I've got a trio of Aristo SD45s that I have destined for FRISCO paint. However, my experience in custom painting has been largely limited to N-Scale. Stripping an N-Scale locomotive is relatively easy, but how the heck do you strip something as rugged and large as a G-Scale SD45? One is silver/red warbonnet Santa Fe, the other two are gray CSX. Thanks for your input! -Mike
Garden Railways has an article on that, I think from either this year or last year, involving process of stripping paint off a locomotive. Granted the locomotive they used was steam, but I'm fairly certain that shouldn't make a difference. If you give me a few I can go find the issue number that can be back ordered from Kalambach. EDIT: the article is a 3 part series. It's called "Detailing and Weathering a Locomotive." It's the Garden Railway Basics section with Jack Verducci. The 3 Part Series is Issues: Feb 2008, April 2008 and June 2008. This should provide the necessary tools and information. I'll try to get the articles scanned in and put into a PDF form for you to download. I'll PM you the DL link.
There was one article that I read that suggest you of course remove the body and all detail parts carefully. Then they stated to dip the body in a soapy solution for a while. This softens up the decals for removal. The problem with using solvents is that it saturates the plastic and you could end up with a bad paint job. Once you have used soap and they did say to be patient as it could take a couple of dips, to blow off the body with compressed air. Then you take a real fine steel wool like grade oo or o and scuff up the paint on the body lightly. This gives the paint something to adhere to. Then you want to dip it again in the soap solution, blow it off and let dry for a day or two. Make sure you use a type of paint that is friendly towards plastic, some paints have harsh solvents in them that will actually eat the plastic. I read this article from somewhere, but don't remember where?
Thanks for the tips guys. On the soap method, I heard somewhere that liquid dishwasher detergent is best - have you heard of this? I've got a big rubbermaid tub I bought specifically for this so I guess I just need to decide - alcohol or soap? -Mike
Isopropyl alcohol is likely to be completely safe. I would not reccomend going to Maui while the shell soaks, but putting it in for a day or three will be more than alright. As for soap, I've never seen it work in HO. Decals maybe, but not paint.
95% alcohol did not work on either usa sd40-2 or aristo dash-9. i used scalecoat wash-away and a sandblaster. that's the only thing that worked. i also used thinner base primer. after that waterbased colors held on the shells.
I heard about scalecoat and that it was pretty good. I forgot all about it until you mentioned it, thanx.
I'm glad to see other staff members get involved with G scale. Once you have your G scale layout set up outside you may find yourself playing with that more than your N scale. Welcome to the world of G.
Please don't forget to post pictures of these SD45 monsters when you get them painted. In fact, progress shots would be good, too. Thanks.
one of my custom painted g-scale locos (on my n-scale layout) here's another one : more pics here : cp-forum.net - weekly work report..........05/16/2009 and another one : more pics here : cp-forum.net - weekly work report..........09/20/2009
