Discovered a Virtually Identical Color Match to Black Lionel Steamers

Looks great nick,

dave

Here's the steam chest in place:

Nick, where did you get the SEM primer?

That one's a special order Tim, unlikely to find it in stores. My father had a few cans in his Corvette restoration shop.

you tease 

"As you can see it is extremely close in shade to the original finish on the boiler shell and other piping details."

I just order from Weaver their Loco Black and it matches exactly.

In my experiences Paul Weaver's loco black is a more prototypical shade and thus a bit too satin. Lionel's American-made steamers have a richer semi-gloss to the paint, which is what the Krylon 1613 and Tamiya TS-79 combine to create.

I use the SEM black satin trim spray paint made for corvettes and other GM restorations. You have to get it on line. It looks like factory Lionel paint.

Rob

Nice job, Nick. Tom

It appears (from a recent trip to an Ace Hardware to replace an older can of Krylon Semi-Flat Black) that they no longer call that color Semi-Flat Black; it is now labeled as Satin Black. The can I got is not labeled "industrial," though. (The Krylon Satin Black is a great match for Lionel diesel trucks, pilots and fuel tanks, too.)

Yep, a while back the stores stopped carrying the semi-flat 1613 and replaced it with "satin" 51613. I made the mistake of using it during my first restoration. The coverage was awful and it was hardly satin, more like gloss. The good 1613 must be ordered online now.

sir-question-did you mask off parts of the engine to spray the bare rails or did youn paint the entire engine-I have a premier nyc hudson with bare metal raiings.i cannot

imagine hand painting the railings as I want that flat even look to match the engine.

plus the coupler lift bar is bare metal over the front pilot-masking looks very intricate-I just bought a bottle of floquil engine black-whats your opinion of this paint matching

the finish on a nyc premier Hudson-joe

Sounds like you're looking to do the same thing I wanted - prototypical blackened railings. I completely removed all the railings from my model to bead-blast and paint them. Not sure how they're fasted to the MTH model but on mine they popped off with the stancions, then the stanchions all slide off the rails. Be careful not to apply too much paint, or else the stanchions won't slide back on.

As for engine black, it's too satin for my model but may work on the MTH depending on the sheen. All those engine or loco blacks are more satin, which is technically prototypical but not a good match for the richer black on Lionel engines. Again, not sure which shade MTH went with.

I used SEM on the rear louver on my DMC. Great paint, and a near perfect finish.

Impresssive for a rattle can finish. 

I've used the Krylon semi-flat black before on loco repaints and it is a really good match.  Easy to use paint, too.

Nick,

Not to change the subject, but what VIN # is your DMC?  Has yours been modded for right-hand drive?  I take it you're acquainted with Martin Gutkowski over there on your side of the pond?

Hi John, Small world! Martin came on my stag do to the Le Mans 24 hrs back '05.

        I have not seen him for a few years but he is active on the UK owners forum.

If you want a turbo D' Martin is the man. 

My D' is vin 2862. Kept her left hand drive. Owned for 13 years. 

 Funny your from San Digeo? That's where 2862 was first supplied new from the dealer.

Regards

Nick

From your photo, the Krylon can is from days of yore.  The newer Krylon has a vastly different nozzle, and the coverage and gloss is as stated in a post above - absolutely horrible.

I have used Krylon successfully for 50 years, and now will go out of my way to avoid it at all costs.  Not sure what it is useful on, but it is not useful at all on such things as models, old air bottles, airplane touch-up, or anything else I can imagine.  Yuk!

It can still be ordered from various sources Bob. My father gets a big shipment of it every couple of months, he burns through that stuff pretty quickly in his restorations.

This would be a real downer, if true. I don't know, but the last can of Krylon I got at Ace Hardware last month seemed fine (called Satin Black now). Seemed just like the older Semi-flat Black I got at Ace in quality and application, but I didn't do any real comparison. If Nick is correct about the Semi-flat good stuff, though, I guess I need order some on-line.

To date, Krylon has been vastly superior to Rustoleum spray paints, which is all Home Depot carries anymore. That stuff has lousy nozzles, applies poorly, and takes forever to dry. 

Haha, originally for clear coat I just grabbed whatever my father had in stock, which happened to be Rustoleum. It went on so thick it just about doubled the thickness of the railings. I talked about this with my good friend Lucas (ogauge47) and he tipped me off to the Tamiya brand being much thinner.

Used to be I would not buy Rustoleum on a bet.  Took forever to dry, hard to keep the nozzles clean, etc.  Now it is superior to Krylon.

My recent can of Satin Black was useful only if I sprayed it out of the can, in to a receptacle, then through the air brush.  Even then, it seemed not have the solids of the older stuff.

Krylon Black Primer has been that way for years, so I just avoided it.  Now even the colors do not spray well.

There has been a tremendous upheaval in the paint industry, but that is no excuse for reducing the color solids and making the nozzles spit.