I am not happy with the ditch lights of the Athearn Genesis GP15-1 in UP paint. The ditch lights shine through the gray plastic of the shell. That is not beautiful at daylight but looks awful at night.
Is there a better fix known and tested than an extra thick coat gray paint?

It seems to me that the first thing to try would simply be to brush on an extra coat of Polly Scale UP Harbor Mist Gray and see if that fixes the problem. That would be the least drastic, since (as I've learned many times) disassembly carries its own set of risks! If that doesn't work, I'd ream out the holes for the light bars to allow them to be wrapped in a layer of aluminum foil -- that should do it, but I would only try it if the paint doesn't do the job.

You can wait to fix it when the bulbs blow as they dont last that long. Then either convert to LEDs or replace the bulbs with better ones. you can then paint the inside of the light casting black and go from there.

Thanks for the suggestions. Widening the hole and painting the hole and/or bulb black/silver sounds simple but... I did convert some Athearn from bulbs to LED some time ago and learned that the glue holding the bulbs is hard to predict. Some bulbs came out easy others did not survive.

That experience stopped me to simple remove the bulb, paint it and put it back.

ps. Mark, my Athearn bulbs are as solid as LED. Do not know why :-)

I got the recommendation just to apply a layer of black and UP gray. I gave it a try and the result is fine.


ps. I had to mix a UP gray similar tone as I have no UP gray at home.

MGWSY Wrote:...when the bulbs blow as they dont last that long.....

None of my Athearn bulbs ever burned out ...... until you told me. A front and a ditch light went belly up within 48 hours. How do you do that remote :o