Hi, I'm thinking of painting the handles of my Caboose Industries ground throws red and green. One side (green) will show that the switch is aligned for the main and the other (red) for the diverging route. I'm hoping that the colors will help prevent some derailments from running through the switch. I don't plan to paint the whole arm just the large cube on the end. Any suggestions as to what paint (band, version, etc.) that will work with the Delrin Plastic? Thanks Gary
Gary I did just that, I used good old testers gloss enamel. Its been on for 10ys now with no problems and the best part is I can tell at a glance which way the switch is aligned.
Since it's delrin, you have two options, both I employ on my N scale handrails. First, clean the top area you wish to paint with 91% alcahol. They apply your favorite brand of acrylic paint, Polly Scale, Badger, Tamiya etc. I have also used both Tamiya and Pactra brand Polycarbonite paints with success. They are made for RC car and truck bodies and will etch into the delrin yet will flex when dry. Jim
Tad, Gary and Jim, Thank you for the quick followup and advice. Tad, If I'm looking at the photo correctly you have the pins under the the throw arms and I assume that if the ball is exposed that is the why the switch is aligned. Engineer Bill, I thought about Testers, but any I have is long dried up. Gary, Acrylics I have in stock. I totally blew them off. Jim, Thanks for the suggestion on the alcohol and cleaning them before painting. I had forgot about the paints for the RC Cars. Gary
You're welcome. No. I stuck the pin through the nail hole. The way I have it, the throw is thrown towards the color. If you want straight, throw it towards the green. If you want diverging, throw it towards the red. You could do it the other way too, as long as you knew which way you had it. For me, I thought it would be easier to throw it to the color I wanted. That way maybe I wouldn't get mixed up On my home layout I use green and yellow because my prototype had green and yellow targets. I put the green for the normal alignment of the switch and yellow for the not normal. Because of my track geometry, normal alignment is not always straight. The rule is when you are finished with that switch, always align it back to green.
