Re-painting grab irons

[Chris1274]

I got my new Atlas CSX Dash 8-40CW yesterday, and was surprised to find that the grab irons on the cab hood are painted yellow instead of blue as on the prototype (and on the model shown on the store webpage  ). Instead of sending it back for a refund, I figured I'd try to fix it myself. So, what's the best method for painting grab irons? As you can see, I've already removed one and have it soaking in alcohol to remove the paint, but I'm not sure of what kind of paint to use and how best to apply it.

[Scottl]

There may be a CSX match out there, but mixing a bit of paint with craft or other hobby paints and applying it carefully with a fine brush would work.

[Craig Martyn]

I would recommend using a tooth pick or even better, a super fine paint brush. 

As for paint, I've been a huge fan of Accu Paint (now Tru-Color Paint) for years.  http://www.trucolorpaint.com/

[Chris1274]

There may be a CSX match out there, but mixing a bit of paint with craft or other hobby paints and applying it carefully with a fine brush would work.

Very good. I have very fine brushes for doing other artwork. I was wondering if best results required an airbrush (which I don't yet have). The grab irons appear to be metal wire instead of plastic, so I'm hoping that will help the paint adhere better.

[Scottl]

Touching them up with a brush should be fine.  If you have a steady hand, you might be willing to paint on the model without stripping the yellow, but either way will work.  Interesting to hear they are metal- that should give them a finer profile than plastic, but I would have guessed from the picture they were plastic.

By the way, welcome to The Railwire!

[peteski]

If the grab iron is metal then you can use stronger solvent (to make the paint removal process faster and easier).  Immerse them in lacquer thinner or acetone.

For paint I would recommend airbrushing.  I also favor Tru-Color (similar to Accu-paint) brand paints.  I recommend priming the metal first. Either use Tru-Color primer or Tamiya fine gray primer.  Tru-Color paints have nice semigloss finish which should nicely match the model's paint.

[Scottl]

Pretty hard to see brush strokes on a grab iron...   don't you think it might be overkill to airbrush?

[peteski]

Pretty hard to see brush strokes on a grab iron...   don't you think it might be overkill to airbrush?

Overkill? For me? No. 
The reason I agree with stripping, and recommended airbrushing, is because that will (at least for me) result in the thinnest layer of paint.  Here we have a nice thin wire grab iron. Would I want to make it out-of-scale thick by just hand-brushing some more paint over the existing paint?  I wouldn't.

But you're right - simply brush painting blue paint over the existing yellow-painted grabirons will also accomplish the job.

[Chris1274]

Touching them up with a brush should be fine.  If you have a steady hand, you might be willing to paint on the model without stripping the yellow, but either way will work.  Interesting to hear they are metal- that should give them a finer profile than plastic, but I would have guessed from the picture they were plastic.

By the way, welcome to The Railwire!

Thanks for the welcome  I've already removed one and plan to remove the others as well and strip the paint. The existing paint is a little on the thick side, and my hands are way too shaky to paint directly on the model. That's a sure disaster.

[ednadolski]

Would I want to make it out-of-scale thick by just hand-brushing some more paint over the existing paint?  I wouldn't.

Unless it's around 0.005"-0.006" diameter, it's already out-of-scale thick.  AFAIK no one makes grabirons that small, but it would be very interesting to see that.  From the picture, I would guess those are ~ 0.010" or so.  A second layer of paint would probably not be very noticeable, unless you put it on really thick.

I would think that the remove-strip-replace would be a bit dicey to pull off, without losing or damaging any parts.  It might be simpler just to make new parts from wire (just be careful about putting a scale-sized wire onto oversized holes).


Ed

[robert3985]

Overkill? For me? No. 
The reason I agree with stripping, and recommended airbrushing, is because that will (at least for me) result in the thinnest layer of paint.  Here we have a nice thin wire grab iron. Would I want to make it out-of-scale thick by just hand-brushing some more paint over the existing paint?  I wouldn't.

But you're right - simply brush painting blue paint over the existing yellow-painted grabirons will also accomplish the job.

I agree with Peteski about the paint thickness and using an airbrush.  As you know "Overkill" is the middle name of a lot of us here at TRW.   

Also, I think you'll find that the blue ones don't need to be primed.  If you carefully sand them with 320 or 400 grit emery cloth that should do the trick to make the paint stick.

However, yellow is notorious for not being opaque, so I'd recommend both sanding and a very light primer before painting yellow.

[Chris1274]

I would think that the remove-strip-replace would be a bit dicey to pull off, without losing or damaging any parts.  It might be simpler just to make new parts from wire (just be careful about putting a scale-sized wire onto oversized holes).

Removing them turned out to be a lot easier than I expected. I just slid a small jeweler's screwdriver between the grab iron and the shell and gently pried it off. I don't think I caused any deformation. Here are the pieces:



Unfortunately, the alcohol bath wasn't very effective in stripping the paint, so I'm going to try acetone. I just want to double-check with you guys before I end up with blobs of goo: am I right in thinking  these things are wire instead of plastic?

[Scottl]

They sure look like metal.

[ednadolski]

Nice job on the removal.   It's a bit of an eye-opener to see how thick that original paint is.  That's probably a testament to Bob's point regarding the opacity of light colors.

They certainly do look like metal to  me, so you could probably also use lacquer thinner as well.

BTW, do you have a caliper or micrometer?   It would be interesting to measure the diameter, both with and without the original paint in place.

Ed

[peteski]

Yeah, under a microscope (macro-photography), the paint will look thick. That's why I recommended stripping before repaint.  If they are to be airbrushed with a thin coating of paints, they will look much better then the original version.

Are they metal?  Do they feel like metal?  They sure look like metal (steel to be exact). Put a magnet to them (use the locos motor if you don't have a magnet handy).  But even if they are not magnetic, if such a fine cross-section part was made from plastic, it would be very flexible. Check how stiff they are.

Besides, even if these were made from plastic, the type of plastic used for thin handrails and grab irons is not attacked by most strong solvents (like acetone).  So, strip away!