Painting A Brass Locomotive for Erieman

[S&S RR]

Tom


I just went through this complete thread - WOW!  Great work. And a great thread.

[donatode]

Tom,


Beautiful work as usual.  I am impressed by the scope of your artistry.

[tct855]

Tom,
           I agree! excellent!  Nice job!  T...


https://youtu.be/-W0PReCRg6Y?t=2   

[Erieman]

Tom,

Beautiful recovery on the "Cooked" engine. I almost bought one of those engines years ago. I like the large drivers. It would look great with a Vanderbilt tender. And another thing, you were correct on the number of my brass engines. Where did they all come from? Can't say enough about what you are doing. Keep up the wonderful work, my friend. Stay out of the rain and have fun in the train room.

Frank / Erieman

[ACL1504]

Tom


I just went through this complete thread - WOW!  Great work. And a great thread.

John,

Thanks for checking this thread also. I almost croaked when I saw the pieces of brass in the oven. Almost is the key word here.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Tom,


Beautiful work as usual.  I am impressed by the scope of your artistry.

Donato,

Thank you kind sir, very much appreciated! Not sure I'm an artist but it sure is fun! Heck, after 40 years of doing it I should have learned a little!


Again, your kind remarks are very much appreciated. Now if I can just get my head through the door.


Tom

[ACL1504]

Tom,
           I agree! excellent!  Nice job!  T...

Thom,

Thanks very much. Here is the link to the original thread.


http://www.kitforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=7857

Tom

[ACL1504]

Tom,

Beautiful recovery on the "Cooked" engine. I almost bought one of those engines years ago. I like the large drivers. It would look great with a Vanderbilt tender. And another thing, you were correct on the number of my brass engines. Where did they all come from? Can't say enough about what you are doing. Keep up the wonderful work, my friend. Stay out of the rain and have fun in the train room.

Frank / Erieman

Frank,

Thanks, much appreciated. I hope to never and I mean never plan to go through that again.

I know where the brass comes from. They are like rabbits, you get two and before you know what happened you have 10-11 or more. Don't ask how I know, trust me on this. My two at one time was close to 80 but I'm down to my favorite 25 now.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Guess what Howdy Doody fans? It's Howdy Doody Time and that means it's time for another update on Frank's brass loco paint job.


One thing I found on Frank's loco was the fact the headlight was epoxied into the headlight housing. Not only that but there is also a MV lens in the headlight.

Loosing the 1.5 volt light isn't a big deal as it can easily be replaced. However, the MV lens can't or at least I don't have one that size for Frank's headlight. If I soak the smoke box front in Acetone, the MV lens will be history.





Continued in a few.

[ACL1504]

In order to save the MV lens in the headlight, here is what I decided to do. I'm leaving the light and MV lens in the headlight and repainting the smoke box front. Yepper, that's correct, you read that correctly.

I'm going to use blue painters tape to mask the light and MV lens.



I use the medium adhesive blue painters tape. I like this tape as the adhesive doesn't stick to the paint and doesn't melt at the low oven temperature.



Continued later this afternoon.

[Erieman]

Tom,

Or should I say Howdy Doody?! I don't know if I should be scared or excited. Oh, I know, Excited. Beautiful job my friend.

Frank / Erieman

[ACL1504]

Tom,

Or should I say Howdy Doody?! I don't know if I should be scared or excited. Oh, I know, Excited. Beautiful job my friend.

Frank / Erieman

Frank,

Have no fear my friend, I'm a professional. Well, I think so anyway, you can be a little concerned. No, just kidding, all will be fine as I've already done it and I'm a bit slow on the postings.

More to follow in a few minutes.

Tom

[ACL1504]

I then covered the front with the tape.





When I paint the front of the smoke box, I won't be concerned about the other casting on the smoke box. They will be painted by hand.

Continued in a few.

[ACL1504]

I believe the old smoke box paint was Scalecoat Graphite and Oil. That color is the basic color for a great majority of steam locos. I wanted a special color for Frank's so I made my own mix.

I combined the Scalecoat Loco Black with the Scalecoat Graphite. I mixed 7 drops of Graphite and 3 drops of black for the mix. I always keep a list of the mixes so if needed I can make a small about to use as touch up paint. I also label the bottles. I'll call the mix Baker Graphite mix.



Fast forward and I've painted the loco smoke box and smoke box front with the Baker Graphite. Note in the photo the color looks grey. It isn't, it's more of a metallic graphite, just looks grey in the photo.



Now ready to be baked in the oven.

Continued in a few.

[ACL1504]

The bottom frame base plate has the NJ International plate on the bottom. So, all I did was cover it with the tape. I usually paint it loco black. But, hey, it won't show on the bottom.



Through the years of my professional brass painting time, I made my own formulas/mixes for different paint colors. For Frank's brass loco, I'm using the Langford Black. The formula/mix is shown below.



Again, fast forward and the frame, base plate with brake shoes, steam chest, waist sheet, front pilot and the four drivers were painted with the Langford Loco Black.



These were sent to the oven as well.