Canadian national passenger train

G

Glen Haasdyk

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Feb 2, 2004
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Kelowna, BC
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I'm currently working on repainting my Athearn passenger cars to represent the paint scheme before 1954. A week ago I painted the green on the sides and today I sprayed the black on the roofs. Here's how they look after pulling the masking tape away:
2008_03300006.jpg

They are fron to back: Express and mail, Coach, Diner and Observation. To the left is an express reefer. In the back you can see a boxcar I'm using as a through baggage. I'll probably be decalling them in the nxt week or so.
 
Glen, everyone seems to have their own methods for painting and applying decals. Would you mind sharing? What paint did you use and did you air brush? Perhaps you could show us photos with the decals on and explain that part of it. The newcomers would benefit from this as well as the real oldtimers, like me, who have done this the same way for fifty years and don't know any other way to do the job.

Thanks,
Ed
 
The paint is a mix of Scalecoat CNR green #11 (25%) and Floquil depot olive (75%). I mixed the two because I wanted an older more faded paint look than the straight CNR green (it's quite dark) I use a real cheap (30$) badger external mix airbrush. The paint was thinned with laquer thinner until it has the consistency of milk. By this I mean you splash it a little up the side of the glass jar and it leaves a film like milk would.
I airbrushed everything you see in one sitting since the paint was a custom mix and it would probably be difficult to duplicate the mixture. Also when you mix or thin a laquer it's best to use all that you made since the paint tends to either dry up in the bottle or separate.
I waited a week to let the paint cure before prceeding. During this time you could smell the thinner curing out of the paint. After this I masked the cars to paint the roofs. I only use Tamiya Masking tape for masking paint jobs. It's pricey but when you're dealing with laquer and enamel based paints you don't want to scimp. I'm been using tamiya masking tape for years on both my Model Railroad and model cars and it never lets paint bleed under as long as you brunish it down properly.
I airbrushed the roofs and the bottom of the reefer with testors flat black, thinned with automotive enamel thinner. I use the auto thiinner for three reasons.
1) the gallon jug was 30$ which was way cheaper in the long run
2) It's stronger stuff than the hobby thinner so I use less
3) It dries very fast.

I removed the tape within an hour of painting, this way the paint does not fully cure on the tape and you won't pull it up with the tape, giving you a clean line.
 
Here's a closeup of the Athearn Observation car:

2008_04010005.jpg


And the Juneco express reefer:

2008_04010006.jpg


I'll be using CDS dry transfer decals on the cars. They work pretty good but are less forgiving than the 'wet' type of decal.

Oh yes, Andrew, I will be starting work on the Juneco CN caboose after this project.
 
Looks great!

But how did the pre-1954 paint scheme look different from the post-1954 scheme? Maybe the latter had some yellow trim?

I've used some Tamiya olive green spray paint that I bought at a LHS (Hornet Hobbies, which is an excellent place to buy good paints for detailing). This Tamiya paint is very close to the CN green that CN used in the '50s and early-60s.

Also, my CN Hudson (made by IHC for one of the recent Presidents Choice train sets) has the CN green on it but it seems to be a different colour compared to my Athearn CN coaches, etc. I suspect that the CN green on this Hudson is not that accurate?

Rob
 
The latter had the black stripe under the windows with the thin gold/yellow stripes bordering it. The Canadian national emblems also changed. These changes were made to match the cars with the new passenger diesels.

CN green is very much open to interpetation. The actual green is very dark. as seen on my switcher that I painted with Scalecoat CN green #11
switchersawmill2.jpg


This is the color that the engines wore when they exited the paint shops. Most faded rather quickly (1950's paint quality and Canadian Winters) which is why we see alot of different shades of green.

I also have the IHC hudson from The Pres choice set. I feel that the green is really light, probably too light but I'm going to keep it that way. I also have the Pres choice Bullet-nosed Betty from a couple year's before. I got it as a basket case from a fellow modeler who dropped it, breaking the cab. I plan to add a vestibule cab to it and re-paint it, but in black.
 
Glen, thanks for sharing the painting information. This old dog learned some new tricks. I'll have to search for some Tamiya Masking tape. I've often been disappointed with the drafting tape I resorted to since masking tape was too aggressive.

Keep us informed about the dry transfers. I've had mixed results when using them on buildings, signs and other structures, so I'll just have to pay careful attention.
-Ed
 
You're welcome Ed. The one thing I missed in my explanation is how I burnish down the masking tape. I use a Q-tip. It's nice and soft to keep from tearing the tape but will burnish the tape down around any bumps or curves in the model. I also use a rounded toothpick.
 
Thanks for the colour scheme info, Glen and David. Good to hear that the green varied a lot as it varies on my locos and coaches! This is interesting and makes sense. I have stock from the late-50s to early-60s, but hadn't given the pre-1954 scheme much thought. Thanks again, Rob
 
This is the last (post '54) green CNR paint scheme:
20032007_021.jpg


As Glen says, the Scalecoat version of CN Green #11 seems rather dark. I prefer SMP Accupaint's offering, although it can be difficult to locate:
100_5619.JPG


Wayne
 
I decalled the observation car today and thought I'd take some pictures while I was at it :

Passdecal1.jpg


Here's the car, decals and the tools that I use. These include: a new razor blade, masking tape (scotch tape works the same) and a pencil for bunishing the decal down (they are dry transfers so no water needed.)
Passdecal2.jpg


I cut the 'Canadian' from the decal sheet and fixed it in place on the model with some masking tape. I also use the masking tape to form a straight line on the model to line the decals up in a straight line. The decal in burnished bown by rubbing with the pencil over it. It is very important that the decal paper not move during this process. After burnishing down carefuly lift the paper, but not the tape to confirm that the whole decal was set onto the model. If it didn't lay the decal back down and burnish it again until it does.

Passdecal3.jpg


I laid the 'National' down the same way, using a strip of masking tape to line the second part up with the first.
 
I laid the car name and number out next.

Passdecal4.jpg


Again I used the masking tape to line the numbers and letters up. Here, unlike the road name decals, the name and number are made up of separate characters. The pencil marks on the masking tape are for lining up the characters horizontly, so I get the spacing right. I then flipped the car over and repeated everything on the other side.

Passdecal5.jpg

Here is the finished car, after a quick spray of flat clear Krylon. I use the Krylon because it's twice as large but cheaper than testors dulcoat, yet it works the same.
My next car will be the mail and express, where I'll be changing the decal scheme slightly.
 
Again, good work and great pics.

This is giving me some ideas. I have two Santa Fe passenger coaches that maybe I could spray paint into CN green. I'm not 100% sure, though, if these types of coaches were used by CN. Maybe I could post some pics.

Rob
 
I guess I'm a "moderate" rivet-counter, if that makes sense! I like things to be reasonably accurate but am willing to be flexible. I guess I'm not totally sure if this kind of coach was used by CN. If I get a chance, I'll take some pics. Rob
 
I started on the Mail and express car.

Passdecal6.jpg


The two small red squares are the roadname on this model (canadian national had two ways of putting roadnames on their passenger cars. A gold emblem goes over these. In my experience with these two-part decals it is best to lay the first layer down, then spray with dulcoat to fix it in place and them put the second layer down. That way the first layer can't 'lift' when you burnish the second decal down. (which has happened to me before)
 
I added the gold insert to the red wafer decal:
Passdecal8.jpg


Lining the gold square up to the red one is tricky. The decal paper is sort of translucent but the gold tends to dissappear on the model.


Here's the finished mail and express car.
Passdecal7.jpg
 
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