i agree Jeff go to micro mark or find flo-quil online and order what you need and drop ship it to the house. That is the easiest way to do it. You can sometimes also find paints on e-bay but you will have to accept that it may be old paint. Also wait till spring summer or fall to order any paint being shipped to your house. Cold and paint do not go together. And being a pilot who has flown freight in the past I know it is in a cold airplane sitting in a cold storage house, sitting in a cold truck then eventually sitting in your cold mailbox or porch. Just my 2cents on paint.
As for me I haven't painted much yet. I have stripped my locos and spray painted them white primer but as soon as I get my air eraser that too is coming off.(spray paint went on to thick for my liking). I was pretty good spray painting model cars back in the day but I was not happy with this job because of all the fine details in ho trains. I bought a badger double action internal mix brush the other day to go along with the aztec double action. Still got my eye on a single action and that eraser. I will post some pics when I get some done.
Good luck with the paint
Mike
alco's forever!!!!! Majoring in HO scale Minorig in O scale:)
jeffrey-wimberly wrote:The models you've commented on there were indeed painted with spray paint. I don't use the airbrushes much at this point in time because I have to go to Alexandria to get quality model paints to use in them, that's a 120 mile round trip and with gas at nearly $3 a gallon it's not financially advisable for $7 of paint. I've tried thinned/diluted latex paint but it looks worse than the spray and the enamel paint avalable locally clogs up my airbrushes no matter how much I thin them. I had to settle for the lesser of two evils.
Jeff,
You're experiencing exactly what I stated when you've tried to spray thinned latex or enamel paint. The pigments are not ground fine enough to be able to go through the airbrush so you end up with either clogs (not thin enough), poor coverage (thinned too much) and too thick a paint application because the pigments are too coarse.
Take Driline' suggestion - mail order some Floquil or Polly Scale paints. based on what I've seen you post you use 3 or four colors - black, gray, white and red. I just got the Micro-mark catalog in the mail. They carry Floquil paint. Order some paint and other stuff (decal printing kits as a suggestion) from them and have it shipped to you. Even at $8.95 for shipping its a lot cheaper than the gas you'll spend drive to the LHS and you'll get better results. Put away those spray cans and use those airbrushes you have. P.S. - I think calling yourself Spray Can Rembrandt is too much. MrKLUKE is a Spray Can Rembrandt.
All you need is 5 or 6 bottles of good floquil paint. You can order that online or have your hobby shop order for you. Make that "special" train trip only twice a year to save on gas. Problem solved!
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
jeffrey-wimberly wrote: jktrains wrote: Jeffrey - you own a compressor and an airbrush???One compressor (Campbell Hausfeld w/two gallon tank) and two airbrushes, both by Testor's. One is single action external mix an dthe other is dual action internal mix. Does that surprise you?
jktrains wrote: Jeffrey - you own a compressor and an airbrush???
Jeffrey - you own a compressor and an airbrush???
Frankly, yes it does. The pictures you've posted of engines that you've painted look like they have either been painted with a brush or from a cheap can of spray paint. They do not look like they were done with an airbrush. The paint coverage is too thick and hides the details of the model. If its not too thick, then the color typically is not even over the entire model. The paint cracking you've experienced is something I've never experienced when using an airbrush either. Your paint jobs also look very chalky, the finish paint job is not smooth and even. Chalky finishes are sometimes associated with using a spray can and holding too far away from the model to avoid too heavy an application.
Here's a few examples of what I mean.
It looks like there are brush strokes on the nose. The white strip above the pilot looks like it was painted with a brush.
The paint looks very thick. What's the yellow/gold around the the one window and on the ladder/door?
Again, thick and chalky looking
Very chalky looking. Yes, protoypically most rolling stock has a flat finish, but not like this. A flat finish isn't a chalky, rough finish.
A few words of advice. Avoid using the craft paints from Wally world and places like that. The pigments are not ground finely enough for model painting and airbrushing. If that's from an airbrush then you need to turn the pressure down or increase the paint flow because the paint is drying before it hits the model and giving the chalky finish. Also, before apply your paper decals, apply a coat of dullcoat so that your glue smears will clean up easier and not be as noticeable om the unfinished paint.
Also, add in the fact that your sig line says "Spray Can Rembrandt" and you can understand my surprise at your statement that you own not one, but two airbrushes and a compressor.
jktrains wrote:Jeffrey - you own a compressor and an airbrush???
If you're trying to avoid the cost or noise or a compressor than go with a portable air tank you can get at a home center. Check the maximum pressure the tank will hold. This still does not remove the need for a moisture trap and a regulator. How long it will last will depend on the pressure of the filled tank, size of the tank and the pressure used for painting. The other downside is you still have the hassle of going to the local gas station to fill it up, and now possibly a couple of quarters to fill it up.
gaelicpropties wrote:I believe that Badger has required plumbing to allow the use of a spare tire as an air source.
Lowes and Home Depot have small portable tanks that can be charged by your compressor, or at the gas station. They are not expensive, and a lot easier to handle that an inflated tire.
http://www.closeout.com/we-ome-w1005.html
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
Viper, surely you don't mean that you would drill and tap into the wall of the tank. I hope you mean that you would put a tee in the line on the tank side of the regulator and install the Schrader input valve into the tee.
The questions that I have, since I have some old tanks that are not usable any longer for propane because of the valve change a few years back, and have thought about using on or more of them in parallel to run my still unpurchased air brush, are these: How long would a single tank like that last? What pressure would you fill it to at the station or with your garage compressor? What pressure do you normally set the regulator for a standard air brush?
While the CO2 system is attractive it has a down side. The pressure drops as the cylinder is drained, same problem as propellant canisters made for airbrushing. Also, if the line going to the airbrush should develop a leak, even a tiny one, that will bleed off more gas.
Been there and done that, got a compressor.
I'm new to airbrushing and I have an Aztec starter set. Does anyone have any suggestions on setting up a CO2 system instead of a compressor. I saw a short article in MR about using the Kobalt Tools brand CO2 regulator, found at Lowes. It is designed to hang on your belt and run an air hammer with a CO2 cylinder. The article was written by a person who bulit a wood holding station for the regulator/cylinder. Has anyone tried using this system for airbrushing?
Any information will help, thanks