I just picked up some Details West parts for my new loco. I just noticed they are metal.
I also just got a new airbrush, and some Floquil airbrush paint. Can I paint those metal detail parts with the Floquil? How should I prep the surface?
Thanks,
Michael
Personally, I’m an acrylics guy, but Floquil should work just fine on metal parts, and with your airbrush. Make sure you follow the thinning instructions carefully.
Wash them in soapy water to remove any oils or grit from your hands or the manufacturing process. Rinse thoroughly and dry completely. Don’t touch them with your hands again until the paint is completely dry (use latex cloves, tweezers, a work stand, etc.).
Prime them with spray enamel primer (Testors makes good stuff, in either gray or white… the colors look slightly better over white primer, but it often takss more coats to cover completely). Again, dry thoroughly (although it says you can apply paint after 3 hours, I prefer to wait 72 hours after priming).
Paint. Seal with clear coat, either matte or gloss, depending on how the item must appear.
Awesome! Thanks for all the detailed info. I appreciate the help.
Should I use CA super glue to attach the parts?
Now to figure out how this airbrush thing works. [:)]
I went a little nuts today at the LHS, I got the Paasche HS-SET with compressor. I’ll let y’all know how it goes, I’m sure I’ll have a lot more questions.
Yes, CA will work. Preferrably a thicker CA – Gorilla Glue makes a good, widely available formula. Do not try to glue painted surfaces together. Sand the paint off, or just leave it unpainted (with small parts, it’s usually easier to sand the paint back off with a small sanding stick).
I would mount the parts first. I always mount all the detail parts before painting, the only exceptions are parts that would interfere with applying decals. Then wash the whole model with a little detergent, then paint.
Priming does a couple of things, it gives the model an even base color that allows you to see any imperfections, like glue blobs, scratches, gaps, etc and gives the paint an even color to be applied to. Different shades of primer will effect the depth of the color as well. For reds, yellows and greens a lighter shade of primer will make those colors brighter and require fewer coats to cover.
I soak metal parts whether brass or pot metal for about an hour in vinegar–that will get rid of any mold release or soap residue. The vinegar will also mildly etch the surface of the metal which will aid the enamel primer to adhere to it.
Wear rubber gloves at all times when handling these parts!
CA will probably work but epoxy has always been my adhesive of choice.
Thanks for the help. I’ll go ahead and mount the peices first, then paint everything.
Great videos, it helped a lot.
I painted some parts for my Mi-Jack crane last night. Still getting familiar with the airbrush, but it looks pretty good. I’ll do some more painting today.
I’m really glad I got this, I’ll be putting it to some great use!
Getting paint to stick to metal is always difficult. The metal is smooth and slippery and the paint finds it easy to peel off. Step one is cleaning to remove all traces of oil. Hot soapy water is good. Laundry detergent like Tide is stronger than liquid dishwash. Then metal parts want to be pickled in acid to etch the surface and give some tooth for the paint to grab onto. I use supermarket vinegar, it’s strong enough, cheap, and available.
Then the first coat wants to be a primer especially mixed for best stick-to-it-tiveness on metal. I use rattle cans of auto primer. This stuff is bought by working auto mechanics who have to content with oil and grease and demand performance. It works. The various primers sold be the model paint makers are an unknown. I suspect that many of them have no special chemistry to stick well, they just have the bright primer colors in the standard vehicle. The auto primers have the best chemistry the makers can devise. Auto primer comes in dark gray, light gray and red. Use dark gray under dark colors, light gray under light colors and red under red. Once you have a solid coat of primer, good and dry, any other paint will stick well on top. But it’s the primer that does the hard part of bonding to the metal.
Thanks David. I’m gonna soak the parts in vinigar, and go pick up some auto primer.
Michael
I always thought thaty auto body primer was formulated to hide minor scratches in the bondo or metal. Wouldn’t thaty tend to cover up finer details? I personally use Floquil zinc chromate after washing in soapy water. This seems to etch the surface and promote a good bond.
That’s my understanding as well. I do a lot of painting of small figures, and wouldn’t want anything hiding details.
So is this true, or are we victims of an urban legend?
Although FWIW, I have used the Testors primers I mentioned in my first post almost exclusively for 15 years, on figures that get handled often, and don’t have any trouble with paint coming off unless the metal actually gets bent.
So… I got the metal gray primer at the auto parts store. They had other primers that were specifically for auto body filling. I did not get that, just the plain old metal primer.
And last night, I soaked the parts in vinegar, glued them. I masked off the body of the loco from the walkways up.(didn’t want to take the shell off).
I laid down some gray primer.
Then I airbrush painted the weathered black.
Today I will hand paint the rail brown on the wheels and where the wheels spray underside on the tank.
This is the prototype I’m shooting for here.
i restore antique cars for a living & self etching primer is great stuff for small metal parts ,it is sold in most auto parts stores. a very light coat is plenty for small rr stuff.