Reply to "Got bored and painted my garbage guinea pig loco"

@Old Goat:

Here's a basic rundown:

1. Take everything apart down to the plastic shells.  Had to grind away the "riveted" plastic on the underside of the bell mount to get the shiny plastic bell off.  Had to push out the headlisght lns from behind with a heavy kebab skewer.  Threaded it up between the drawbar "slot" so it was more or less straight into the rear of the lens, then just held the loco body and tapped the back of the skewer on the table a few times and the lens popped right out.
2. Remove existing graphics...I use EZoff OVen cleaner.  Might have been overkill on this one (I do it on my zinc castings to refinish PW stuff) but I had it on hand and I knew it would work.  Spray a layer of foam, set outside in an aluminum pan for 30 minutes, bring back in and use a soft toothbrush to "scrape" the congealed oven cleaner off.  It takes any paint and graphics with it.  
3. Wash all plastic shells in dawn and warm water so there is no "slipperiness" left at all. 
4. I blow dry using my wife's hairdryer on medium heat, since I don't want water spots as the water evaporates.
5. Hand the shells from a coat hanger connected to a convenient thing on the porch or the garage.  Spray with one coat of black PRIMER (not flat black paint, I always use a primer.  Even though the Rustolem 2X says "Paint and Primer Together" I still use a primer by itself first out of habit.  I used the black RustOleum 2X primer. Use very light coats, just until the green more or less disappears.  Super light misting a few minutes apart works best.  Even if there's a bit of plastic still just barely showing through, I leave it be.
6. Although RustOLeum says you can put a first top coat on within an hour (but not more than an hour, paint starts to do odd chemical-things and if you wait more than an hour you best wait til it's completely cured, at LEAST 24 hours I think before continuing).  Besides, I was planning on masking the shell so I could brush-paint the front of the smokebox.
7. After primer cures, I masked off the area around the smokebox using a hobby knife and normal masking tape (I don't use fancy stuff yet)
8. I tried brush-painting with Testors "Flat Steel" enamel model paint in the little bottle.  I've read a TON of blogs and watched all sorts of online videos about "How to brush-paint enamels without leaving brushstrokes" and my conclusion is they're all lying.  I've tried so many ways, but I can never get a "smooth" finish with brushed enamel.  I've tried thinning 50 / 50, Thinning 7:1, Not thinning, Wide brushes, narrow brushes...no luck.  So on this one I just resigned to the fact that some brush strokes would show up on the front and I didn't care cause it's literally a piece of junk. However, I DID paint a thinned (as I saw fit, somewhere between 7:1 and 50/50 ) and a 1/2" wide brush and brusshed in 3 light layers.  I WAITED A FULL DAY BETWEEN LAYERS! Yes, 3 days just to coat the front part of the boiler.  Wasn't worth it, I probably would have done a thicker coat once and called it good if I had to do it over.  I used a much smaller pointed brush around the front of the smoke box cover and just painted right to the edge of the crcualr shape without going past.  Didn't need to mask this part, the hard edge stopped the paint just fine.
9. Peeled the masking immediately after the last coat of Steel (it pulled up some of the first 2 layers but nt so bad, I touched up with a toothpick.  
10. Let the whole thing dry for a day.
11. Masked off the boiler And gave the whole thing a top coat of RustOleum 2X semi-gloss black.
12. Waited 2 days for cure (since I use solvents for my decals).  BTW, I paint in my (humid and warm) garage but immediately bring everything inside to hang in my house at 77 degrees and <50% humidity.
13. Using leftover "Pennsy Steam" decals from Microscale, applied decals using Microsol washed over the are to prep and once the decal started to "stick" (about 15 minutes after applying) give it a coat of MicroSet  (or is it the other way around?  Says on the bottle which to use when.  Blue first, red last).
14. Took some work getting the long pinstripes straight, and they're actually not perfect.  But I used them to try to "hide" some warping of the tender shell by not exactly following the rivet lines and "cheating a bit to get to about halfway between "straight" and "following the warp".  
15. After everything dries, I brushed on another layer of the MicroSet to make sure the decals laid over the rivets OK (especially on the tender).  LEt that whole setup dry for 24 hours.
16. When all was dry and set, I washed everything with Dawn soap and water and let dry (with some help from the hairdryer again).
17. Hang from garage ceiling and spray some light coats of RustOleum Satic Clear finish.  The rules are the same for paint...if you don't spray LIGHT coats and you don't do it within a few minutes of the first coat, the solvents can "lift" and you get that cracking, wrinkly look in spots.  It happened to me where I go a little overzealous and sprayed too thick.  Seriously, "mist" a few times, then again, then again to finish.
18. Let dry for 24 hours inside.  Reassemble and be happy your engine and tender don't make you sad anymore.

Have fun!