Paint your wagon (Or railbus in my case.)

[Paul2727]

Greetings all,
I've been trawling the net looking for suitable paint to respray some rolling stock and my Faller railbus project.
I'm wondering if anyone has any info on the most suitable type of paint for plastic models. I've used plenty of Halfords and Humbrol rattle cans to good effect in the past, but what else is out there? Anyone have any suggestions on useful paint or warnings about totally unsuitable ones.
Personally I find Plasticote far to thick at even the briefest pass.
I'm currently looking for a source of light duck egg blue and a light to mid cream (Ala VW camper.) for my rail bus and a nice mid brown for some box vans. Any suggestions?
Regards,
Paul.

 

[Gizzy]

I was going to suggest Plasticote.

I've used the sunset yellow on maintenance wagons. The snowplough wagon on the left was formally a tatty blue LGB 3019 postal van....

 

[Rhinochugger]

I was going to suggest Plasticote.

I've used the sunset yellow on maintenance wagons. The snowplough wagon on the left was formally a tatty blue LGB 3019 postal van....

View attachment 243945

Yep, you can get it at the Range or Hobbycraft

 

[ebay mike]

I used Plasticote on my Orient Express coaches and loco without problem (came from B&M). I also picked up these in a QD clear-out some time ago at 29p a tin. Only 100ml but enough for small jobs. I've only used the cream so far. Brand name is KRYLON, although that might not exist now, hence the end of range reduction.

 

[mike]

Halfords do car paints in a viraiaty of colours.

 

[Paul2727]

Yep, you can get it at the Range or Hobbycraft

Looks good. Maybe it was just me. what distance did you hold the can?
Paul.

 

[Gizzy]

Looks good. Maybe it was just me. what distance did you hold the can?
Paul.

About 30cm, or 12" in old currency....

 

[dunnyrail]

Before spraying any project it is well worth while doing some tests perhaps on an old baked bean tin that has had the label removed or even some Plasticard if you have any kicking about. This will give you a feel for how to use rattle cans rather than spoil a new or built treasure. I do personally find that Halfords have a great colour range and their undercoats are well worth using as a good basis for starting a spraying project. Be patient and leave a few hours between each coat. If I am in a rush I put a freshly sprayed item in the airing cupboard to speed up the drying process a little. With care a great result can be obtained.

Oh finally if you are using multiple colours with masking. First use a good quallity masking tape, I prefer Tamiya for less 'bleed through'. Also on masking a method that works very well (suggested on this site) is to spray the complete item with the main base colour. Mask then spray again with the same colour then go over again with the new colour, this effectively seals the joint with the base colour so that there is no bleed through with the second one.

 

[Paul2727]

Thanks for all the replies.
I finally decided to go the Halfords route, Repeated tests with plasticoat didn't quite cut it for me.
It's currently in light grey primer. (After a serious degrease and fitting matching body line mouldings across the doors and drilling for 3mm led lights.)
I'm going for Lada cream for the main colour with Ford nordic blue below the bodyline moulding. (Which will end up silver / chrome.
Still not sure whether to stick with 32mm gauge or 45mm. (I'd like it be able to handle 1st radius curves, but there's not a lot of wiggle room.)
Paul.

 

[Riograndad]

Paul,cheapy Chinese gondola sprayed with Halfords red oxide and turned out fine,good luck with the project

 

[Paul2727]

Wagon looks great...
I did indeed go for Halfords rattle cans. Here it is in it's new livery of Lada cream and Ford Nordic blue. Just the body-line moulding to do in chrome and mate it with its new new single axle bogies. Not sure if the railcar will be powered or driven by a matching four wheeled luggage trailer made from another (Damaged.) body shell. (Suitably shortened and seriously roof chopped.)
The inspiration for a luggage trailer came fro the ones used by old airport buses and an tram I saw in Amsterdam many years ago.
I'll try and get some better photos when daylight returns to Derbyshire.
Regards,
Paul.

 

[Rhinochugger]

Wagon looks great...
I did indeed go for Halfords rattle cans. Here it is in it's new livery of Lada cream and Ford Nordic blue. Just the body-line moulding to do in chrome and mate it with its new new single axle bogies. Not sure if the railcar will be powered or driven by a matching four wheeled luggage trailer made from another (Damaged.) body shell. (Suitably shortened and seriously roof chopped.)
The inspiration for a luggage trailer came fro the ones used by old airport buses and an tram I saw in Amsterdam many years ago.
I'll try and get some better photos when daylight returns to Derbyshire.
Regards,
Paul.View attachment 245153View attachment 245154

Neat masking - something I've always struggled to master

 

[Paul2727]

Ok then.
It's been a while since I touched the railcar, but things have steadily moved on between hospital visits and other general chaos that takes up 75% of my time.
Anyway, the railcar is now fully lined out and has a twin. (Photos when I can.)
The good news is I finally found the video showing an unmanned diesel 'power unit' between two driving cars.
I knew I'd seen it somewhere. Turns out it's Greek, but what the hey.. (Engauge rule one.) See vid below:
The power unit shows up around 11:30, so you can skip the lift footage if you wish. A treat for narrow gauge steam lovers at 17:45. Now that's something I'd like a model of!
Now to decide if the railcar combo is going to be 32mm or 45mm gauge. I've acquired a reasonable amount of LGB rack rails and chairs, so that may swing it.
Regards,
Paul.

 

[dunnyrail]

Interesting Vid. The Red and Creme Carriage looks like one of the Coaches from when the Diakopto - Kalayryta Rack Line was Steam worked, though how much of it was Rack is difficult to know. Certainly much of the trip did not appear to be on Rack. The line was Dieselised around 1959 but happily all of the 5 Rack Tanks were still in existence in 2006 when the Middleton Press Book was published showing this line. The Blue and Sludgy Mustard Railcar doing the shoving some times at a fair old lick is normally 2 Trailers and the Bodgy Power Car in the middle. Some even have Maybech Engines for you Warship Diesel fans. The book also shows a similar setup to that seen in this Vid so the original Trailers look to have been modified for use with the Diesels. The Railcar if you look carefully has Connecting Rods so I imagine that the Power Supply provides Electricity to the Units Power Bogies.

Similar central Powered Railcars are used on the Val de Nuria Spain and the Yellow Train in France, both of course Electric and there are many on the minor Swiss NG lines again Electric. We have even got into the act with the new Bi-Models for Anglia having a Central Power Unit and Trailers. These are expected to be introduced in the May Timetable.

 

[idlemarvel]

That must qualify as the most bizarre railway video I have seen this year, the bit after the crane has but the car on the track. As you say Jon it looks like the blue and grey railcar has traction motors - maybe in a previous incarnation it picked up power from overhead lines but now gets its power from the diesel generator thing in tow. Or was it built that way in the first place? Well weird. I guess the red and cream car is what we would call a Driving Van Trailer or control car. And as for the steam loco, I'm still trying to figure out the configuration, but as you say Paul it would be a very interesting model.

 

[Paul2727]

[QUOTE="As you say Jon it looks like the blue and grey railcar has traction motors
[/QUOTE]
Yep, looks like the bogies on the the blue /creamish railcar have a single traction motor driving two axles through connecting rods. As mentioned above the power unit probable sat between two cars, although it does appear to have lights, so it would appear to have been made to operate with one if necessary.
No sign of any driver controls on it though, which seems weird. I'd have expected at least some basic controls to move it on its own.
Anyway it's the set up I was looking for. The faller rail cars use the same 0-6-0 drive chassis as the steam and diesel engines on one end but with one end wheelset removed. On the other end they have a twin axle bogie. It's a weird and unbalanced looking set up. This give me an idea though. If I replace the middle wheelset with a crank, put a wheelset in the normally unused end position and fit connecting rods, maybe it would look more like it was meant to be like that instead of looking like it had lost a set of wheels. I'll have to give it a try and see how it looks.

 

[dunnyrail]

[QUOTE="As you say Jon it looks like the blue and grey railcar has traction motors

Yep, looks like the bogies on the the blue /creamish railcar have a single traction motor driving two axles through connecting rods. As mentioned above the power unit probable sat between two cars, although it does appear to have lights, so it would appear to have been made to operate with one if necessary.
No sign of any driver controls on it though, which seems weird. I'd have expected at least some basic controls to move it on its own.
Anyway it's the set up I was looking for. The faller rail cars use the same 0-6-0 drive chassis as the steam and diesel engines on one end but with one end wheelset removed. On the other end they have a twin axle bogie. It's a weird and unbalanced looking set up. This give me an idea though. If I replace the middle wheelset with a crank, put a wheelset in the normally unused end position and fit connecting rods, maybe it would look more like it was meant to be like that instead of looking like it had lost a set of wheels. I'll have to give it a try and see how it looks.
[/QUOTE]
As ever the Germans come to the rescue with another weird option!

Not entirely sure what line these were used on, but was certainly in former East Germany.

 

[idlemarvel]

If you look in the recently posted East German tram videos Jon there is a tram formation like that, I think it was called "2 living rooms and a bathroom"!

EDIT: first video of the 3 about 1 min 45 sec in

 

[ColinK]

Interesting video of a subject I know nothing about. How odd though, a railcar with rods and a unmanned power unit.

 

[dunnyrail]

Interesting video of a subject I know nothing about. How odd though, a railcar with rods and a unmanned power unit.

Shows that there is almost that proverbial ‘Prototype for everything’. There are quite a few DMU’s on the NG Lines if both France.and Germany plus perhaps others that have Rods. Some on just one Bogie and others like the one in the Vid on both Bogies.