The paint thread

[Russian]

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.

[catt]

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.

[jbaakko]

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...

[sushob]

Originally Posted by jbaakko

(Wal*Mart, err Wal-Mart in Canada eh?).

Actually, they refer to themselves as "Wal-Mart" on the website. The * is only in the logo

[sushob]

Back on topic now...

I had similar questions not long ago. Here's the thread: http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/f...ead.php?t=1981

I also have a couple of inexpensive airbrushes in my eBay store, and I have about 150 packs of Badger accessories/parts to sort through as well.

[CBCNSfan]

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.

Willis

[jbaakko]

Wal*mart is on the signs... anyways, Scotch brand blue painters tape... just doesn;t work well, on say ribbed side gondolas...

[CBCNSfan]

Scotch brand blue painters tape...

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.
Willis

[jbaakko]

I'll check into it, I used the blue tape quite many times...

[HaggisKennedy]

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