Intermission

[Hauk]

I needed a little break from my so far very frustrating  attempts at airbrushing my brass engines, so I decided to try something simple this evening.
A  scratchbuilt rugga skip in 0-scale built ages ago was dusted off. Primed it with Tamiya Fine surface primer, then some black in the shadows for depth followed by Vallejo Burnt Umber, Yellow Rust and finally a little Light Rust.



Not the biggest model around:


Wheelsets are H0n3 from Grandt Line. Holes drilled by yours truly.
A small model, but a step in the right direction for this painter.

[Ray Dunakin]

Very nice!

What kind of problems are you having with painting your loco?

[Hauk]

Very nice!

What kind of problems are you having with painting your loco?

The main problem is laying down a uniformly smooth, thin layer  of gloss paint.
And  some times I get a gritty finish that I really dont know the cause for. It is not traditional "sandpaper" finish (a uniform gritty finish caused by dry paint hitting the model.) I suspect some sort of contamination of the paint. If I am not able to solve this problem, I will post images of what I am talking about. Much easier to show than to tell...

Regards, Hauk

[marc_reusser]

Are you getting what we here call "orange peel"?....a slightly bumpy texture, like the surface of an orange? 

If so, maybe try thinning the paint more, and adding a retarder...then shooting even thinner coats.

Can you obtain celulose Laquer based paints? (not sure if they ae completely banned in all of Europe)....these paints will give you the best chance at a perfectly smooth surface, plus they can be "rubbed out" with rubbing and polishing compounds to give you a perfectly smooth finish.

...or as a second option, how about a Humbrol Oil....once fully cured these should be able to becarefully rubbed out to remove any surface imperfection.

Maybe ask some of the car modelers...especially those that are doing the F-1, and contemporary sport car models....they always have to deal with getting a perfectly smooth finish.


Marc

[Hauk]

Are you getting what we here call "orange peel"?....a slightly bumpy texture, like the surface of an orange?  

If so, maybe try thinning the paint more, and adding a retarder...then shooting even thinner coats.

Can you obtain celulose Laquer based paints? (not sure if they ae completely banned in all of Europe)....these paints will give you the best chance at a perfectly smooth surface, plus they can be "rubbed out" with rubbing and polishing compounds to give you a perfectly smooth finish.

...or as a second option, how about a Humbrol Oil....once fully cured these should be able to becarefully rubbed out to remove any surface imperfection.

Maybe ask some of the car modelers...especially those that are doing the F-1, and contemporary sport car models....they always have to deal with getting a perfectly smooth finish.


Marc

Nope, it is not Orange peel. I have had my share of those... I solved that by thinning the paint more. I am using Tamiya paint, wich can be diluted suprisingly thin. I use at least 2 parts of thinner to 1 part paint. And I use cellulose thinners with Tamiya as Adam Wilder and some other very competent model painters reccomend.

The grit problem looks like very small grains of sand distributet unevenly over the painted surface. I have had the problem with other paints than Tamiya, and with two different airbrushes, so I suspect it might be some variant of a dust problem. Have to do a very thorough cleaning of my paintshop. Maybe it helps. I must add that I vacuum the room before every major airbrushing session. I use a vacuum cleaner with a water filter, that way the dust is not recirculated through the vac. I will keep you posted. (Threat or promise? Thats up to you to decide...)

The suggestion to go and bugger the car modellers is a good one

Regards, Hauk

[Junior]

Okay Hauk some more suggestions....... to make everything even more confused.!


The following stuff works great and is used by many aircraft and car modelers. I have all of these.


Alclad 2 Polishing Cloth - pack contents: five grades from 3600 to 12000. This is micro stuff beleive me.

Then a coat of either Alclad ALC 600 Aqua Gloss or ALC 310 Klear Cote Gloss (laquer).

Anders

[JohnP]

Sounds like maybe dried particles of paint ending up in the coat. Maybe off the nozzle?
Or maybe too much thinner- the paint is drying before leveling.
Or it is a thinner mismatch (had that on a home spray vehicle repair once).

John

[Hauk]

Sounds like maybe dried particles of paint ending up in the coat. Maybe off the nozzle?
Or maybe too much thinner- the paint is drying before leveling.
Or it is a thinner mismatch (had that on a home spray vehicle repair once).

John

The nozzle theory is interesting. Maybe I should keep an eye on the nozzle and clean it with a paintbrush dipped in thinner  every now and then during spraying.