Painting Brass Model Trains

While we retired the painting side of our business in January 2024, there's still a very strong need in this hobby for a true professional to demonstrate better ways to do this work SAFELY in 2026 and beyond. I consider myself lucky to have worked with several very talented painters during my formative years. I learned from true professionals, perfected my own processes, then took my expertise to Seoul, South Korea. There, I taught professional painting and set up the factory paint shop at Ajin Precision Manufacturing. As my students in Korea discovered, there's simply no replacement for real expertise in this field. At the outset, if you're interested in learning how to paint brass models, the most important part of doing this work is STAYING SAFE TO PROTECT YOUR GOOD HEALTH. That is 100% up to you.

To give you a head start towards the SAFETY part of the equation, I'm inserting a few links from our LINKS page. These presentations are key to staying safe in your own home or work shop. Taking short-cuts here should be avoided. Your good health can be easily compromised by the primers, paints, chemicals, processes and tools involved in brass model painting. Our hobby has lost dozens of great model painters due to safety complacency. They're not here anymore, so don't be like them. Instead, be more like me. I've painted thousands of brass models and at 67 years, still enjoy a happy, healthy life. So let's get started!

Click on Paint Spray Booth Safety to access my complete presentation on this topic. Briefly, using those tiny, inexpensive fold-up paint spray booths is just a BAD idea. A paint spray booth is NOT a convenience item; it's actually a SAFETY device.

• Spray booths need to be large enough to handle the tasks at hand.

• Choose a booth that has a solid bottom. When you're painting it provides a safe, sturdy surface on which to set models, model holders, paints, small tools, cleaning chemicals, and accessories. If your booth has a soft, filtered bottom surface, it really limits creativity, creates a constant nuisance, and if a paint or thinner gets spilled those run right into the blower creating another safety concern.

• The blower needs to be powerful enough to evacuate all of the paint overspray and chemical fumes, then vent it to the outside atmosphere. 

• The filter needs to be large enough to grab all of the particulate matter AND keep paint from rebounding off the back wall of your spray booth. Rebounding causes a rough finish on your paint job and pushes dangerous fumes into your face. My solution is to use a 36 inch wide Flanders Hammock Roll Filter (find them on Amazon) that covers the entire back wall of my spray booth. The Flanders grabs all the overspray and holds onto it to prevent that funky, velvety paint finish. As the filter gets clogged, I simply trim the dirty part, and extend the clean portion of the roll. This works really well. Way better than a simple rectangular furnace filter.

• No matter what kind of filter you're using in your spray booth, as the paint mist builds up on the filter, it clogs the filter. Then clouds of mist start swirling around all over the model being painted and in your face. At this point your spray booth is nothing more than a five-sided box with little to no ventilation. Breathing in paint mist and chemicals can KILL YOU. Please don't do that. As soon as your spray booth filter begins to clog, discard that filter and install a clean one. Always have extra filters on hand.

• No matter what spray booth you buy you'll want to add more light to it so you can see what you're painting. My spray booth has lighting added to the inside top and both sides so that I can see every detail of the model I'm painting. Bare and translucent spots on models are typically caused by the painter not being able to see what he's working on. Add lighting to make your next paint job that much better.

• Before you buy your next brass model (or two or three) invest in a GREAT paint spray booth that will protect your health AND give you much better paint results. 

• For serious amateurs working in HO scale we highly recommend the Pace Industries 36-Inch Deluxe Paint Booth available HERE. It comes fully assembled. Take it out of the box, hook up ductwork to vent the blower, add a Flanders roll to improve the filtering, turn it on, and start painting. This is a wonderful product out of the box but adding extra lighting makes it a top of the mark paint spray booth.

• Pro shops will want to look at the industrial spray booths available from the Paasche Airbrush Company. You can check 'em out HERE.

The top of this page shows yours truly wearing a 3M paint mask with fresh paint filters. Click on PAINT MASK SAFETY to access my complete presentation on this topic. If clogged spray booth filters and poor air flow are bad for you, then wearing a paint mask with EXPIRED paint filters is even WORSE for your health. Those filters begin to expire the instant the product bag is opened. If you bought a paint mask and haven't used it in a few months (or longer) then THROW AWAY those original paint filters. Then buy and install fresh ones. Keeping the filters inside a sealed plastic bag helps to keep them fresh. We recommend using face mask filters for one (1) month maximum. Then throw them away. Have extras on hand. Don't open the bag until you're ready for another paint session. Step and repeat. YOUR good health depends on YOU having and using a process to stay safe.

To get professional results when painting brass model trains y'all need to understand that you're painting METAL. Metal is very different than plastic. Metal must be prepared properly before trying to prime or paint it. Or the primers and paints won't stick. They used to. But modern paints don't have the same chemical make-up because of government and industry regulation. The best way to prep brass to hold primers and paints is to first grit-blast the brass parts inside of a sealed blast booth. Your booth should include a matched vacuum system to collect dust that's being vented to the outside atmosphere. There are other important considerations for the air supply too. Click on GRIT-BLASTING TOOLS AND SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS to access my presentation on this topic.

Most brass model trains have a factory applied clear lacquer coating too. So grit-blasting isn't just for giving the brass metal "tooth" to be able to hold onto paint. It's also required to get brass parts 100% clean so that solder repairs can be made. If you try soldering to a brass model that still has the clear lacquer applied to it, the lacquer turns black, and the solder joint fails, creating a really ugly mess. 

Having painted models for some of the best-known model railroaders in the world, importers, locomotive builders EMD and GE, and railroad officials too, we understand what these kinds of customers want from a professional paint job. The two models above were done for Francois Pinault. Plain old custom painting won't do here. Anyone can call themselves a custom painter. The real question is, if you're the one painting models for clients, are you using professional processes to guarantee professional results, models that look great, and run PERFECT ? Getting geared locomotives to run perfect AFTER being painted is the acid test.

Our position in this space affords us the luxury of receiving LOTS of work to re-do, work that was already done by other custom painters. Then their client called us to re-do or repair what wasn't done properly in the first place. If you think you're getting another project from a high-end client after messing up the first project—think again. Our goal with this Painting Brass Model Trains page is to help everyone get better results whether they'e painting for clients, or just themselves. YOUR task, if y'all choose to accept it, is to ascend to a higher level of brass model train acumen and paint competency. There is a difference between custom painters and true professionals. Craftsmen if you will. Using proven processes creates reliable, predictable results. If you don't know why something went wrong, you weren't following a process. Most likely, you were winging it, hoping for better results. That's not a plan. It's an accident that creates additional and unwanted re-work.

Here's a factory-painted model that I weathered for perhaps the most-capable (and most-particular) importer of all time: Bill McKown of W&R Enterprises. Bill's review of this model on receipt netted this response: "Well, I have to admit that I finally found someone who does better weathering than I do. The model is absolutely superb! It looks exactly the way the prototype looked. You nailed it right on the head. Congratulations from the person who is probably the most particular customer you will ever have. Thanks a million!"

The fact of the matter is that Bill really was the most particular customer I ever had. Every model that he sent me included a dozen prototype images and 3 pages of instructions. That was Bill's way. The point of this story is to stress that if you want to ascend to a higher level of capability and competence, then y'all need to open your mind, take advice, and try new things that challenge you.

A dirty painting environment shows up in the paint after it's applied to the model. I can't stress strongly enough how important it is to keep CLEAN and DUST FREE your paint area and the place where you apply decals. Take a close look at the two cars I painted and the one that was painted in a dirty factory environment. They're world's apart.

The image above shows the NUMBER ONE CAUSE OF DUST in your paint jobs. We banned these paper products from our paint shop a long time ago. Every time you tear off a sheet, thousands of tiny paper particles fly through the air and land on everything in close proximity. When you're applying decals, liquefaction sucks paper particles and deposits them underneath the decal, creating lumps, bumps, and annoying air bubbles that create decal silvering. These products have no place in a proper, professional paint shop—unless you like lumpy, silvered decals. I never cared for that look.

Some of the best solutions and tools for model train use come from the jewelry and science fields. We love Kimtech Science KimWipes. They replaced all those dust-producing paper towels, facial tissues, and bathroom tissue. If you want pro-level results from your paint and decal work, buy these KimWipes. You won't be disappointed.

Back in the day, to paint brass model trains, the most-beloved brands of paint were undoubtedly Floquil and the original Scalecoat. These paints had real staying power when applied to metal. Of course neither of these brands are produced anymore. Scalecoat made a brief reappearance, then vanished again, and now seems to be stuck in limbo over a potential new future. But it could come back. We'll see. Making paint is one of the more difficult things to create. Getting hundreds of different colors spot-on accurate to a prototype is no small feat. Then doing it again and again to keep batches of paint consistent over years of production is even harder. I snapped the image of those white-topped Scalecoat bottles in my paint shop. When you're running a painting facility the costs for paint and chemicals can add up in a hurry. At $10 a bottle, there's quite an investment sitting on my sorting table. Don't forget to charge clients for primers, paints, and clear coats or you could be losing a great deal of money on every model you paint.

With Floquil and Scalecoat mostly out of the picture we started using Tru-Color paints about 10 years ago. And we've never looked back. The trick when working with Tru-Color is in understanding how it's different than either Floquil or Scalecoat. Tru-Color is an acetone based paint. Acetone evaporates very quickly. So if your air pressure is too high, if the tip in your airbrush is too small, you'll get some very quirky and inconsistent results. Glossy colors can end up with a striped pattern as you move the airbrush back and forth. Some areas more glossy than others. Switch to a larger airbrush tip and needle; then try again. You'll get better results. The same applies to clear finishes. Gloss, satin, flat, etc. The smaller your tip and needle, the more uneven the finish can appear. Again, use a larger tip and needle in your airbrush and you'll be amazed at the results. Tru-Color is GREAT paint when you understand how to get the most out of it.

Here's that same Union Pacific 0-6-0. This time showing how we created an ultra high gloss, ultra smooth paint finish so that our decals would settle into the paint for that painted-on look that clients absolutely love to see on their models. If your paint area and work bench is littered with paper towels, facial and bathroom tissue, then that environment will prevent you from reaching this level of quality. Small, simple changes in your paint process can make a huge difference in your output quality. Use KimWipes instead of these household paper products. And be sure to vacuum your entire paint shop including the insides of your spray booth on a regular basis. That helps too!

We could go on and on with more and more paint shop tips, but frankly, we already have 300+ presentations with 2,000+ images on our FACEBOOK page. We add more to that database of technical-modeling-brass-collecting-goodness every week of the year. So if you want to learn more about brass models and how to service, repair, restore, paint and weather them (for FREE) then all you need to do is visit us on FACEBOOK by clicking HERE.

If you don't currently use FACEBOOK but are wondering if our list of brass presentations might make that worthwhile for you, you can see the complete list of presentations on our LINKS page. FACT—A lifetime subscription to every past and current model railroad publication (and websites) won't provide 2% of what we're providing FREE of charge on our FACEBOOK page. Invest in yourself by embracing our FACEBOOK page. It's the stuff you need to know about if you're serious about your brass model trains.

We wish you the best success painting your own brass models. It's WAY MORE fun when the results are stellar.

Strive for stellar. That's our advice.

Cheers!

Jeff Lemke