Adding locomotive details = new paint job?

[shawnleon]

Greetings everyone!

It has been years since my last post, but with my MBA now concluded I am ready to get off the couch and back in the game. Living the life of an apartment dweller in South Florida means limited space, but there's plenty of room to develop my weathering and detailing skills. A small layout for scenery testing is likely to follow, but I digress.

There has been some impressive work displayed here and based on what I have read I am planning to buy BLMA details for my first project. Something that I haven't been able to determine from the pictures is how often models require a complete repaint. I am starting with a fully painted, unnumbered model and suspect many details can be applied without cause for concern. But what about grab irons? Does it work trying to match the body color before installing?

Look forward to reading your thoughts,

Shawn

P.S. Visited Walthers showroom while on business earlier this week and BLMA has great exposure in the advertising section!

 

[Philip H]

Shawn,
My experience in N scale is that prepainting metal detail parts before installation is, at best, a 50/50 proposition.  Sometimes the paint stays on, some times it flakes off, sometimes the glue zaps it off.  So, if possible, I'd recommend some very careful touch-up painting after installation.  Hey, it works for the prototype . . . .

[Ed Kapuscinski]

A lot of it comes down to the individual details.

For example, if the CR blue on your lift rings doesn't perfectly match the CR blue on the hood, it'll be tough to tell because of the lack of direct comparison (they'll pick up light differently, etc...) and lack of a "field" to compare.

But say you're putting on a cab AC unit that is supposed to be the same color as the unit. If it doesn't match decently, it will probably stick out more.

Light weathering (which you were going to do anyway, right?) can hide some minor differences (it's amazing what a flat black wash has done for some of my stuff), but sometimes you can still tell.

And as far as painting before installation vs post installation, again, it's really a case by case thing. I usually install first, then paint, but that's just because of the parts I'm installing, and their lack of good "handles" to hold while pre-painting. The downside is that I just have to be a bit more careful while painting.

[tom mann]

Sometimes grabs are painted white anyway, or another color different from the locomotive body.

[sizemore]

I try to put on all the details I can prior to painting. If a detail obscures the "DZ" for the decal, I tend to tap the holes for the part, paint, apply other non-interfering details, decal, and then apply the last few details that cover the decal.

The S.

[wm3798]

Post assembly touch up works for me, but then I generally avoid the more fragile and less obvious details in favor of decent weathering...

Lee

[shawnleon]

Thanks for the insight! After I get the necessary supplies to kick this exercise off, I'll post the results.

Shawn