Painting Freight Cars Yellow

[ai5629]

Do you guys have any suggestions for painting a freight car yellow?  I have tried two methods with horrible results.  The first involved painting some boxcar doors with Scalecoat primer and then Scalecoat yellow.  Didn't work.  The next attempt was with Floquil spray cans.  First with primer, then with Reefer yellow.  Didn't work.  These doors are for some Conrail X75's I decalled 11 years ago.  I never did the doors.  If you are interested, I used Roundhouse 50' Berwick Rib Side Boxcars.  Even though the car said it was a Berwick, it had PS roof and ends.  I modified the sill to match the PS car's contour.  That was the only modification.  The only glaring error with the car is the first panels on either end (with the ladders on it) are too wide.  The prototype had a narrow panel on the ends then six evenly spaced panels to the door, and the Roundhouse car has seven evenly spaced panels.  I can live with it.  I never thought I would see Atlas do the X71's in N, or I would have never attempted these cars.  As an old timer once said, "model railroading is fantasy." 

[3rdrail]

See if you can find a flat white primer and use that. Try Michael's or Hobby Lobby for it. I've used that for refrigerator cars.

[ai5629]

How does it go around edges?  The problem I was having was the paint lay in the crevices of the door and did not coat the "ribs" of the door. 

[up1950s]

I use Floquil primer then yellow . It sounds like your paint is going on very wet . Try practicing on scrap and keeping the gun further away from the work so it lands drier . Don't try to cover in 1 coat , squirt , let dry for a few hours , then repeat as many times as needed . With the Floquil I can do it in 1 or 2 coats .

[Hyperion]

Start with a White Primer, Tamiya's is the best/finest (and very expensive and somewhat hard to find) but any will work.  Then spray the Yellow.  Not a lot at once, it'll take a lot of coats to make it look right.  Your patience can get the best of you, but resist the urge to get away with "just one more pass".  It's better to waste 5 minutes waiting to apply another coat than to screw it up and have to strip it and start all over.

[ai5629]

I was just on the Tamiya web site.  You can purchase paint on it.  Have you tried the spray cans of yellow or are you painting with an air brush? 

[CoalPorter]

Yeap, with light colors, like yellow and orange, apply very
light coats and let dry for awile ,then do another very light coat.
The color tends to build and fill in as the paint dries.

[Hyperion]

I was just on the Tamiya web site.  You can purchase paint on it.  Have you tried the spray cans of yellow or are you painting with an air brush? 

I airbrush, but the same principle holds with Whites and Yellows whether using an airbrush or a spray-can.

[up1950s]

Another thing is that gloss colors don't cover as easily as flat colors , so extra coats , and light coats are the norm to cover without puddling in the valleys .

[tom mann]

Yellow and white require many thin coats over a light colored primer.

[engineshop]

I use Home Depot Plastic Primer in a can. It is actually design for patio plastic chairs. I don't actually paint the model with this primer, I just spray it lightly to give my regular paint something to grab on.
Yellow is not easy to paint since it runs fast like white. I only can do it with my double action airbrush, since I use mostly air and only a little bit of paint. It takes at least 3, 4 layers with the airbrush to see any coverage and another 3, 4 layers to finish it. The last layer is a little bit heavier to give it a nice uniform paint coverage. As suggest by a profesional airbursher, I hold my airbrush gun only about two inches or less away from the model to direct the paint into the corners.
Not all yellows are really bad to airbrush, the more red the color has (UP, TTX) the easier it is.

[ai5629]

I was at my LHS this weekend, and he stocks Tamiya paint.  I was done picking up some freight cars, and I made one more pass through the store and saw the paint.  I picked up a can of primer and can of yellow paint.  I sprayed the boxcar doors I needed it for this afternoon.  I did many thin coats of primer followed by many thin coats of yellow.  The results were outstanding!  The paint covered thoroughly and thin.  It even dries glossy.  I can now finally finish the boxcars these doors are for.  Which are some Conrail X75's.  I started these cars in 1997.  They are painted, decalled, and dull coated.  I never painted the doors, since I could not find a yellow paint that would cover.  For you Conrail guys, I modified some 50' seven panel PS rib side box cars.  All you need to do is file down the side sill to match the prototype.  I also added GMM end walks and brake wheels.  Next, I will be adding BLMA stirrups.  The only issue these cars have is the panels on each end are to wide.  The prototype had a narrow panel on each end and six evenly spaced panels running to the door.  I can live with it.  Thanks for all of the advice.

Jeff

[amato1969]

Excellent news.  Tamiya paints are excellent; too bad the selection of colors is pretty limited...

   Frank