STEP 1 PREP WORK

The fleet – Before I could do any painting work, I had to disassemble the cars and prepare the parts. For my project I had 5 Rapido New Haven cars to work with: 3 coaches, 1 parlor, and 1 diner. While they look similar, they do have differences. Take your time to explore the nuances of each car type and things should proceed smoothly.

Truck prep – The trucks on these cars are wired to pick up track power, so

I left them on the model. After removing the wheelsets to be painted separately (see Step 6), I cut small blocks of packing foam and inserted them into the trucks to protect the metal power collection strips and the axle sockets from overspray.

Removing shells – Many of the Rapido cars have press-fit shells. Gently pulling outward on the bottom of the shell detaches it from the tabs that lock it to the chassis. The diner requires the coupler box screws to be removed first, but then it also lifts off the frame the same way. Work to loosen one car end before proceeding to the other.

Interior masking – Like the trucks, the interior is wired to the chassis for electric lighting. Instead of removing the interior, I used strips of blue painter’s tape to seal up everything above the floor to protect it from exposure to paint. The false floor on the car provides a broad surface to hold the tape in place.

Remove glazing – Where I could do so easily, I removed the window glazing. The large windows on both sides of the car have the glazing molded on a single strip, and it locks into the car with small plastic tabs. Some of the smaller glazing sections, particularly in the doors, were glued in. I opted to keep those in place and simply mask over them.

Marking the parts – When working on multiple cars at the same time, I like to keep all of the parts with the original cars wherever possible. I identified all parts of a car by its road number, using small cups to hold wheelsets, couplers, and screws for each, as well as plastic bags for the window glazing. I marked the tape on the chassis, as well.