Model Railroading > Old Steam Models - color/patina help needed

A good friend of mine unintentionally got me restarted on these. They're my father's scale models from 1925-1927. In the first pic, the top one, without paint, was his last - an SP 2-10-2 . Not too worried about that one just yet. The lower is his model of SP Cab Forward 4107. Second pic is why I need help. I haven't done this in, say, 30+ years, and have completely lost how to mix paint, etc. I'm hoping some of you master modellers can advise me. I just want to get the patina close...The tender shot is why I'm hoping I don't have to respray the whole locomotive - dad lettered the tender by hand - with a toothpick! In the third pic, I'm leaving the Pullman for last - by the time I get to that, well, mess, I'll have all my woodworking mojo back to speed.  I have built a cab for the 4107, which is the main reason for this post - I'd like to get it painted close to the existing color - You can see a bit of it, upside down in pic one. I'm actually just stabilizing the 2-10-2 - when I dug it out of the attic, the frame snapped - but I can handle that.

Anyway, they will all be placed on a high shelf, so it's doesn't have to be perfect, but I'd like it to be close.  BTW, I still have my Badger airbrushes...

Help, and thanks in advance.

Walter



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/17 08:30 by drumwrencher.

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These are actually some diferent models that he gave to children in his neighborhood - as seen on EO Gibson's fine Wx4.org website... if anyone is interested...
Walter



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/17 08:31 by drumwrencher.

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Back when I was quite young, I got my start with trains with Strombecker kits. I still have four of those trains on display!

TomPlatten Wrote:
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> Back when I was quite young, I got my start with
> trains with Strombecker kits. I still have four of
> those trains on display!

Very cool. You should post some pictures. Dad made these from scratch - not sure they had kits back then!

Thanks!

Walter

Rather than painting with brushes or an airbrush, I would try a furniture refinishing technique: use pads made of cheesecloth sparingly dipped in a small amount of the paint in a flat dish. Work with acrylic paints on pieces of scrap wood until you get the effect that matches the original article. Then you can retouch the original pieces. Remember, in this work, "less" is better, as you can easily repeat the process to get the right degree of darkening.

Ray  

Ray_Murphy Wrote:
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> Rather than painting with brushes or an airbrush,
> I would try a furniture refinishing
> technique: use pads made of cheesecloth sparingly
> dipped in a small amount of the paint in a flat
> dish. Work with acrylic paints on pieces of scrap
> wood until you get the effect that matches the
> original article. Then you can retouch the
> original pieces. Remember, in this work, "less"
> is better, as you can easily repeat the process to
> get the right degree of darkening.
>
> Ray  

Thank you, sir. Exactly the type of suggestion I was hoping for.  I'm fairly confident I can mix the paint color pretty close, and with your idea, I think I've got it!

Walter