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Grand Trunk Repaint
A few years ago I got my hands on a extra Aristo Craft SD-45
in Santa Fe Kodachrome colors. It was a brand new and beautiful engine but not
really the colors I wanted. So I thought the engine would be the perfect
candidate for a repaint. The new road name would be GT (I know, GT didn't have
any SD-45's in their roster). It was also the perfect time for our son to learn
the ways of airbrush painting.
Overall the repaint was pretty easy to do and I would say most
people wouldn't have any trouble doing it themselves. I'm also pretty lazy so
stripping the original paint was never much of a thought. Plus most of the GT
colors are pretty dark so the only thing I worried about was good coverage for
the red on the front and rear of the engine. With that said, my son started the
new paint job and I took over when the finer detail needed to be done.
Below is a copy of a quick outline I've sent to other modelers with a desire
for a similar engine.
Colors used were:
Polly Scale 414358 GTW Blue - water base paint.
Polly Scale 414183 SP Scarlett - water base paint.
Polly Scale 414113 Reefer White - water base paint.
Model Flex 16-12 Primer Gray - water base paint.
Model Flex 16-01 Engine Black - water base paint.
Airbrushes used were Badger model 100, 100G and a 150 but any decent airbrush
will work fine.
1. We started out by taping up the windows and number boards with masking tape,
painting most of the engine blue then letting it dry overnight.
2. The front and rear of the engine was taped with masking tape and primed (so
the red was nice and even when finished). The body of the engine was also
covered with a rag to protect from over spray.
3. After the primer was thoroughly dry (a couple of hours) the ends were
painted red and the tape was removed (including the windows) to check for over
spray then left to dry overnight.
4. The porch was taped with masking tape, the edges were painted white, the tape
was removed and left to dry again overnight.
5. In this step the porch edging was taped with masking tape and the lower
sections of the engine were painted black. The tape was removed to check for
errors and left to dry overnight.
6. The step edges were hand painted with two coats of the same white paint and
left to dry overnight.
7. The windows were cleaned up with damp Que Tips (which works amazingly well).
8. The big GT decals were made from a reverse printed image (a homemade
template) then cut by hand from white decal sheets and applied in two layers
to get good white coverage. All decals were set with Solvaset decal setting
solution to show all the hood details through the decals.
9. Four small caution decals were made on a PC and printed with a laser printer
on clear laser decal stock for the steps. All decals were applied and set with
Solvaset.
10. Number boards were removed from the engine and the factory paint was scraped
off so there was nothing left but the clear plastic. Two layers of white decal
material were applied to each reader board face and set with Solvaset. The new
engine numbers were also printed to clear decal sheets on the laser printer, applied
to each number board and again set with Solvaset. Once dry (overnight) the
boards were reinstalled in the engine and set with hot glue.
The font used by GT was Helvetica (as far as my research could verify).
11. The cab side numbers were made from white Helvetica dry transfers. A set of
black cab numbers was printed to scale on a laser printer, on white paper. The
printed numbers were laid on a overhead projector, most of the lit area was
masked with black paper to save my eyes then clear decal sheets were laid (and
taped in position) over the printed numbers. Each of the dry transfer cab
numbers were transferred to the clear decal sheet using the laser print out
beneath it as a guide. The finished cab number decals were then added to the cab
sides and set with Solvaset. Note, this step probably sounds crazy but it was
the cheapest, easiest way to create white decals in the exact font, size and
spacing I wanted.
12. The handrails were painted with two coats of white and attached last. Note:
the paint on the railing tabs needed to be scraped off to make them fit due to
the build up of factory and white paint we added.
I've had a lot of questions about the paint used on this engine... You can use
water base or oil base paints. It's up to you. You can even use them both on the
same model. The paint is almost dry when it hits the model so there are no
problems doing it. I use mostly water based paint because my kids like painting
too and I'd rather not have them breath the oil based stuff if possible.
One more thing worth noting about this engine. When looking very very closely,
you can see the outline of the SF lettering/logo from the original Aristo Craft
paint job under the blue paint but nobody seems to see it so we don't mind it
being there.
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JJ & C RailRoad