Painting Locos

I'm going to be painting a couple of undecorated RS-1s in the ATSF Zebra Stripe scheme. I'm using decals for the diagonal stripes, but I was wondering if anyone could give me advice on painting the white line that runs along the top of the hood?

Also, does anyone know a good website that has photos of specific prototypes?

Use decals. Striping comes in a variety of widths and colours. Or, if you have a steady hand, make a cradle out of plastic foam that holds the loco at the right angle for you to use a straightedge and a drafting pen loaded with white paint. I've seen articles describing this technique, but have never done it myself, nor met anyone who did. Um, er, that's a clue, right? :-)

For images, use Google or any other search engines. The trick is to use phrases instead of single words, and to search on variations of your subject. Eg, google on "ATSF RS-1 locomotive images." And on ".... engine ..." And on "ATSF zebra stripe paint scheme images." Etc.

HTH

You can get striping tape in widths ranging from .010" to at least 1/2" and it's easy to apply. I'd put a coat of clear on over it, preferably matte.

Norm

Wolf Kirchmeir spake thus:

There's another, probably better way to make stripes: use masking tape. Believe me, you're never gonna get clean, straight lines with the method above. Create the lines with tape cut with a sharp knife, then spray the color.

Why is this message in this big old font, anyhow?

I've had good luck painting straight striping by painting decal paper then cutting it with a paper cutter. Paint hasn't cracked or flaked off even when bending the paper. Nice thing is that it matches your paint scheme perfectly.

Dan T

Danny TB wrote:

Something I did once that worked out well was to spray white generally in the area of the stripe, mask using Carl Goldberg tape (used a lot on R/C aircraft) - this tape can be gotten in very narrow widths, then spray the rest. Worked out nicely. I try to avoid decals when easily possible. Be sure to "use" some of the adhesive on the tape first, it's pretty sticky when fresh.

Good luck

Greg

Danny...I have to agree that Wolf's suggestion that probably the most common and straight forward for way modelers add thin striping to their locomotives is through decals. I use a five step process in applying decals that has never failed me: (1) create a high gloss surface to the painted model with Floquil Crystal Coat (2) apply the decals (3) "set" the decals as tightly as possible with Solva-Set (4) overcoat the model again lightly with Crystal Coat (5) apply the final finish coat of choice (semi-gloss, flat coat, etc.).

You can see an F-3 set that I just finished striping this week at:

in article snipped-for-privacy@d34g2000cwd.googlegroups.com, CNJ999 at snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote on 9/9/06 1:38 PM:

Nice job!

The correct url is

Sharp-looking colour scheme! Sort of like reversed CR&IP. I like it!