Best way to paint 009 loco?

[RoyP]

I would like some guidance as to the best way to paint a small 009 locomotive kit that have nearly built.

Should I glue footplate + cab + boiler all together and paint?
Or should I spray paint all items individually, if so what is the best glue to put them all together without the glue showing?

Thanks for any help.

[Bufferstop]

How complex will its paint scheme be? The more complex the livery the more benefit there will be in having separate parts to paint. If it was a larger scale it would even be reasonable to screw the sections together, so that it could be disassembled for painting, but this would be more difficult to arrange in 009. A photo of the components laid out in approx. position might help judge it.

[Bigmet]

I'd usually favour the painting of the major components before final assembly, but this hangs on how good a fit the components are (don't want to have to fill) and what adhesive is required for the kit material(s).

[RoyP]

Thanks both for your quick replies.

It is a Dapol Pug kit modified to suit 009, only 2 parts the footplate which will be black plus cab/boiler/smoke box, cab and boiler dark blue and smoke box black.

[b308]

Personally I've always assembled my 009/H0e locos and then sprayed with Halfords Grey Primer and then painted on the final colours carefully using a brush. Doing it in parts assumes that the various parts it can be divided into are all actually different colours, otherwise it's not worth the effort. The thing is with a small 009 loco is that you are probably only looking at two or three colours, black, buffer beam red and the main colour and most places they come together there's a natural line on the loco. The biggest issue is lining and I'm lucky that my steam locos don't tend to have any, only the diesels!

[Bigmet]

...It is a Dapol Pug kit modified to suit 009, only 2 parts the footplate which will be black plus cab/boiler/smoke box, cab and boiler dark blue and smoke box black.

I would paint separately on two counts.

So much easier to neatly apply the blue body colour everywhere it needs to go, with a crisp line where the blue cab meets the footplate.

Once painted and given time so it is fully 'gone off', the use of a solvent cement sparingly applied from the inside of the body shell to the footplate joint lines will make a good bond with no risk to paintwork.