Never felt the need either or suffered any ill effects for not. Perhaps changes in the manufacturing process, chemical composition of the agents in question, or the qualities of the paint have some influence.
richhotrainI have never used primers, and I have never washed the plastic pieces beforehand. Not a single one of these structures shows any sign of peeling or any other paint flaw.
So I guess that I haven't been doing it wrong all these years either. Maybe we should consult with "spike".
Joe
Over the past 18 years, I have used hobby paint brushes and Pollyscale paints to paint over 100 Walthers structures, inlcuding buildings, bridges and modulars. I have never used primers, and I have never washed the plastic pieces beforehand. Not a single one of these structures shows any sign of peeling or any other paint flaw.
Rich
Alton Junction
I haven't seen any discussion of the advisability of removing parting agent from the plastic before painting. That used to be desirable.
Plain scrubbing with a little dish detergent in water, then thorough rinsing, used to get the job done. If you're not going to use something like etching primer, I'd bet the cleaning would be a good 'zeroth step'.
An airbrush is my favorite tool. I've heard good things about Tamiya and I've used Rustoleum to paint buildings, but I can control the amount of paint with an airbrush. If there is a hard to get area, I can precisely paint it and I don't have to worry about too much paint in other areas.
Sometimes you need the right tool for the job.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
I have a Central Valley truss bridge, only a single span. It's a very nice model. I don't have an airbrush. I painted this with rattle-can spray. I first worked on sub-assemblies, then did the bulk of the panting, then put the parts together and touched up any missing spots. It came out great.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
When I did this same kit, I did it in phases. I assembled the major assemblies then masked all of the glue points. Sprayed it, which consumed a lot of paint because you're painting a lot of air with a can. Pulled off all of the masking and assembled it. Finished the painting from there
I did use spraypaint on the walthers bascule bridge. I do agree that getting good coverage on the internal details can be a challenge when the bridges are fully assembled. Sometimes placing the model in a cardboard box will contain paint particles and help with achieving better coverage. Sometimes it will require multiple coats. I just don't see the need for an expensive setup. Thinner coverage won't be noticed a few inches away. If anything, uneven application can be more realistic
SeeYou190 ChrisVA I don't have an airbrush so it would be spray can and/or brush. Chris, I know this is not the answer to the question you were asking, but you should buy an airbrush. You will need it anyway, and this bridge is a good example why. I don't see any way to paint this with a spray can, get all the nooks and crannies, and not get too much paint somewhere else. Brush painting would be tedious. Or... build it and mail it to me, I can paint it for you. -Kevin
ChrisVA I don't have an airbrush so it would be spray can and/or brush.
Chris, I know this is not the answer to the question you were asking, but you should buy an airbrush. You will need it anyway, and this bridge is a good example why.
I don't see any way to paint this with a spray can, get all the nooks and crannies, and not get too much paint somewhere else. Brush painting would be tedious.
Or... build it and mail it to me, I can paint it for you.
-Kevin
jjdamnityou may need several changes of hot tap water to warm the cans.
Due to the Laws of Thermodynamics, the act of spraying lowers the temperature, as well. The ideal gas law PV=nrT tells us if we lower the pressure inside the can by spraying its contents but keep the volume constant (the can doesn't change size), the temperature must come down (n and r are constants)
Still using P-Chem fifty years later!
I do the base coats with rustoleum camouflage brown or black rust. Both are flat or sometimes ultra flat. Details are well preserved on the models unless the paint is misused with excessive application. It's affordable and easy to find and looks great. I'll add some dilluted rust color paints after for weathering and additional rust or brush on some charcoal. Again, I trust these spray paints in maintaining detail appearance more than any other specialty hobby paint. So much so I spray paint track switch ties and it has no impact on the switch glide I also use them to spray paint brick walls and it maintains the mortar joints to fill in with simulated mortars and thin paints
I've also painted the bridges outdoors in 45 degree weather and 100 degree weather. No noticeable difference.
Hello All,
From my experience building 1/35th scale models I would paint the parts of the bridge on the sprues.
I use the "Bane Marie" method to warm the paint cans before use. Immerse the rattle cans in hot tap water- -DO NOT USE BOILING WATER OR A MICROWAVE FOR THIS!
Depending on where you store your paint cans you may need several changes of hot tap water to warm the cans.
Shake vigorously and often and during this process and/or between changes of water.
By warming the cans it allows the paint to coat evenly without hiding the details.
Then, after cutting the parts from the sprues, carefully sand/file off any nubs from the sprues. These spots can be touched up with brush paint or spot bursts from the rattle can.
Also, sand any joints that will be glued. The paint can inhibit the adhesion of the glue.
After assembly, you can do any touchup with a brush or weather the bare spots.
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
When you're building the bridge, don't overlook the option to leave the superstructure as a snap-on/spread & lift-off assembly...
I built all of my multiple-span bridges as one-piece removeable assemblies...slide the unsoldered rail joiners away from the ends of the bridge, then lift it out...
I used an airbrush to paint them, but due to their size, I couldn't do the job in my paint shop. Instead, the painting was done outdoors, on a calm and not too hot day. I mixed the colour that I wanted to represent a not recently-painted bridge, giving a suggestion only of minor rust. It also took quite a bit of paint, especially on the ones with tall support piers, but the airbrush gave much better control than I would have gotten using spray cans.
I used a Passche VL, a dual-action brush, which has served me well for over 40 years. It came with an instruction booklet that had some practice suggestions that were a great assistance in learning how to use it.The most useful for me was the one which suggested practising making dots of paint, as small as possible. Once that was mastered, the next step was to connect the dots with lines as straight and narrow, as would have been done using a pencil and straight edge.It took me a while, but I eventually made such a grid that would have worked extremely well for using to create a crossword puzzle.
Once you learn how to use an airbrush, it's unlikely that you'll ever resort to spray cans again: the airbrush lets you mix the colours that you wish to create, and you'll not need to worry about wasted paint - simply cap the bottle of left-over paint, and use it whenever you need it...no clogged spray nozzles, and easy to see how much paint you have left...which, if you wish, can be mixed with other colours to create new colours.
EDIT: My apologies to the O.P., as I overlooked the reference to Walthers as the bridge supplier. The one shown above, with the bridge superstructure removed, is from Central Valley.
Wayne
Chris,
I agree with Kevin. The airbrush is best for this type of thing. I did paint a truss bridge with the old Floquil black from a rattle can. It went on with a super fine mist that didn’t cover too much detail. I used a very light touch. An airbrush would have been better.
Absent buying an airbrush, I would use a super fine rattle can (Tamiya) and paint it black. I would use very light coats and let there be a few spots you miss rather than build up thick coats of detail obscuring paint. Then I would hit it with one coat of dull coat and weather it. The missed spots likely wont show because you are painting black on black…
Guy
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
Tom, I agree. It would be a challenge either way. Your last sentence might be the answer.
I think it would be a challenge either way, Rich. I remember hand-painting the wooden support structure for the Walthers wood water tower after I assembled it. It took me a bit of time to paint it because the wood beam were fairly close together and there was only so much room and angle to fit the paintbrush.
Maybe assembling & painting the long sides of the bridge first then assembling & gluing the painted support trusses before giving it a light final coat to make it all blend together?
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
tstage I would also assemble the bridge before painting so that your adhesive has an unpainted surface to grab onto.
I would also assemble the bridge before painting so that your adhesive has an unpainted surface to grab onto.
FWIW: If your plan is to use canned spray paint and you want to maintain as much detailing as possible on your model, I've been VERY happy with the results of the Tamiya spray paints. The paint is thinner and the spray nozzle does a fantastic job of applying a very even coat over what you are painting. I've also never had a clogged nozzle with their product.
I've read with plastic you really don't need to prime it first before painting. That may be dependent on the type of paint used, however. I would also assemble the bridge before painting so that your adhesive has an unpainted surface to grab onto.
NVSRR Semi assemble into sub assemblies.
Semi assemble into sub assemblies.
NVSRR Vallejo works better with the surface primed so I have found. Finish assembled. Then weather it.
Vallejo works better with the surface primed so I have found. Finish assembled. Then weather it.
NVSRR bridges like that were a grey, silver or black. Rarely any other color but that is not out of the question.
bridges like that were a grey, silver or black. Rarely any other color but that is not out of the question.
Living the dream.
Assemble first. I have the single track version of this and the trusses are actually in halves (not just left side/right side, but front to back). They literally just glue together face to face, and you definitely don't want paint interfering there. There's nothing else that holds the two halves together. Looking at the photo on the box of the near side truss, the end with the locomotive is one half, the end where it's headed is the other. It's kind of scary honestly. Mine is located on a lift out about 4' above the concrete floor, so there is nothing to catch a train should it have crumbled. Believe me I tested it THOROUGHLY before putting it in use.
Mike
Build it first. Rattle can it with cheap flat primer next, then you can weather it or whatever and then a final coat of clear flat spray of good quailty. The reason I say cheap in the first step is the more expencive paints want better coverage which means a heavier spray pattern ussually, the cheap stuff ussually dosn't care.
Semi assemble into sub assemblies. Vallejo works better with the surface primed so I have found. Finish assembled. Then weather it.
bridges like that were a grey, silver or black. Rarely any other color but that is not out of the question. I would spray a dark red brown from above to hit the areas where water and ice impact the most then go in with chalks to ad highlights and detail weathering.
shane
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
I have not started building this yet. I wanted to get some suggestions on painting this bridge. I don't have an airbrush so it would be spray can and/or brush.
Paint before building?Color to simulate the metal?Prime first?Rust/Weathering
I prefer Vallejo paints.
Suggestions appreciated, Thanks!