The paint thread


Russian

Russian

Saskatoon railfan
Hello, I now have two undecorated models and was thinking of painting them. I've found a couple great threads on paint here on the forums, but they confuse me more then anything.

1. Should I paint with an airbrush or by hand? I plan on only painting rolling stock.
2. Could I buy paint at Wal-Mart, or do I need a hobby store?
3. I have a number of colors from All purpose Enamel paint, I bought years ago for 1:34 car models. Could I use it for modeling?
4. Could I get started with weathering through paints?

Thanks.
 
An airbrush is "NOT" an absolute neccessity when it comes to custom painting locos and rolling stock.You can brush paint and get excellent results as long as you use quality brushes and paint.

Another choice is bug bomb,or hitech rattlecan (spray paint)Krylon makes some excellent colours and they have a line called "Fusion" that is specifically made for use on plastics.It takes only a little practice to get good with spraypaint and there are lots of colours available.

Edit- I forgot to mention that your auto paints should work just fine as long as they are enamal.
 
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Testors makes 2 good, and cheep airbrush/airbrush stand-by's... They should both be available at wally world (Wal*Mart, err Wal-Mart in Canada eh?).

One is a plastic cap that connects to the top of a Testors airbrush propellant can, and accepts the airbush spray tops, which couple onto almost any normal 1oz paint bottle. Packaging should say Testors Auto Paint System, or something to the effect.
Style 2 uses the same paint bottle and air can, but has a hose to connect to the can and an actual airbrush that hold the paint bottle. Packaging should say Testors Airbrush.

Both are general painting, and will not work well for making fine lines, but if you get good at masking you can still make lines ;) Both should be in the Sub $30 USD range, that what, Sub $50 Canadian?

EDIT By the way, I use testors flat enamels for various things, like flat white or yellow for handrail ends, and tan and brown for minor weathering, the flat enamels dry to the touch in about 30 minutes or less. Try out a "Military Enamels" set...
 
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Hi Roman, a word of caution. There are Airbrushes on the market in the provinces, they look like copys Pasche or Badgers at a price that's too good to be true $10 to $15. These Air brushes may be ok for solvent base paints but they just can't cut it with the acrylic paints. The Testors at Wal-Mart, between $28 to $35 unless they marked them up, is a decent basic brush that will spray acrylic and solvent based paint. I have an old Miller basic air brush and it's great for solid colors. If you want to spray lines (actually more of a different color band)masking is the answer. The proceedure for this is to mask the model, and then where you are going to spray the different color, first spray it with the color you are masking (Base color), this seals the tape to prevent the new color from bleeding under the masking tape. Let it dry, then spray the different color. When you remove the masking tape, you should have nice sharp edges on the line. Scotch tape or similar fine tape is much better than automotive masking tape for clean lines.

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Willis
 
Wal*mart is on the signs... anyways, Scotch brand blue painters tape... just doesn;t work well, on say ribbed side gondolas...
 
Scotch brand blue painters tape...
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Uh! Uh! I'm talking about the Scotch tape ( see through ) type for taping pages and such, not for painting. The brand I'm using I get at Staples office supplies called Stockwell invisible tape. It's very thin supposidly invisible mending. Using thin tape like this prevents a buildup of paint at the edge of the tape, so it comes away with a clean sharp edge when pulled back on itself for removal. As it is quite thin it should conform to a ribbed surface. Last time I used tape like that was many years ago painting a F7 CN Zebra, orange, black and white. Try it you'll like it. :D
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Willis
 
Depending on how "used" you want the rolling stock to be, you might be able to get away with using a spray can. The real key is to not lay it on too thick, clean the model well, lay down a primer coat first.

For 2nd/3rd/4th hand locos, this would work well. I shot some Atlas shells recently with el-cheapo black semi-gloss.

Kennedy
 
Willis, good tip on sealing the tape edge.
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Yow! it was many a year ago I learned about the tape and the proceedure, I believe it was in a book on spray painting from Floquill. No internet in the 70's so that's where I must have gotten it.

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Willis
 
Scotch "Magic Tape" is the one you want. I've been using it for many years and the only ill effects I've had were from not removing the tape in a timely fashion (1-2 days).

I'd consider buying an airbrush. They aren't hard to use, can be found relatively inexpensively, they'll save you money on paint, and with a little practice not only can your models have a superior finish, you can charge your friends for the privilege of having models almost as nice as yours. ;)
 
I'll play around with the enamal paints I have.

I know I'm short of some colors (luckily not yellow), so I'll go to Wal-Mart for those.
Should be intersting.
 
Actually, any paint in any color/base is acceptable to use. I've used everything from lacquers to water colors,(weathering) to even textile inks to get a color or effect for someone I was painting for.

Right now there is a good friend of mine who is the primary painter for Overland Models and he lives in a small town with the nearest hobby shop of any kind over 100 miles away. He uses automobile lacquers on all the models he paints for Overland as well as private jobs.
 
I'd consider buying an airbrush.
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I'm with Ryan on this one, hard to go wrong spraying. No brush marks, ridges or paint puddles just a nice thin tough finish.

Overland Models
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Isn't Overland mostly brass? I paint my own vehicles and I'm far from being in favour of automotive paint unless it's plain automotive enamel which when used with reducer is in itself bad enough. The rest of that stuff (acrylics) can and will put you in an early grave. The finishes are beautiful, hard and lasting but the reducers, hardner additives are quite toxic and do permenant damage to the lungs, unless you have a seperate air supply to breath while painting. Your eyes also have to be protected in short if you want to live a normal life after, try to get a suit from NASA or the equivelant. I'm not joking about this I have a friend who is 15 years younger than me in age, however in body that's another story. Needless to say he can no longer paint and is limited in what he can do. I'm also wondering what effects the chemicals will have on plastic, maybe none but they do come in metal containers. Maybe I'm over cautious but seeing the affects on my friend I'm quite nervous about Automotive paints. I'm also concerned about the thickness of paints that are not specifically manufactured for painting models. A few I have gotten off eBay were most difficult to strip and in two cases the shells wern't worth redoing. LOL another one was done with a stove enamal, very little detail showing. I only wanted the cab from it and did manage to save the details.
This is just my opinion and it's certainly open for discussion, since I avoid the use of any paint that is not specifically for models. Having said that I guess one could say I don't know what I'm talking about :D
 
I've painted with Enamel before without wearing a mask or anything, so I guess its too late for me... Then again my eyes are always protected by glasses, even though I can't see too well in them.
 
Hi Roman, it's the automotive paints and reducers I'd be concerned with, unless you are into painting 1:1 cars and trucks don't worry too much about it. I've sprayed a few models in the basement with the acrylic base model baints, sheesh the wife didn't know it.
BTW I checked the price of the spraying equipment at Wal-Mart, there's a Testor's kit with a plastic cap sprayer that fits onto a propellent can along with some enamel paints around $19.89 (I wasn't impressed looked more like plastic crap to me) There was also a neat Testors Airbrush kit for under $30 about $28.70 that would be a decent buy.
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Willis
 
If you value your health, do not use ANY paint in a spray can in an unventilated room. In addition to being poison, the gases are also flammable and shouldn't be used near any open flame such as a furnace or gas water heater, (unless you want to redecorate your house).

Lacquer-based, (including automotive) paints can and most likely will attack and craze plastic. They also contain chemicals which will make you stupid over time so they require good ventilation - like a paint booth with an exhaust fan. They are are great for metal models and plastic models that have been protected with a coat of "barrier" (available from Floquil and Scalecoat). Floquil and Scalecoat-I are lacquer paints.

Scalecoat-II is an enamel paint and probably the best model paint ever made and are available in both bottles and spray cans.

Testors model paint is also an enamel. You can thin it and clean up with regular mineral spirits (from local hardware store).

Floquil's Polyscale, Badger's Modelflex and Testor's ModelMaster paints are all water-based acrylics. While these are non-toxic (They meet California's environmental specs), if sprayed they do produce a mist, so a dust mask is recomended.

Aircans (propellant): Here's my take: At 20 bucks a can, you get to paint maybe 2 to 4 models/can. For the price of 4 cans, you can buy a 100psi/2 gal compressor/tank at Wal Mart and you can paint forever.

Just my 2 cents.

Jay, custom painter.
 
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