More Progress on the SD40-2 Rebuild

In my last update on this project I mentioned that I may end up rethinking the paint scheme. Well I did and yesterday I got that process started by beginning to remove the yellow paint I put on with the airbrush. When I first started painting this thing I went right on top of the factory paint job. It was great practice for getting the airbrush technique down, but the finish wasn't so good. The paint began to cover up a lot of the small details molded into the shell. Rather than get too far down that path, I decided I would cut my losses and start over.

To do that I brought out the isopropyl alcohol and brake fluid again. The alcohol seems to take a bit more work, so I've been using the brake fluid more on this one. Below you can see the results of about an hour of work. The front half is where I put down the yellow, so that's going to take even more work. The back half is starting to look pretty good. I'd say after a couple more hours this thing will be completely stripped and ready for some detail work then primer and paint.

Removing my first layer of airbrushed paint as well as the factory paint from my SD40-2 locomotive.

Now that I have this part of the process well under way, I need to start thinking about any detail parts I want to try and add. I know I'd like to at least do something with headlights and possibly ditch lights. Other than that it's pretty wide open. I think I am going to come up with a custom paint scheme for a fictional railroad, so anything's possible.