Many people have written to me over the years asking for some help with decorating cars. Here is a brief description of how I do what I do. Operate at your own risk!
I have an air brush but I prefer spray cans. Krylon paint is best, it doesn't wrinkle previous coats like Rustoleum does! One heavy wet coat produces the best finish. It takes some practice to learn how much paint you can apply without running it.
I use a chemical paint strip for removing litho. Kwik (the orange and blue can) paint and varnish remover is what I like best. I have a friend who prefers to boil off old paint and litho, but I want to keep out of my kitchen!
In choosing cars to produce I go first to my local hobby store and check out the Woodland Scenics dry transfers. Most of my artwork is done from these inexpensive little graphic sheets. I also have used some decals and done some freehand. After I find the graphics I want to use I buy an "N" gauge version of the car. I use to determine for rib, roof and end details.
Ribs are done with Woodland Scenics dry transfer striping. I will first layout the spacing and then apply the horizontal striping and the roof, usually black. Next I apply the vertical striping. Layout and apply the door and finally the ends. After I am done with the black, I shadow the ribs, usually silver. The ladders are done after this and I reverse the process, laying down the shadow first and then the actual ladder striping. In this way I can overlap which is much easier then trying fit little pieces between the rungs. Next I apply the road name also using the Woodland Scenics lettering and finally the graphic package.
Rivets are done with a Sharpie felt tip pen and a straight edge.
The graphics are really for HO but as you can see they work fine for the six inch tin! The important thing to remember is not to be afraid to fail. The first dozen cars I did are rather juvenile looking when compared to the ones shown in my site. Sometimes I get to a point where I realize that I have gone overboard or made a fundamental mistake, I'll strip it back down and start over. It's never fun but sometimes you have to do it!
Hope this helps you out. If you need more specific details let me know. You should know that it will cost you some bucks to get started. The striping, lettering, numbers and graphic packages will cost you about $2.00 to $4.00 each. When you buy the striping and numbers look for the large packages about 6" X 10". They cost about the same as the 3" X 5" packs!
Good Luck,
Walt