Repainting an Old Boxcar

Lately I've kind of been all over the place when it comes to my model railroading projects, but the one I'm focusing on today is the old San Jose Sharks boxcar I posted back in October, click here to see the original post. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with this one when I got it and mentioned maybe using it to practice painting and decals. Well, that's exactly what I am doing with it now and I've been learning a lot making use of it. 

It started when I was trying out the airbrush as this boxcar served as the very first test subject. After that it became the guinea pig for testing paint removal methods. So in the last few weeks I've been working to completely remove the original green paint job. I ended up using a combination of brake fluid and isopropyl alcohol to get the job done. Turns out this thing was originally a Model Power boxcar with a GE Lamps paint scheme. Click here to see an example. 

A look at the 50' boxcar with the green paint completely stripped away.

I did the best I could to remove the green paint, but that left the factory paint somewhat intact underneath. Rather than risking damage to the plastic, I decided to leave it as is and start painting over it with the airbrush. I went with the Testors acrylic "rad red" that came with the kit. It's a pretty nice looking red and I was thinking about making this boxcar a part of the little display track I built. It will look nice behind the Santa Fe locomotive I'm working on assembling. 

Working on painting the boxcar red in my makeshift paint booth. 

I've got the first coat down and it's looking pretty good so far. There are definitely some areas that will need a few more coats to completely cover the GE Lamps paint scheme. Other than that it just needs a quick once over with my Model Master flat overcoat. Then I need to get myself a set of Santa Fe 50' boxcar decals and try that out.