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Absolutely Ed, I am with you 100%. 3 milliliter pipettes are truly indispensable. I always keep a few hundred on hand.
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-Kevin
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While I’ve used spray cans when there was no alternative, I find it much easier to use an airbrush, even if I need to paint only one or two tiny items.
However, I usually save-up my paint projects to make the session worthwhile.
It would, in most cases, be an advantage to learn how to use your airbrush. Not only is it more reliable (as long as you properly clean it after every use - a couple of minutes, at most), but it’s much more economical in regard to the amount of paint used, as the airbrush will afford you much better control over the application of paint.
Properly sealed leftover paint from an airbrushing session can last for months or even years, and you can learn to mix pretty-well any colour you’ll ever need.
I use a Paasche VL internal mix airbrush, and it’s been in use close to 40 years, including some commercial work. I’ve even used it to apply clear urethane to a good-sized oak library table.
The manual which came with the airbrush outlined several exercises to allow the user to get familiar with the tool, and I practiced them on broken-up cardboard boxes obtained for free at any supermarket.
The best ones were those which directed the user to create a dot of paint as small as they could make it, and to repeat that process again and again, in as straight a line as possible.
When satisified with the size of the dots, the next exercise was to connect the dots with a line, as thin as possible, without missing any dot.
I practised those two exercises until the dots and lines looked like they had been done with a pen and straightedge…I doubt that my hands are that steady nowadays, but it certainly showed me that I could do much better than I had originally thought.
I’d bet tha
I don’t think their is a conspiracy. The producers probably figure that buyers use the entire can in very short time, so put efforts in getting good coverage from various angles rather than storing it after using it once. Modelers buy various paints to hold over a long time and use as needed. I think the household spray paint market buys paint to use immediately.
I agree with what you say about Tamiya and after looking hard for a suitable match for the Pullman Green of the Branchline and Walthers passenger cars, I discovered their AS-13 (USAF Green) is close enough. It also has a nice flat finish which is what I want. They have another shade called British Green that is also close but a bit glossier and not quite what I was looking for. Can’t remember the number offhand.
I have a can of the old Floquil Pullman Green but I found that in artificial light, it looks almost black.
[quote user=“doctorwayne”]
John-NYBW
Having never mastered the use of the airbrush, I have long relied on rattle can spray paints. Recently I have been having problems…
While I’ve used spray cans when there was no alternative, I find it much easier to use an airbrush, even if I need to paint only one or two tiny items.
However, I usually save-up my paint projects to make the session worthwhile.
It would, in most cases, be an advantage to learn how to use your airbrush. Not only is it more reliable (as long as you properly clean it after every use - a couple of minutes, at most), but it’s much more economical in regard to the amount of paint used, as the airbrush will afford you much better control over the application of paint.
Properly sealed leftover paint from an airbrushing session can last for months or even years, and you can learn to mix pretty-well any colour you’ll ever need.
I use a Paasche VL internal mix airbrush, and it’s been in use close to 40 years, including some commercial work. I’ve even used it to apply clear urethane to a good-sized oak library table.
The manual which came with the airbrush outlined several exercises to allow the user to get familiar with the tool, and I practiced them on broken-up cardboard boxes obtained for free at any supermarket.
The best ones were those which directed the user to create a dot of paint as small as they could make it, and to repeat that process again and again, in as straight a line as possible.
When satisified with the size of the dots, the next exercise was to connect the dots with a line, as thin as possible, without missing any dot.
I practised those two exercises until the dots and lines looke
I’ll second (third?) Tamiya spray can paint. Its’ nozzles produce a fine spray pattern, since it’s designed to be used to paint small models - unlike the “big box store” spray can paint that’s really meant for painting large areas like furniture. I’ve been using Tamiya for maybe 15 years now and don’t recall a nozzle ever clogging.
BTW I use Tamiya TS-5 Olive Drab for Pullman Green passenger cars. It’s a bit lighter than Modelflex Pullman Green, which is probably the most accurate Pullman Green out there, but looks better on models to me - the Modelflex paint looks almost black under typical layout lighting. To my eye, Tamiya TS-5 is pretty close to what Walthers, Atlas etc. use on their pre-decorated Pullman Green cars.
It is more than just the nozzel… Paint also dries in the tube leading into the bowles of the can, No wait, these cans don’t knead tubes do they.
Whale the part of the system that remains in the can can be clogged.
Id thake the nozzel off to wash that, and then I’d was the whole can in paint thinner.
OR IN WATTER if you are smnart enough to use water based products.
ROAR
For painting locomotive and rolling stock shells I’ve been using Tamiya spray cans and have yet to experience a clogged nozzle. I do turn the can over and purge the paint if I know I’m not going to continue to paint in 2-3 minutes. I also wipe off the excess paint from the nozzle hole area with a paper towel or rag.
For me, Tamiya nozzles yield the best and finest paint coverage for off-the-shelf rattle cans.
Tom
I was able to use the nozzle from a can of Tamiya paint to rescue a can of Krylon. Even though it was a different shape, the female end was the same size so it worked well. After using it, I put it back on the Tamiya can to clear it out.
I might check out that Olive Drab although I just got finished painting my fleet of commuter coaches and am not all that anxious to redo them, especially since I’ve added the window glazing to about half of them. Most of my mainline heavyweight equipment is either Walthers or Branchline so that is what I tried to match to.