The Val Ease Central Railroad ©

Taking Z Scale to the Public Around the World
(Text and photos © Copyright Jeffrey MacHan)

Step 1:

Stripping the original paint - I removed the trucks from the shell, separated the roof and window inserts. I immersed each part separately in a shallow dish containing a plastic compatible paint remover such as Scalecoat brand . I would avoid using some of the non-commercial paint removers such as brake fluid because they can be very strong and even damage the plastic of the shell. The shell should be completely covered by the paint remover. I suggest that you use rubber or latex gloves to protect your hands. Use an old toothbrush to gently scrub the car until the old paint is removed. Then dip the shell in a bowl of warm soapy water to stop the stripper action and to clean the shell. Let dry thoroughly.

Step 2:

Preparing the shell for painting - I used an airbrush to apply a light coat of zinc oxide primer to the shell. A light coat will not hide details and will provide a uniform colour base for the Railroad colours. Let the paint dry completely. Note: this is not a one day project. Do each of these steps as a batch with all your shells and take your time to achieve good results.

I repainted 2 dome observation cars so I carefully masked the clear dome with Micro-mask applied with a brush. I used a sharp hobby knife to carefully trace the outline of the windows and removed the excess masking material before air brushing.

Step 3:

Painting the shell - My UP cars were painted with Armour Yellow and UP Grey from Polly Scale, water soluble paints. Although these paints are not solvent based, using an airbrush sends extremely fine paint particles into the air. Be sure to wear a mask and paint outdoors or use a paint spray booth or hood with good outside ventilation. I held the shell with a slab of styrofoam stuck inside the shell like a handle. This is a cheap and reusable way of holding shells for painting.

I masked the bottom (grey) portion of the shell using masking tape. Once the yellow was applied and completely dry, I masked the top (yellow) portion of the shell making sure to put a thin piece of tape along the windows on the inside of the shell to prevent overspray contaminating the yellow portion from the inside. I didn't do all of the grey at one time. I did the bottom first then I remasked the yellow to airbrush the ends in grey. This is easier than trying to perfectly mask all the edges and masking tape is cheap.

Step 4:

Decals - Decals should be applied to a glossy surface. If your paint is not glossy, I suggest that you give the shell a light coat of Testor's Glosscoat or Floquil Gloss. Let the gloss dry completely before continuing.

Where did I get my UP decals? From almost every set of Microscale N scale decals for Union Pacific. No one set provided everything I wanted. The small font 'Union Pacific' for the car sides came from set N60-905 'Union Pacific Early Cabooses, CA-1 to CA-9, Red or Yellow Schemes, 1941-77'. The winged shield for the observation car came from set N60-841 'UP Early Piggy Back Trailers'. This set also provides 'U.S. Mail' decals and other useful numbers and scripts.

NOTE: I did not apply separate widely spaced letters for the U N I O N P A C I F I C of the passenger cars. I used the correct height decals with narrow spacing. This is because I wanted to have straight lettering and complete the project before I had lost all my hair! No one has complained about the lettering on my cars...YET! And yes, I did use an opti-visor to see what I was doing.

I used Micro-scale decal setting solution to fuse the decals to the shell and to make the edges disappear.

Once the decals were completely dry, I gave the shell an even coat of Testor's Dullcoat to seal everything.

Step 5:

Stripes - I took the easy way out to do the stripes. The Märklin passenger shells have a nice corrugated side which has a groove running the entire length of the shell. I used a red permanent ink Pilot Fineliner and a steel straight edge to draw the stripes following the groove at the roof joint and along the skirting. It usually took 2 or 3 passes to produce a nice solid stripe. Smudges were easily cleaned up before the ink dried using a tissue and Q-tip slightly wet with rubbing alcohol.

Once the ink had dried (several hours), I sprayed the shell again with Testor's Dullcoat to seal the stripes and to give the paint job some help to resist handling. My cars have withstood several years of train shows where they get picked up more than you would normally expect on your home layout.

Step 6:

Paint the trucks silver with a brush and while you have the trucks in your hand, drop the metal wheel sets into some Blacken-it for a minute. Rinse them in clean water and dry them off. You'll be glad that you weathered your wheelsets when you see them on the cars.

Step 7:

Reassemble the cars and enjoy your trains.