You can't get rid f the sun fade. You just have to deal with it.

 

Baloney, it's an oxidized layer of paint... done on on multiple locos and rolling stock.

Where are all these experts with no experience coming from?

 

Tommy98466,
That is partially true. If you use a high fade color like red as an example, once it is faded, the only real way to bring the color back completely is to repaint it. The suggestions made in this thread are simple ways to rejuvenate the paint without all that is involved with a repaint. The colors in the red spectrum are the most likely to fade before other colors.
I have a red Aristo caboose on my layout that is used as an office that I treat with the Krylon UV clear mentioned above about every three years. When first applied, it looks almost new but the sun works on it and it will start to fade again. It is a losing battle running trains outdoors but worth the fight.

 

To me, I love sun faded cars. I do not want my cars to look like toys or new cars just out of the shop, I want them to look real. The matte finish spray is a bare minimum effort to make the cars look real, knock down that toy looking shine. Real cars can be sun faded. A sun faded car is a great start for a weathering project and I love weathered cars. That is part of what got me into G railroading many years ago, saw a weathered G car being ran on a layout at a Christmas flea market and it looked kinda like a real car shrunk down and I got interested in doing it for myself. The rest of the cars being ran had no weathering and the difference was stunning (unweathered cars looked bad in comparison).

Some years ago, bought a Bachmann tipper ore car that had been in a hobby shop window for some years and had faded and also got a sag on one side on the tub from all the sun. Made it look like some damage from use. Made a good custom car candidate.

I guess i should suggest that you guys stick to your pristine cars and save the faded and abused ones for me.

Doug

 

Well I was going to try to fix the sun fade on the one side so that they were a bit more even, then I will weather all of my equipment when I get the time and money. I have a few beat up cars too.

 

Oh that leads me to my next question. What kind of weathering (paint, powder,...) have you guys have had good experiences with?

 

bmwr71,
I agree with you about the realism of a faded and worn car. I have weathered many pieces of my rolling stock to achieve that "look". The OP asked how he could correct the fade and suggestions were made. One of the great things about this hobby is being able to have your railroad your way. Some people like the "new" look and others the weathered look. It comes down to a person's ability and what makes them happy.

TrainManiac,
That is a topic that I'm sure has been covered in this forum. Have you tried entering weathering in the search box? Be ready for a Pandora's box of answers.
One of the products I have had great results with is Doc O'Briens weathering powders. Available through Micro-Mark :Weathering Powders 12 Pack | Modeling Effects Kit | Micro-Mark

 

Yeah I love the look of old equipment I just need to get around to weather them. Thanks for the weathering suggestion. I will look around for some more weathering techniques. I have done quite a bit of weathering on the smaller scale and tanks.

 

In fairness, there were dashboards that did not work well with Armorall 20 years ago, and every once in a blue moon I have found plastics that get less pliable with Armorall (I tried it on a vacuum cleaner hose that I bought in 1985)

But as I said, I have not installed any old car dashboards in any of my G Scale locomotives... again old biases die hard...

On an up note, I restored the faded red nose on several USA Trains Santa Fe warbonnets (red paint typically is the worst in fading) maybe 10 years ago, and they still look fine.

 

About a yr. ago, I stumbled across an alternative to Armorall.
'AutoGlym (Vinyl/Rubber vers.) '
Have yet to simulate a fresh paintshop visit of any rolling stock within my G-gauge world', .... but in proto' world just about anything primarily outdoors , including under the hood ! ;-)