athearn blue box handrails

whats the best way to paint the athearn blue box metal handrails? also will i need to primer them first?

whats the best way to add details West mu hoses? separate them and paint them?

thanks

tom

 

I drybrush Floquil paints onto the metal handrails. They flow on thin and they adhere very well.

I would suggest you reconsider using the stock metal handrails that comes with the BB kits though... I think they look horrible-- The stanchions don't look anywhere like the real thing and the handrails are way oversize. I prefer to bend my own out of thinner .015" wire, and use Smokey Valley's cast brass stanchions instead.

Good luck.

 

I was looking to also use the Smokey Valley products, but Walthers is out of stock on the ones I need.

Thanks for the tip and suggestion

Tom

 

Tom,

You might want to order the Smokey Valley stanchions from elsewhere such as internettrains.com or discounttrainsonline.com. They have it for $2 - $5 cheaper than Walthers depending on the kit.

Which Athearn BB engine are you looking to spruce up? I did an Athearn blue box GP38-2 with the Smokey Valley stanchions here:

 

I actually have several athearn bb units to spruce up.3 GP38-2s a GP40-2
and 4 SD40-2s plus a couple of kitbashed cabless hood units from an article in the Feb96 issue of model railroader. 1 is an SD40-2b the other is a gp38-2b.

tom

 

Yep, I would definitely get those stanchion sets from those other places rather than Walthers... That's $20 dollars difference or more when we are talking about 10 sets of those for your blue box fleet.

Good luck-- Looking forward to seeing your results (post photos!).

 

I have used Smokey Valley handrails for several locos, I have even added them to some old Model Power locos, coupled with remotoring them they turned into good locos


BTW the rear handrails are off because of how it packs in its box, I just forgot to add them before I took the pic...

 

Tom,If you are adding the handrails to a GP38-2,GP40-2 or a SD40-2 why not use Athearn's scale plastic handrails?
As far as painting I just brush paint the old metal hand rails.


Here's a tip..Next time you need to buy mu hoses why not use Atlas's mu hoses from their GP40 or GP38? They are $0.45 for 4..That one engine.Also you can order the sun shades the same way for $0.40 a set..I order several of each 3 weeks ago on a Monday and had them by Thursday.
These are the Atlas mu hoses.

 

Larry thanks for the idea on the plastic handrails. Just how durable are these from handling etc?

I saw the Atlas mu hoses before, however I already have the DW hoses. Are the Atlas hoses prepainted?

thanks

Tom

 

Bob last trime i was in DMT their Athearn parts werent too much too look at.

Tom

 

Bob interssting I checked the Athearn site and the only plastic handrails I found were for SD's etc Sides getting tired of John & Tad givin me hell bout no handrails. LOL

Tom