The Texas Special

I Like the looks of these. The Texas Special engines. 
The Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad Company (M-K-T or Katy).
The Katy has its beginnings dating back to 1865 when the Union Pacific Railway (later changed to the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad in 1870) 

The Texas Special was a passenger train. They named their cars after Texas Heroes. The dinning cars name was Sam Houston. The Pullmen sleepers had names like Crockett, Bowie, Fannin, Travis to name a few. Katy



Back in 1896, when more powerful engines coming onto the scene. Rail Roads had a surplus of steam engines. Most were sold for scrap. William George Crush, passenger agent for Katy, came up with an idea to stage a train crash. About 3 miles South or present day West, Texas they built a side track, and the town of Crush for a one day event. The "Crash and Crush". The event was promoted for months. They set up a grand stand. There was booths and a restaurant. The trains were painted, one with green trim the other with red. What was not supposed to happened did, both train boilers exploded. Train parts flew into the air into the audience. I bet that was a spectacular event.

You can read more about it at Texas Co Op Power
You can also read about it at Texas State Historical Association

One on the end and one in the middle has some broken plastic in the front;

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Union Pacific 202 - Orange Re-Paint 7

I had to pick up some more orange paint. I like this color better. That worked out well.

This is the second coat already. I will let this dry for a day or 2. It has been humid around here. This time, I plan on scoring around the tape to see if I cam make sure I do not peal up paint with it.

I can't wait to see the what the second color looks like when I pull the tape up.

Union Pacific 202 - Orange Re-Paint 6

Lets try this again!

If you read the prior posts, you know I tried painting this once already. Im having a good time messing with it. I guess that is what I like about these model trains.

I stripped most of the paint and sprayed some primer on it. Check out the Stressed post. Looks pretty cool with the different colors. Might come in handy in the future if I ever want something to look worn.

This time I figured I would use gray with the orange to be closer to the Union Pacific color scheme. I sprayed the gray first this time. Im running low on orange paint. I will try and get away without buying any more paint. Found some of that painters tape.

I like that color. Reminds me of a Silver and Red SantaFe or Silver and Blue SantaFe, or Delaware & Hudson. Actually there are a lot of trains that have Silver in them...

Here are a couple other trains. Both of these trains are missing horns. I need to find a place to get some horns. These trains also have windshields and side windows. Im hoping I can make a windshield and side windows for the one Im working on.

Anyone know where to get some horns?

Stressed

Started stripping the paint. Thought I would share these photos. I kind of like the stressed look.

 This is the same train, but the camera on the phone made it look red.

Union Pacific 202 - Orange Paint 5

When deciding to blog or not to blog in the beginning, I decided it would be more of a journey. I was not going to hide my mistakes. This was not the first nor will it be the last. I pretty much knew I would have to start over when the orange paint peeled (you probably knew as well), but I had to take it a step further.

 I should have used a painters tape instead of old masking tape. The masking tape stuck, but it also let some paint bleed under the edges.

The types of paints I used should have been considered more. The orange is actually a high heat paint for engine blocks.  

Definitely not the kind of paint that is best for this type work.

So whats next? Let see if we can get all this paint off and try it again. What else would I do? When you work on things sometimes you have to redo them to get them where you want them to be. Learning is part of the fun for me. Lets get cracking!

Union Pacific 202 - Orange Paint 4

Sanded the problem spots and taped it up.

Spayed some primer on it. Im hoping I don't have to totally strip it and start over. I might be able to convert any problem spots into natural wear looking spots.

Union Pacific 202 - Orange Paint 3

I taped it up for some black paint. It's not the Union Pacific paint colors, but I don't think the original orange was a Union Pacific orange paint color either. Hindsight I would have used some different tape, but that is what I had.

Got the black sprayed on. I have another Marx "Rock Island" train that looks really cool.

I did not want the Black to dry on the tape and peel the black off. I was not thinking that the tape would peel the orange off. Note; that the old orange paint came off the blue plastic shell. I should have used some different kind of tape.

I like the looks of it so far, minus the blue spots. Getting close to the real fun - Hand Painting.

I might try to sand some; rough up and blend in the edges. Spot primer then put the orange on over the places it came off.

Union Pacific 202 - Orange Paint 2

Its been over 24 hours, and the primer had dried. Sprayed some orange on it.

Its still wet, but I may need to bring the tone down some once it dries.

I can't wait to start putting some detail on this train. I will try and stay true to the Union Pacific paint.

Union Pacific 202 - Orange Paint 1

A number of years ago I bought a few o-scale orange Lionel 202 diesels. This one was pretty scratched up, with paint peeling. Im hoping to put some life into it.

Cleaning it up with some dish soap and warm water.

 This one does not have a windshield or a lens for the front light. I may have to find something to work for that. I noticed Hobby Lobby had some beads, and clear diamond cut sequins that might work.

The horn has a chip in the bell. Any ideas on repairing that. Anyone try to mold some JB Weld?

I got this spray primer at a hobby shop. It goes a long way, Ive used it on 3 other projects before this one. Use in a well ventilated area, this primer has a very strong smell when being sprayed. 

No turning back now. 

 

Drying, I will keep you posted.

This model of train is really a cool one.

Leave a comment. Im thinking I will give it some accents. Ive tried to find some others online but most people seem to be keeping them solid orange.

I really dig those new ones. The picture from the Lionel site looks like the bottom is white, but from YouTube videos Ive seen it is more Silver color. I could go with the 221 paint style, that just has some simple black lines on the bottom. 

I will have to see as I go on what I will paint it.

Christmas Train - Engine 2014

So this Blog is new April 2017, but I wanted to blog about some past projects to get it going.

I took this train and painted it. I do not have any pictures of the process. I took the shell off, sprayed it with some hobby printer. You have to get special primer that is made to stick to these. Most paints will not stick to Lexan. Plus this primer goes on real thin. Primer that is not designed for this will be too thick.

The primer was white.

I painted everything else by hand