# Painting the white stripe on a locomotive



## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

When I am cruising ebay, a nice white stripe on a steam engine, really
catches my eye. One of my last purchases was a K335 I got for a good
price. It has a weak white stripe. Its a little scary slapping white paint on
an engine, but I wanted to try it. Instead of trying to find my K335 I grabbed
the 293 I bought from flyernut. Its stripe was not bad but could have been better.
I think it came out nice. First pic is the original stripe. 2nd pic was after I painted it.
3rd pic is whole engine with panted stripe.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

Great job.


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## AmFlyerFan (Jan 27, 2019)

Looks nice. What kind of white paint is recommended? Brush on, or paint stick?


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

I have no idea what is recommended. I used acrylic paint. do not know how durable it will be.
I used a microbrush that another member showed us he uses to clean with. Got the paint at
Walmart in craft section. Only .50 for a 2 ounce bottle. LOL, enough to do many stripes. They
have matte and gloss finish. This is matte.


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## alaft61ri (Oct 11, 2019)

Very nice great job. 
Al


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

Here is a pic of the brush I used. Tip is very small but that helps to keep the paint from going over the edge of boardwalk. Many modelers in HO are using acrylic paint to paint engines and rolling stock so I figured it would be fine for the stripe. Its safe, no bad fumes and cleanup is easy with water. If you mess up, a wet
cloth can wipe it away. I did 2 coats with about a one hour dry time in between. A steady hand is of coarse better but I would not say a must. The brushes are from China. They were like 6.00 with free shipping and it took about a month in shipping. They come in a plastic bottle and I think there are either 50 or 100. A lot.
I am sorry, I forget which member showed the brushes but if he sees this please show the ebay ad for them incase some one else would like to get some of the brushes. I think the brushes are used for makeup, so
they need to be precise.


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## AFGP9 (Apr 8, 2015)

Nice job mopac. I have some of those brushes but it wasn't me that mentioned them. I prefer the Sharpie paint markers that I get at Hobby Lobby. I'm more steady with that Sharpie on such a narrow surface. Before I discovered those Sharpie paint markers I used to used the brush method you did. I bought the same acrylic paint you did also. It will last. I wasn't always able to get the paint only on the stripe area. Did a lot of wiping with a wet paper towel. lol

Kenny


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## [email protected] (Jan 27, 2020)

I used to restore a lot of pre war Lionel trains and I used to paint stripes with a rubber roller from an old 8 track tape. It worked well and never had a smudge.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

I have some old 8 track tapes. Those rollers would work. I bet some stripes are done with pads.


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