Hand-brushing with Tru-Color Paint?


tomstockton

tomstockton

Tom Stockton
I'm considering an investment, to add Tru-Color Paint to my painting arsenal.

There are times I like to hand-brush with paint; touch-up places, add weathering, etc. But I haven't found any comments on hand-brushing Tru-Color. Has anyone here ever hand-brushed Tru-Color Paint? And if so -- what were your results

In advance, thanks for your replies!

Regards,
Tom Stockton
 
I use Tru Color for my railroad and some shipboard uses, the airbrush type. It airbrushes very well straight out of the bottle. Agreeing with John above, the stuff isn't great for hand brushing unless you get the hand brushing formulation. OK maybe for very small touchups.
 
Nor did I, and thanks. The biggest problem I'm having is finding an accurate color for Rio Grande "Aspen Gold." Tru-color's two offerings seem to be endpoints for what I consider myself to be "the" actual color, and it's a problem.

Well respected Rio Grande author Jim Eager has given some input for a custom color Micro-scale decal set, designed for application over a black color base, which seems to split the difference pretty well, although there are also the questions of color temperature (daylight) and how those translate to typical layout lighting...or don't translate very well. I don't think the LED color light from a cheapo paint booth is going to be a reliable standard, for example, unless I can measure it's temperature at least. Adjustable color balance lighting would be better, therefore. Researching it...wish me luck.

My own monitor, while top end and supposedly pretty accurate out-of-the-box, has not been calibrated for color, so I rely on it, too, with a degree of caution. That said, here are to two colors my monitor shows me, as provided by Trainz.com

TCP 045, the spray color:
www.trainz.com

Tru-Color 045 Railroad Color Acrylic Paint Rio Grande Aspen Gold - 1 o

This is a Tru-Color 045 Railroad Color Acrylic Paint - Rio Grande Aspen Gold (1oz Bottle).Condition: Factory NewOperational Status: FunctionalOriginal Box: YesManufacturer: Tru-ColorModel Number: 045MSRP: $7.19Category 1: Maintenance & SuppliesCategory 2: PaintThe Trainz SKU for this item is...
www.trainz.com www.trainz.com

Then the same source, same color, but the brushable version: https://www.trainz.com/products/tru-color-845-brushable-paint-flat-rio-grande-aspen-gold-1-oz-bottle

Quite a big difference there, at least to my eye.

Now one difference is that the second color is "flat," while the first one is less clear on the subject, so that's going to be part of it. A lot of the rest will be the base color the paint is designed to cover over, and in the case of the Rio Grande, the base color of locomotives is generally black. The base color of a raw surface, however, is often recommended as "grey," as for re-painting a new F unit (my particular problem at the moment).

Fortunately, the original DuPont color chip is at least known, though even a single chip may be hard to find. But museums can be your friend too. The Colorado Railroad Museum, in my case, and another in Utah. And occasional preserved display, etc.

Further updates as events warrant, and "film at eleven." Wish me luck.
 
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I airbrush it and clean the airbrush with lacquer thinner and alcohol.

By the way of calibrating monitors I use a "SPYDER" which attaches to the monitor face while it generates a bunch of test colors. Very useful for accurate color photoshop work.

Museums and restorations can be problematic and must be considered secondary sources at best. We have a wonderful and extensive car museum here and certainly their Dusenberg is a real "Doozy" no one in that time period had the paints we have today, even with many coats of hand rubbed lacquer. In NZ there is only one F4U Corsair left from WWII and they hand worried through layers of paint to find out what color it was when new. Shipboard generally specified mixing colors were added to a base in a certain ratio to achieve the color desired by current regs.

Things were simpler when the world was in Black and White.
 
Espeefan said:
To thin, I use their thinner. To clean I use acetone until it shoots clear, then Xylene.
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I have an Aztek airbrush that I’ve been using for years. Works well…. except it has alot of plastic parts. It would appear I’m going to have to, finally, invest in a new air brush if I start using the Tru-Color paints. I don’t think running acetone and Xylene through an Aztek air brush will end well.
I do have a Paaschee air brush I use to use many, many years ago. Don’t know where it is currently but I do know it needs an air line.
 
rgeiter said:
I have an Aztek airbrush that I’ve been using for years. Works well…. except it has alot of plastic parts. It would appear I’m going to have to, finally, invest in a new air brush if I start using the Tru-Color paints. I don’t think running acetone and Xylene through an Aztek air brush will end well.
I do have a Paaschee air brush I use to use many, many years ago. Don’t know where it is currently but I do know it needs an air line.
Click to expand...
Paasche airbrushes are very good quality, although I don't own one, think it would be easier to get a new airline for it than a new airbrush.
 
Smudge617 said:
Paasche airbrushes are very good quality, although I don't own one, think it would be easier to get a new airline for it than a new airbrush.
Click to expand...
Look what I found!
I was mistaken. It’s a Badger air brush. Oops.
IMG_7431.jpeg
 
Ah my first real airbrush, the Badger 200. Still have it, and it still works, though it's been through a bunch of rebuilds. I painted with one of these for about a year before going over to double action. A good airbrush for beginners!
 
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