ever done has a repair or touch up of some sort, whether air bush, paint brush or over decal stripe fix. I hated having to strip a shell and start from scratch...

The Alclad chrome boiler is a great example of borrowing materials and techniques from other hobbies, I have a bottle I used to touch up Hot Wheels mag wheels. I can't wait to see the final product!

Brent

[craigolio1]

Really nice work Craig, getting those nice straight decal lines with rounded corners is challenging work!

Great job on the masking and maroon tender panel repair as well. Almost every multi colour paint job I've ever done has a repair or touch up of some sort, whether air bush, paint brush or over decal stripe fix. I hated having to strip a shell and start from scratch...

The Alclad chrome boiler is a great example of borrowing materials and techniques from other hobbies, I have a bottle I used to touch up Hot Wheels mag wheels. I can't wait to see the final product!

Brent

Thanks Brent!  I’ve had the same experience with multi layer paint jobs.

This project is stalled for the time being. My railroad is modular and I took it down some months ago for a show and never put it back up. I got into scenery instead. So it’s assembled now but just needs to be precision aligned.

Once I have a running railroad again, the next step I’ll take with this loco is to see if it can pull 13 passenger cars, and if not, find ways to add more weight in the correct spots.

Craig