I’m going to use Poly-scale paint in my airbrush since it’s easy cleanup with water. Is there an inexpensive place to buy the paint on the internet? Another question, do you need to throughly clean the airbrush between colors or just run water through it good if you are going to continually use it without letting it set around? thanks
I don’t know of a cheap place to buy PS, it’s one of those things I still buy at my local hobby shop (and I buy quite a bit of it as a pro painter), if I buy a dozen or more he gives me a pretty good discount.
I mostly use a dual action brush and during a painting session, I just pull the long pin and run water thru the brush while I give it a few bursts of air and also covering the nozzle with my finger to back flush it as well. I use a paint cup, (1 part) rather than the bottles, (3 parts) and flush it with water as well.
I keep one of those big disstilled water jugs with the spigot on a shelf ( underwhich is a good size rubbermaid type tub), next my homebuilt paint booth.
I also recommend straining the paint into a clean container before loading the airbrush. Acrylic paint tends to dry up in the cap no matter how careful one is. Straining eleminates dried up particles fom clogging the airbrush, (I use nylon stockings).
Have fun!
I like floquil paint thinned with air brush thinner better than poly-s, but still use it quite often because of the clean-up. I run water and alcohol thru my brush when i’m done but I then strip the brush down and clean every part with soapy water and alcohol using pipe cleaners to get in the nooks and cranny’s of the air brush parts. All it takes is speck of dried paint that didn’t come out with a water rinse and the brush will never be the same…Better safe than sorry …chuck
Steelman65,
As a train and military model enthusiast I recommned the use of the craft paints that as far as I know match almost every RR color, WW2 aircraft color and certainly every WW2 armor color. These are acrylic and as with PS mix with water, alcohol or in my case windshield wiper fluid (BLUE tint). The nature of acrylic paint is such that what you want in a finish is dependent upon two elements, one of which is the drying effect. The alcohol in wiper fluid carries the paint and dries it out as it hits the surface you are painting. The other element is that you are able to control the amount of spray, and the nature of the alcohol will allow the flow of the paint to be smooth if the air pressure is around 30psi and not lower than twenty psi. My Badger single action AB works well in this range and the needle valve is adjustable at the rear of the AB, this makes painting a smoother operation.
The colors are available through WalMart, Hobby Lobby and other craft stores, they come in a wide color range with various names of colors as one would guess for craft paints, and the price for a 2 oz. squeeze bottle is less than $1.00 in most brands. Color matched charts can help with matching the specs of a RR and in my case the colors also match many WWII applications as my hobby room is filled from the ceiling to the floor with the three hobbies, my wife likes the RR the best and the Military models are great too in the various dioramas.
Cleanup is fairly easy, just spray wiper fluid through the AB until the liquid turns clear and then dissamble according to instructions and finish with a stiff brush, not metal however! One final note, Acrylic paint is easily applied with hobby paint brushes, thined with a little water. And
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/WTI0097p
I haven’t found anybody cheaper than Tower Hobbies. I’ve used that craft paint on structures with some success, but it doesn’t like to stick to some types of plastic and styrene. I only use it on buildings and scenery. I wouldn’t recommend it for locos or rolling stock. (things that get handled a lot)
edit-You’ll have to search for “Polly Scale” on the Tower site.