Jerry White Weathered Union Pacific 4-12-2

[E7]

I'm just old enough to remember some steam in SoCal. SP steam switcher on the branch jut on the south edge of Northrop Aviation. Driving up to visit Uncle in Lancaster, looking out the side back window of the 40 Ford Tudor and as track and road came back together before Palmdale right into the cab window of a Cab Forward.

We are likely of similar vintage as I can remember steam freights operation behind the housing where I lived in my early childhood. They would have been PRR is about all I can accurately say.

Weathering is on par with automobile customizing. Very owner specific, and usually does not meet new owner's demands. I have spent months and months with pint after pint of PollyS paint and decal remover and thousands of Q-tips removing weathering.

I have an engine from which I would like to remove some some weathering. Not sure what kind of paint the weathering is. I have had suggestions ranging from very hot water to thinner. Any thoughts other than those already expressed? Hoping not to damage the factory paint. Thanks ahead of time!

Rich

[ScaleCraft]

See if you can find some PollyS paint and decal remover, and a box of Q-tips. Try a painted spot (bottom of tender, or fuel tank) and see what happens Do NOT put it on and go to bed! Work is around, see if the paint softens.
Usually weathering is not as robust as primary paint.

I do know factory Chinese lettering on shells does NOT come off without removing factory paint, BUT on tenders, you need to get the lettering off and lightly sanded before you hit it with paint.

[sarge]

Rich, what engine and whose paint is very important to the question.

Another approach I use all the time is to blend body colour into weathering that comes out too stark for my tastes. It happens to me all the time. You can always go back with thinned body colour and your airbrush and knock some of the snot out of it.

Some of the stuff on youtube is long on technique but short on believability simply because too much is going on on a scaled down subject under layout intensity lighting. I don't agree with the current weathering experts that its a good idea to replicate every streak from a prototype photo. The result is often far too stark and far too busy to convince the eye. Far more convincing to "suggest" the features from a prototype photo; weathering doesn't scale well.


It turns out that you really can go back a bit if you've gone too far, either by wiping it off the flat surfaces with thinner, a cotton-ball, and maybe cotton-buds, before the weathering cures or you can blend it down with body colour, engine black on steam, or the like afterward.

[86TA355SR]

As sarge mentioned, the blending technique with body color works well. The white I applied to represent calcium scale deposits, even with an airbrush, was too stark for my liking. A quick touch up with the body color, airbrushed, toned it down.

I tried thinning acrylics with rubbing alcohol, as LT did in an article, for washes. Some of the paint didn’t mix well. I’m not sure what I’m missing, suspect it’s the paint.

[sarge]

It has to be a true water-base acrylic to cut with "rubbing alcohol", and some of the latter are now made using ethanol rather than isopropyl alcohol. You are tinting the alcohol rather than thinning the paint in this case, but this combination often curdles if the ratios are too heavy toward the paint side of the mix. There are so many variations of what makers call "acrylics" and the makeup of US "rubbing alcohol" today, its a bit of a crapshoot.

I'll do the same using washes of shoe-dye (not polish. Dye.) cut with methylated spirit instead. Its very predictable. Its very old-school as well, I admit.

[E7]

Thanks guys!

Rich

[86TA355SR]

It has to be a true water-base acrylic to cut with "rubbing alcohol", and some of the latter are now made using ethanol rather than isopropyl alcohol. You are tinting the alcohol rather than thinning the paint in this case, but this combination often curdles if the ratios are too heavy toward the paint side of the mix. There are so many variations of what makers call "acrylics" and the makeup of US "rubbing alcohol" today, its a bit of a crapshoot.

I'll do the same using washes of shoe-dye (not polish. Dye.) cut with methylated spirit instead. Its very predictable. Its very old-school as well, I admit.

Interesting, I didn’t know that and thanks for the info.

[up148]

Sorry, been offline all weekend. I agree with Aaron that the early SS 9000 is a better scale model than the later 3rd Rail version, most likely because of 3R compromises that had to be made. Here are a couple of photos of an early SS 9000 next to a KOH's 9000. I kept the KOH's and believe it is a better scale model, but not without issues.

[bob turner]

As I recall, you have studied this class about as much as anybody. I dumped my Lionel mostly because I could not find a single photo of a "nine" with squared-off sand dome, as shown on the bare brass model in your photo. Is there in fact one of the class that had such a dome?

[up148]

I think the only 4-12-2 to have the square sand dome was #9000. Here is a photo that shows it. I have another somewhere that shows a top down view, but can't find it right now. So, the SS 4-12-2 is only good for road number 9000. I question that business decision by Mort, but there must have been a reason.

[bob turner]

Thank you. I will re-check the Kratville book. Not sure how I missed it. Your photo is definitive.