Painting CSX


F

f1_indy2000

Guest
I'm getting ready to paint up a couple CSX engines, but am curiouse where or what color to start with. Yellow, Blue, Gray? Thanks
 
I'd think, gray first, then yellow, then blue to finish it all off. I say that because the gray covers more of the unit, and will act as a "primer" for the yellow.
 
I would prime it first with a light grey primer, then paint yellow, blue and grey last. I don't like to use my primer as a paint colour.
 
I dunno if my post came across right, I'm not saying use the primer as the gray...
 
I'd paint the entire engine CSX gray, then mask the areas for the blue and yellow. Just my 2 cents worth.
 
I do it the way Jerome does it. The gray seems to be a good base for both the blue and yellow and, using Polly Scale CSX yellow, I've never had a problem with the yellow not covering the gray. Painting the unit all gray first also saves a ton of masking than if you were to do it in any other order.
 
Ken, do you have any movie editing programs on your computer? If so, you can use them to make a longer slide show. I did one when I left Iraq.
 
Thank you all for your replies. I see that it makes more since to do the entire thing gray and then do the yellow and follow or finish with blue. Jabaakko, I did understand what you were saying how the gray would act as a primer for the yellow. I'm going to use polly scale paint. Actually I really enjoy using that paint and my airbrush loves it versus what the florqual paints that I used to use. Also, cool slide show CSX. That's neat creating an evolution of something.
One more question: What is the angle of the blue and yellow? It appears to look like sixty degrees. Would creating a template to mask be a good idea? It looks like I just need to figure what degree those lines are running then mask, but if there is an easier way I would like to know. Thanks
 
f1_indy2000 said:
...
One more question: What is the angle of the blue and yellow? It appears to look like sixty degrees. Would creating a template to mask be a good idea? It looks like I just need to figure what degree those lines are running then mask, but if there is an easier way I would like to know. ...
Click to expand...

I simply locate as many photos as possible of the prototype from the Web (easy to do with any modern-day Class I rr); the ideal situation is to have a full side view of the loco you want to do, then try to print a 1:87 sized image of it and base your templates on that.

Here's a few links to online sources of CSX loco photos:

Dean Heacock's CSX Photo ARchives: http://www.trainweb.org/csxphotos/

RRpictureArchives.net: http://rrpicturearchives.net/modelListRR.aspx?id=CSX

...enjoy!:)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The CSX is known for not being too picky about the angle of the yellow on the sides of the nose. Even units of the same type and painted by the same shops can have as much as a 10 degree difference in the angle. Ken's advice about get a prototype photo is good if you're trying to duplicate a particular engine but getting it "about right" is good enough for many CSX locos.
 
These are athearn GP40s or GP40-2, anyway its amazing to see how many different schemes the railroad had over the years. My favorites which i have done in the past and still use on my layout are the Stealth Gp38 and the gray with yellow ends GP40. Was the Stealth engine regarded as Gray Ghosts or was the the blue and gray scheme? Either way they would appear to be invisible in the fog.
 
I got them done. I needed a break from scenery and decided to jump in and get these done. It took three evenings to consentrate on them. I started with gray, and then did the blue one night. Then did the yellow and touch ups. The final night was doing the decals. The masking was a bit of a chore and believe my lines are just right. I'm really happy with how they turned out. I was thinking my next paint job I would like to do is SOO Line. They appear to be pretty straight forward, however, they have a bit of a challenging curve to mask. I'll save that for another forum. Well back to scenery and thanks.
 
Except for that one slip-up caught by Ken (tough to get anything about the CSX by him :) ), the paint jobs look great. Time to get the weathering chalks out now since those GP40's only stayed clean for about 10 minutes after they left the paint shop. :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.



Back
Top