STEP 15: Painting and Decals
Continued ...
The Erie Railroad boxcars 4 -
using them. They can be contacted at
Since the decals are for 10’-0” interior-height cars,
I modified this portion of the decal set. I cut out the
offending interior height numbers and replaced them
with the appropriate numbers from a Rail Graphics
set that came with a Sunshine B&O M-53 Wagon Top
boxcar kit. I changed only these numbers because,
while you can’t necessarily read the numbers, the
eye can tell the difference between a two-digit and a
one-digit number.
The paint I used is a relatively new product named
Tru-color paint. I purchased it my local hobby store,
which is more a custom-painting business than a
hobby store. This is the paint they use; it’s similar to
the old Accupaint. The paint dries quickly and with
a gloss finish, and decals can be applied after one
hour. See their web site at
Before I began painting, I took time to wash the
parts with Windex applied with a spray bottle
and then scrubbed with a toothbrush. Windex
is great at removing oily fingerprints from glass
so I reasoned that it should do the same on the
castings. After cleaning, I allowed the pieces to dry
thoroughly. An advantage of using Windex or other
glass cleaner is that the product dries quickly and
leaves no soapy residue.
Now to choose the colors: Black was easy; I used
TCP-40 Black. On to the boxcar red: my beloved
Erie did not seem to be very concerned about
MRH-Jul 2013
