It would be good to find one of those tank cars... or get some undecorated ones and do my own decals. That green looks a little light based on the decals from the Berkshire Valley kit.
Spent hours masking the rest of the apparatus and then additional hours spraying yellow... lots of yellow. Hopefully, inhaling Tamiya paint thinned with 91% rubbing alcohol isn't too toxic because I was in a lot of it.
The units masked were: finishing the spheres, the heater, the load rack, the loose stairways and the ops platform. I also free-sprayed the stair wrapping the big tank.
Platform masking was a chore due to some of the x-bracing. As you'll see I probably got side tracked since I didn't mask the whole deck... whoops. I first airbrushed flat aluminum on the decking before masking began.
Masking the heater was relatively easy.
The load rack offered its own challenges due to the length and amount of tape it required. I couldn't mask it all due to clearance problems so I will go back and re-touch by brush.
I also masked the stairways, on which, much to my surprise, I actually attached one of the railings upside down. I am not going to rip it off. It will have to work. I will fit this stair so the "funny" rail is facing the wall. With all the masking out of the way, it was time to spray. I had three partially full bottles of Tamiya flat yellow, all which were very thick. But thick Tamiya paint is instantly restorable with 91% alcohol. I used almost all I had. Yellow is notoriously difficult to cover, and when it's not well covered it looks kind of green. It took three coats to get it solid.
So here's all the masked parts ready to paint. The large tank will be finished as follows: Mask the railing, paint the tank overall blue, and then mask the tank and respray the aluminum stairs. I say respray since I already sprayed it with the metallic spray can paint, but then immediately destroyed it by doing the yellow rail. I really couldn't figure a good way to mask the curved stair, so it will be the last to paint after the blue is done. Masking the tank next to the stair should be easier.
The flare looked real nice. Where I had some yellow leakage (not an overactive bladder problem) I was able remove it with a little alcohol. The metallic paint underneath is lacquer-based so it doesn't come off with this solvent. I still have to remember to remove the liquid mask from the warning lights at the top platform.
Here's the completed platform. Notice that the decking now has a big swatch of yellow where I forgot to finish masking the deck. I will go back and respray the flat aluminum after re-masking some of the structure. Could have been eliminated if I was paying more attention. I was getting tired of masking and getting anxious to get to painting. As I've said many times in this saga, I am not a patient man, but I am persistent. There's a little green touch up that I'll need to do, but this is easy stuff.
I got everything painted, but only pulled tape on the above units. I'll strip the rest of the tape tomorrow. I still stand by the decision to mask and air brush. The results are worth it. Used up a ton of Tamiya masking tape and will have to replenish.
