anybody ever repaint an EMU set?

[scott]

I have an N-scale emu set (non-Japanese, hence OT) that I got off a eBay a while back. Unfortunately the paint isn't in anything like the excellent condition the seller (a hobby shop in the UK) claimed--there are smears and dots of black paint on the blue/white livery, and the roofs have clearly been dirty in the past, since they're still darker under the pantograph etc.

 

I've asked the seller twice to let me return it, but haven't gotten any response.

 

So I'm wondering if I could repaint it, but am leery of getting into a big mess. Has anybody ever tried this, or have any hints?

[disturbman]

Toni did repaint some of his trains... from what I remember, the results had a very distinctive home-made feeling.

 

What do you want to do? Touch ups or a complete redo? Touch ups might be easier to pull off than a complete redo. If you need to repaint the whole train you'll need to use an airbrush or the services of a pro.

 

My advice being: if you are like me not confident in your painting skills, don't try it on a big scale. This could get messy very easily.

[scott]

Yeah--that's what I was afraid of.

 

I was thinking of attempt the DB "verkehrsrot" scheme, but that's really grey-white-red-white-gray, which is just too much to do by hand.

[ToniBabelony]

Toni did repaint some of his trains... from what I remember, the results had a very distinctive home-made feeling.

 

And what a pity it was... If I'm going to redo some of this work, I'll be using proper materials, such as spray paint and decals instead of doing everything with brushes.

 

First of all, let your train simmer a bit in thinned aceton or something like that to relief the old paint (not too long, or you'll damage the bodywork), then primer it and after that start the real paint work. It's also a good idea to have some decals you can put on to make it look more 'real', like train registration numbers, advertisements and destination signs.

 

You can even choose to do a complete modifcation by removing buffers, exchanging pantographs, adding antennas and such to create a special 'joyful train' Japanese style.

[scott]

this is not sounding like something i have the skills for...