If you like it that way: Do it so!

It is hard to comment on questions like this. Personally, so I would never do it like this. I prefer my trains to have an actual prototype. I would trash the model or have someone repaint it. But that is what I prefer. At the end of the day it is your layout and your model. Your idea is just as good as mine.

A hint though: If you decide to keep it black, make sure to protect the plastic by giving it a covering coat of black. Now that its paint is gone the plastic is unprotected from UV lighting which can damage the plastic further.

Now that you've taken all the paint off you've done the hardest bit. Why not finish the job? You need only three colours, red, cream and silver, and the markings on the loco make masking off the different parts fairly easy. The paints don't even need to be an exact match to the originals.

This fine old lady also needs her pantographs back. These are easily obtainable from Marklin for just a few Euros.

I would start by using a grey primer in a spray can from any Auto parts shop. The finishing coats could also be spray painted or even just applied by brush. I have done some repaints in the past that are hardly distinguishable from the original as long as you don't look too closely!

This is one loco I did recently

Have you seen the price of the older shiny metal coloured pantographs? The newer darkened ones are much cheaper.

Dereck, just try a small section, let it dry and see what happens, maybe you get some advice in a paint shop like a primer.

regards.,

John

Some many years ago I recall either reading or hearing someone talking about painting models and they made it a point to mention the perils of using automotive spray paint - not because there is anything wrong with the paint itself, but because of the size of the particles that make up the paint.

When you are painting something like a detailed model, it can be very hard to get the detail to come out as well due to the thicker consistency of the paint.

Particularly noticeable on things like raised lettering, or any raised detail for that matter.

True modelers paints such as Tamiya (among other brands) already have a finer particle size and therefore the detail is much better. I have always used Tamiya spray paints for the few times I have repainted and been happy with the results even thought the colour range is not quite what I'd like. I always wanted to give air-brushing a try where you could really get into mixing custom colours but the learning curve is too daunting.

Don't know if anyone else has experience that can add to this?

Luckily most of the blue areas were in good condition and only needed cleaning and minor retouching. The cream and silver areas were repainted by hand.

When the lettering needs to be redone you can get decals from many sources online.

These two Italian vans I built from kits show how effective the decals can be:

That would save a lot of work!

It wasn't as bad as in the picture. The paint had curled inwards at the edges where it was coming loose, and I got pissed off with it so used my fingernail to do what you see in the picture. Brake fluid was really good to get the paint off. I managed to leave the DB signs in tact as those won come loose. I have the necessary air brush to do the work and i have been successfully using Vallejo paints on my aeroplane models. I have been wondering how to do the original paint scheme withe beige sides, silver roof and red highlight stripe between the two. i did consider doing it the same as the 3357 model, but that also has a red stripe on its nose. The one on TM in NZ looks like a repaint, unless the originals were painted by hand.
Automotive stuff is too course for this kind of work, including the masking tape. Is there a fine masking tape that can be used for models that can allow a nice straight clean line between different colours.

Dereck

Hi Wolfgang. You are correct. I do want to repaint it in original colour if possible. Any help I can get is going to be very well appreciated. I do enjoy running it in the shiny black just fro a change though. I am going to have to convert this loco to digital as well because somewhere there is a breaking wire which stops me running it in reverse. I think it is the coil [ which would be replaced my a magnet ] Pity because it goes so well, but I tend to run a lot of the time now with digital. [ there is a future for you Mike ].

All the best.
Dereck



I found it hard to get a good photo of this because of the flash and the shiny black surface.

Thanks Wolfgang. There must be quite a few of those castles in Germany. I'm not familiar with that one [ I think ]. They are great links. I'm not sure I found how or what masking tape to use between the 2 colours but I have time to sort it out. I am headed for WA net week and looking forward to see Johns layout in River Ave.

All the best.
Dereck

Hello Dereck,

of course nothing is urgent. Perhaps you send me a PN for more questions, whenever you got them. The point is only, I found these description pages very helpful, but have not completely read through. To me it looks like that he describes everything to know for a restoration including the RAL colours the DB has used in the sixties for its TEE painting.

For myself it is of interest too, because I do have the same E 03 and the E 63 with the plastic bodies. But till today I am lucky. I do not have any colour detachments yet. Hopefully it remains as it is.

Best regards

Wolfgang

P.S.: Indeed we do have plenty of castles in Germany. But Neuschwanstein is the most visited one. In the summertime you hear more Chinese or Japanese then even English.

There are up to 8000 visitors per day (1.6 Million visitors over a year) at this castle. You may say this castle was a dream for King Ludwig II. A similar thing for him as what we are doing with our MRR. Because this castle was not built to protect anybody or to collect customs or taxes, as all the other old ones did. No, this is the only castle in Germany which was built just for fun and to full fill somebody dream. So King Ludwig II was also nick named as the fairy-tail King (Märchenkönig)

A bit like as Hans-Peter Porsches dreamwork railroad, but even more expensive that his MRR. The Bavarian State was almost faced with an financial insolvency while his King built this castle. It is connected with an interesting but long story of the Bavarian history till to the end. And it ended up sadly while the King made suicide under the pressure of its adminsitration and other aristocracy.

Hi Dereck,

happy holidays and a good recreation for the Märklin painting job.

Meanwhile I found the page about details for paintwork again. It describes doing the masks for various colour paintings on the same surface. More after your holidays.

best regards

Wolfgang