Painting the grocery warehouse

For me, a structure project really starts to come together when it gets painted.  I have learned through experience that a primer coat is a must when using the Vallejo paints so I ordered a large bottle of it.  This is one of the largest structures I have built and would it not fit into the spray booth. So I brought in a folding table and placed it in front of the spray booth for this job.

The finish coat on this building is Vallejo stone gray.  One tile was masked off and painted white so it could be the background for some decals I made to create a sign.  The numbers above the truck doors are from a Microscale decal set. 

Out of the many smaller pieces in the kit I selected 32 for use on this structure.  They were stuck to a sheet of cardboard with small amounts of canopy glue and sprayed with gray primer.  After that had dried overnight, the parts were brush painted in various colors.

For concrete pad at the truck loading dock,  I found that the primer gray was as good concrete color so used it for the sheet of styrene that I had already scribed the expansion joints into.  Then weathered it with some weathering wash and dabbed with a paper towel before the wash dried.  I really like the effect this gave and plan to use this again in the future on other projects.

Painting the track for the Lovelock expansion

With the track on the Lovelock section thoroughly tested and any minor problems corrected, I was ready to paint the track and ties prior to ballasting.   While at Home Depot recently, I found this flat earth brown camouflage spray paint.   I've seen others using it in various posts and YouTube videos with good results so thought I would give it a try.  As it's winter I had to do this inside the train room.  After getting the temperature up to a reasonable level, I opened the window and turned the fans on before starting.   I also had to be careful about any overspray getting anywhere.  I am really happy with the results and it was quick. 

After letting the paint dry for about an hour, I used a razor blade to scrape the tops of the rails.  They will have to be cleaned again after ballasting but it much easier getting the paint off now before it's really set.

Spring 2025 Layout Update

Since returning from Japan in January I have been mostly working on my modules in preparation for the 2025 edition of the Hiller Aviation Museum's Trains and Planes exhibit.  Our part of this went from the 9th to the 13th of April.  We had a real good turnout with the Ntrak club and it was great to visit with all the guys.  And I ran a lot of equipment that I don't run on the home layout.  Here's a shot of our Ntrak layout with the AsiaNrail layout being behind it.

Since last fall I have been trying out Vallejo paints and like them.  They are quite reasonably priced if purchased in sets on Amazon and I also found an ebay seller that sells them individually at a reasonable price.  So in February I bought a rack specially made to hold these paints.

The Vallejo paints don't have the same colors that we are used to with Floquil paints which were more focused on model railroads.  I discovered that Model Railroad Hobbyist which is an on line magazine I follow had color matching charts showing how many parts of each Vallejo paint to use to get a close match to a Floquil color.  So I printed all the pages and have them hanging on the inside of one of the cabinet doors where I keep some of my painting supplies.

In late March my friend Roger visited the layout and we ran a couple of jobs while letting the glue dry on a new Ntrak module he is building.   He is experienced with layout operations and one suggestion he had was more uncoupling picks and holders around the layout so that is something I'll be working on.   

A new locomotive was recently introduced the layout.  This Atlas GP35 was given to me last year and I finally got around to installing a DCC decoder in it.  It was custom painted many years ago by another friend from the Ntrak club who has since passed away.  I could not find any evidence that the prototype number 644 ever made it into UP service but it will on this layout.

Winter 2025 layout update

Not much new to report on the layout.  We were in Japan from the middle of December to the middle of January.  While I was gone I missed one Ntrak layout and another one we were supposed to have in February got canceled.  When I returned home I was happy that I was able to start up the layout and run a train with no problems. 

Been trying out a couple of new to me paint brands.  The only brand of paint my local hobby shop carries now is Tru-Color so I picked up a jar of white last fall to paint the Sinclair gas station.  Did not like this one at all.  Has to be cleaned up with acetone and I did not like working with it.  Then shortly before leaving for Japan, I got a basic set of Vallejo paints on Amazon.  The price is quite good per bottle when buying a set.  I have been using these on several brush projects and one air brush project and I do like working with it.  For use with the air brush it thins with distilled water.  So I will likely be buying some other sets to get some other colors and of course I could also mix the colors to get the one I want.  They also offer an additive for use with an air brush and I plan to try that out.  I also still like using the Mission Models brand of paints.

Summer 2024 layout update

We are already almost half way through 2024 and June 20th marked the first day of summer this year so here's a summer layout update.

I have been working on finishing the occupancy indicators for the east end staging and return loop.  Going to be using the last 2 of the 8 channels of the Azatrax MRD8 unit that I never thought I would fill.  With a total of 32 input wires and the small spring type connectors used on the board, I have found it difficult to get a reliable connection for the last few inputs especially when more than 1 wire has to connect to a terminal.  So I have installed a 25 screw terminal strip to make it easier.

I needed some more Azatrax IR sensor pairs for that project and when ordering them I noticed the Azatrax also has a dual track occupancy detectors so I ordered that as well as I am also going to be adding signaling to the upper helix.  I noticed that these have a sensitivity adjustment on the board and am looking forward to seeing how that works.  I'll post more detail on both of these projects as they develop.

And I have been working on finishing another 3D printed house for Carlin.  All three of the houses got a primer coat at the same time last year. This one, the 2nd one recemt;u got a base coat of white and I am now working on hand painting the details.

Patching a patch job

During the N Scale convention held in Reno in June, Scaletrains sent out their PS-2 4785 3 bay covered hopper painted for Golden West Service and patched for Cotton Belt (SSW) to everyone who attended the manufacturers breakfast on Sunday morning.  What a nice surprise that was.  Because my wife also attended, we received two of these models with the same number so I wanted to re-number one of them.

I always like to start with a prototype photo and so looked through a bunch online.  The patches on these cars were done in several different ways.  I settled on this one although it is less weathered than the model.  While the stock Scaletrains model has a dark blue background with yellow characters, this one appears to have a black background with white characters.

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First thing to do was to remove the original patch.  I found that with a soaking of Microscale Micro Sol and gentle scraping with an Xacto blade, the original patch comes off fairly easily.

For the black background I used some of the wider stripes from a black stripe set I had.  None of the stripes were wide enough so I doubled the rows to get the width I needed.

This is the area with the black stripes applied.  The black stripe decals were applied in between bunt not over the panel seam to match the prototype photo.  These were then given an application of Micro Sol before the characters were started. 

This is how the model looked after the characters were applied.  As the weathering on these cars was identical, I added just a bit more to this one to make them seem different.  This was a fun project.  Most prototype patch jobs tend to be held to lower standards then original paint jobs so a few crooked decals or mismatched character fonts can be forgiven.  These are great models and I'm really happy to have them on my layout.

Techinque for painting lococomotive handrails.

Most railroad have had a practice of painting the handrails of their locomotives and cabooses in a contrasting color as a safety measure.   Sometimes this practice is extended to the edges of the steps.  SP and UP used white Many of the older Kato and Kato made Atlas locomotives I have on the layout did not come with painted handrails. 

On these models the handrails and walkways are a separate assembly that is made of a durable and smooth plastic a little different than the other components.  It is easier to paint the handrails with this assembly removed.

On some of these models it is not uncommon to find a bit of flash on the handrails.  Referring to the photo below, it is not very noticeable in the basic gray color so I placed a bit of white paper behind it.   Once the handrails are painted, the flash is more noticeable so it's best to remove it before painting.  These small flashes can be removed with a sharp Exacto blade.  After this I give the assembly a good washing with warm water and dish soap using an old toothbrush and then letting it dry before painting.   

That durable and smooth plastic of the handrails does not stick to paint very well.  Over the years I have tried several brands and types of paint and ended up having the best results from Testors Practa Racing Finish Enamel.  This is made for R/C car bodies which are made of a flexible plastic.   Even using this paint some of the paint would flake off the handrails over time with handling the models.

 

Recently I had read about some modelers using spray adhesion promoters to get better results when painting such plastics.  Not finding any product like this at my local hardware store, I ordered the product shown below from Amazon.  It is clear so masking of the handrail assembly was not necessary. 

After some practice I learned the trick to using this product is to spray the hand rails at one end then let it dry to the touch, about 3-4 minutes.  Then paint the hand rails with the top coat within 10 minutes.

I have now done 5 locomotives this way with some of those shown in the photo below.  This technique is getting me the best results yet.  Over time I may go back and redo some of the others with this new technique.

Building a curved steel trestle - Part 2

After starting the curved steel trestle back in October it has taken quite awhile for me to get back to finishing it.  Now that the lower track has been completed and the scenery around the back of the corner is almost complete, this bridge can be finished.

The bridge pieces were assembled and then painted with the air brush.  I had been using Floquil old silver for some of my bridges but finally had run out and of course the Floquil line is no longer available.  Turns out that Model Master aluminum is a very close match so that's what I used this time.


I had used Micro Engineering bridge track for the first time on the 200 ft BLMA through truss bridge.  Because that bridge was straight and access to the track would be restricted I chose to fully assemble and paint the track with it's guard rails and guard timbers before installing it on the bridge.  This time I did make up a section of bridge track with both ends having standard ties but am going to wait until after it is installed to add the guard rails and paint.

The bridge was weathered and installed on the layout.  Then the track was attached to the bridge with E6000 adhesive and held with small clamps while the adhesive set.  The position of the track on both ends of the bridge was held in place with map pins.

The guard timbers were attached to the track the same way they were on the 200 ft BLMA bridge but this time cut into shorter lengths to match the curvature of the track.