Model Railroading > Truck and wheels painting

There are as many ways to paint trucks and wheelsets as there are modelers. I've seen people use special jigs to avoid painting the needle point axle ends or wheel treads, or even masking the journal bearing surface to avoid painting it. Those methods are functional but are way too much work for me.

I place the trucks with wheelsets on a holder with four sharpened sticks and paint the whole works at once. In the photo the left-end truck has already had its wheel treads cleaned. Then each truck is placed on a sheet of paper towel, pushed back and forth, a Q-tip dipped in lacquer thinner is held against the wheel tread and moved with the truck, and it removes any paint from the wheel treads. Simple, fast and effective.

This is a spray paint operation, and there's not enough paint that sneaks in to the axle ends and journal boxes to gum anything up. I've been using this process for decades and it works well.

(Note: Yes, I will also be adding oily residue to the wheel faces, weathering on the trucks, and so on. This was about a simple truck painting process, not about how to completely finish a truck for use on a model.)

Jeff Johnston
trainvideosandparts.comn

---

---

I've done something similar in N scale.
But rubbing the wheel faces seems like more work than necessary. Use an old batch of wheel sets when you spray the trucks, and you don't have to clean off the paint.
I prefer to paint the wheels by hand anyway. Takes a steady hand and an optovisor, but it still goes pretty fast.
I do like the mult-prong widget thingie for holding the trucks tho!

Jeff, do you have to rotate the wheels to avoid shadows on the wheel faces when spraying?

Just spray and then use moto tool wire brush to clean wheels.

I use pipe cleaners and lacquer thinner and a Dremel with wire wheel to polish it  Done it for decades.

I use to use those paint masks but now I just disassemble the trucks and then use dark auto primer for the sideframes. I brush alcohol on them to remove any oils or mold release. Then onto my Tamiya turntable with pencil stubs pressed into the bolster hole.They ger a top-side and bottom-side shot of paint. When that is dry a clear matt finish goes on. I use to use Dull-Cote but since the pandemic Krylon Matte finish is easier to find - plus cheaper. The wheel sets get a coat of flat black from a Tamiya paint pen on the axle and backsides. Using a Floquil paint pen, either Rail Brown, Rail Tie Brown, or  Rust is used on the face of the wheels. Before re-assembling, I use a journal reemer to clean away the paint or flash from the sideframe casting. Then weathered individualy with a combination of oil, chalk and/or acylic going on. No cleanup this way although I may use a paper towel with alcohol to clean the tread on my test track. 

I can knock out four pairs of trucks in about 1/2 hour.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/05/20 19:21 by tramfan.

Chris - I occasionally turn the wheels a bit when painting, but in general, they seem to move a bit when I'm moving the painting "platform." And once the grey/black/brown is added to the wheel faces it covers an shadows. So far no one has seemed to notice.

Jeff

Depending upon the situation, I use the same method as noted by the original poster.  I've changed over to using foam swabs rather than cotton swabs and pipe cleaners to clean the treads  because foam swabs don't leave little hairs sticking to the remaining paint..  This works better for me, but as the saying goes: "your mileage may vary."

 

wnehoc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Depending upon the situation, I use the same
> method as noted by the original poster.  I've
> changed over to using foam swabs rather than
> cotton swabs and pipe cleaners to clean the
> treads  because foam swabs don't leave little
> hairs sticking to the remaining paint..  This
> works better for me, but as the saying goes: "your
> mileage may vary."
>

Very cool!  Where do you get the foam swabs from?

Cheers,
Harry

They come from China, via Amazon and usually get here in 2 - 3 weeks.  My last order was about one year ago; it appears that vendor does not currently have this size, but they were (and probably still are) available from multiple vendors.  This size works well for me:

Small Head Cleaning Swab Sponge Dust Free Disposable Round Foam Tipped Swabsticks for Camera Optical Lens and Automotive Detailing (2.67'',100pcs/bag) Brand NameSimple FansColorGreenEan6132552267144Fabric Typepolyurethane foamHeating Element Typethermal bondedItem Diameter0.12 inchesItem ShapeRoundItem Weight0.705 ounces

tracktime Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wnehoc Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Depending upon the situation, I use the same
> > method as noted by the original poster.  I've
> > changed over to using foam swabs rather than
> > cotton swabs and pipe cleaners to clean the
> > treads  because foam swabs don't leave little
> > hairs sticking to the remaining paint..  This
> > works better for me, but as the saying goes:
> "your
> > mileage may vary."
> >
>
> Very cool!  Where do you get the foam swabs
> from?
>
> Cheers,
> Harry

---

I'll note that laquer thinner does tend to distort the foam (streteches out) after a couple minutes, but I've saturated them with removed paint and have tosed them before this happens.  I found this out when I dunked a swab in laquer thinner, wiped off the excess, and set it down for a few minutes before using; otherwise, I might not have notieced.  They do not seem to be affected at all by standard "paint thinner/turpentine" for enamel based paints.