# Painting - Chassis of a Locomotive



## BradChism (Jan 26, 2013)

Hello Everyone,

Thanks for viewing. New to the forum so hopefully added this to the right area of the forum since well I am new to certain aspects of painting models.

I got my hands on a RS-3 which has been put through the ringer and looking to add it to my collection. Who ever had this unit prior just didn't know what to do with paint and didn't treat the metal frame correctly. I am looking for some advise in treating a chassis and repainting it.

My general thought was to use a dremel with a wire brush and work the chassis till the paint was off, then get some rust-oleum painters touch black primer and repaint it. 

What I would like to know is there something that works with stripping the paint without making the sanding mess and a better way to treat the metal so it doesn't rust in the future?

Thoughts, Idea's or best of all.. Facts from anyone.

Thank you all for your time,
Brad


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

What scale are you working on? 
You say rust so I'm thinking O gauge.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

You can soak the metal frame in a bubble-bath of Easy Off Heavy Duty oven cleaner ... use a couple of layers of tin-foil-type lasagna pans, covered with some more tin foil. Let sit covered for several hours. Normally, I do this outside, so the fumes don't bother anyone, however, if the weather is cold, the Easy Off won't work as well. (You can use the Walmart-brand heavy duty oven cleaner, too ... cheaper, and just as good.)

After soaking, rub down the frame (wearing rubber gloves) with a ScotchBrite pad under running water in a utility sink. Dry. Repeat the process, if needed. After that, I would continue with a Dremel brushdown with a stainless steel brush ... get the metal all virgin shiny.

To inhibit rust in the future, one must completely remove all of the rust "veins" that might exist in the metal to begin with.

Take a look at the post-oven-clean (but before Dremel brush), and then after-Dremel-brush pics of one of my shells in this thread:

http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?p=130078&postcount=172

After that, prime, paint. Make sure you use the same mfr primer/paint. Dont' mix/max Krylon with Rustoleum, for example. I've generally been happy with Krylon stuff ... flat or satin black for frames, perhaps?

Regards,

TJ


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## BradChism (Jan 26, 2013)

@NIMT Actually it's HO scale. 

@TJ Amazing. Nice work and thank you for the information. Yes the frame will be black I am going to repaint the RS-3 to Rio Grand colors with a patch of UP for my layout. I like to follow some of the real world ways but add a mix of custom to everything. 


Also I noticed you mentioned Krylon... Can I get that at Lowes? How much better is it over Rust-Oleum? My dads been a painter all my life so I know what I know only from him so I am curious.

Thanks for the info,
Brad


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

The choice between Rustoleum and Krlyon comes down to personal preference, perhaps. I've used both, and I find the Krylon is a bit softer, which helps me when I reassemble some of my bend-tab prewar trains. The Rustoleum has a harder finish, and might be more prone to chips. My thinking, anyway.

I'm not sure about Krylon at Lowes. Home Depot carried it for a long time, but then no longer do. You can get Krylon readily at Walmart ... my local WM carries a large selection of colors.

See this thread for more info ...

http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=14408

Regards,

TJ


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I've sprayed a few rusty ones after cleaning with satin black, they come out fine. As TJ says, clean them TOTALLY, no rust remaining. Then wipe them down with solvent and without handling them with bare hands, allow them to dry and paint.


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