Loco End Step Question

Hi, all,

I'm getting ready to paint the end steps of my Kato SD70M white. Are only the edges of the steps white, or should the top surfaces be white as well?



thanks, everyone :shade:

 

I would do just the edge.

 

Some railroads have attempted to paint the entire step white, but railroader's boot marks quickly make them look terrible. Most paint the edge white to meet the contrasting color requirements and the top surfaces black. Federal Regs have long required contrasting colors on grab rails and step edges.

 

Heres a pic of 9810. Her steps are grey.
Thom

 

Thanks, all! I think :s It just had to be the harder option to paint, didn't it?

 

yep, but its a cool project!:thumbs_up:

 

The front edge is white, but isn't the kick plate on the back of the step white, too?

[edit] Ans: Only the bottom kick plate is white. See this from Richard Percy's Espee Modeler's Website.

Appears to be only three steps on the Espee version. No big deal, IMHO.

 

9800 rear steps, as Flash said just the lowest one

 

I'm waiting on more courage and a smaller paintbrush to try the kick plates Can you even get brushes smaller than 10/0?

The extra step is appropriate for other roads. I can (barely!) tolerate it, mainly because it would be a MAJOR pain to fix.

 

Do what I do, and use Microscale white trimfilm or decal stripes for the kickplates. Even though I do HO, they make some stripes that could work for you in N; otherwise, just cut what you need from trimfilm. That's what I used on my SD45R: http://www.trainweb.org/calsomrr/SP_7427.html