[Bryan Moran]

Pretty much. I have two MTH cars soaking now. After the first day, the paint was loose. I did a light scrub to remove the loose paint. The second day, the paint was totally stripped, with just some light deposits around the grab irons and corrugated ends that come off with a soft tooth brush. I give them three days with this method.

I tried quicker methods, but they don’t work well for me…

I have used many products and the isopropyl works best for me. I have used the Scalecoat paint remover on some tougher projects. It seems to be similar to brake fluid, at least the smell and texture indicate that…

Tom

And Isopropyl is cheap. I’ll give it a try when I get my work bench set up. I saw some Rock island hoppers from MTH I wanted but bmartz wants $90 each so I bought a couple cheap NYC hoppers.
Worth a shot. You give us all a bit of confidence.

 

[Bryan Moran]

You ever thought about selling your custom jobs?

 

[Bryan Moran]

I find flaws in some of my new purchases it just goes with The territory.

 

[Bryan Moran]

Remind me again how to remove paint from an existing rolling stock piece?

I purchased a TRAINZ item off ebay for the purpose of playing with it to put decals on it I also purchased off ebay.

To be honest I like this hopper as is without the brown overspray, but I have plenty of hoppers.

So - I remove the trucks and couplers, and with the shell do I dip into isopropanol alcohol?

 

[Bryan Moran]

Thanks James. I have several of those Menards/Home Depot type 5 gallon buckets. I think I will use one of those.

Now - this goes for all - suppose I do a couple of items and they get stripped and the stripper (Iso or specialized product) is now cloudy and obviously has the paint dissolved in it, do I save the alcohol for the next one? Do I pour down the drain? Do I what with it?

Before one gets bent out of shape on pouring it down the drain, which would not necessarily be my 1st choice - I supplement my mouth wash with 91% Iso alcohol and clean with it on some surfaces. We also wash latex paint off brushes into the side yard when house painting, etc.

 

[Bryan Moran]

Been doing some freight car work during the last couple weeks.

I stripped and repainted a MTH Premier 40’ boxcar. I started using some Tru-Color paints. So far I am only using the spray cans for bigger projects. This car is their boxcar red with a K-4 Minneapolis and StLouis Railroad decal set applied.

The M&StL was founded in 1870 and absorbed and abandoned by the C&NW in 1960…

View attachment 597005
View attachment 597006


The next car is a MTH 34’ reefer I stripped and repainted with Tru-Color railroad yellow with freight car brown on the ends and roof. I added some details and used a K-4 decal set for the Illinois Central Refrigerator Service…

View attachment 597008
View attachment 597009


Finally, two MTH 1900 boxcars that started life as a couple MTH 2000 club cars. They were stripped in isopropyl alcohol and modified with some details. I added poling pockets to each car, grab irons, brass cast brake platforms and new brake wheels. Each car is slightly different. I also added some tack boards to break up the cookie cutter look. Priming and painting next.

View attachment 597010
View attachment 597011


Tom

I would love to do or get a Minneapolis and St Louis. Good work as always. I think I asked this once before but what is your go to Tuscan Red can spray paint?

Also, I have placed some graffiti decals on one of my auto racks and it was wet transfer. My 1st time, it looked OK. But which do you prefer- wet transfer or dry transfer and how does dry transfer work?