You know I love painting my buildings. But for the love of Pete, I wish the manufactures would mold seperate pieces for tiny details parts instead of molding them into the kit!
I spent 1 1/2 hours painting 8 sash and sills on the Walthers Freight House because they are molded into the wall. It would have gone A LOT quicker and looked neater, if they were seperate molded pieces that I could have air brushed, then glued on. I still have another 30 windows to paint!
Walthers also drove me crazy with the mullens molded into the glass on the car shop. That took me over a week at an hour each night! Then I had to pinstripe the back with tape to hide the glue marks.
Walthers if you get this, I love your kits. I have 40+ of them. Your customer support is also top notch. But please make seperate mold details for such tiny things. Tiny molded on details are frustrating for those of us who don’t have 40 free hours a week free time, steady hands, or good eyesight.
It’s one of the reasons I don’t put much more time into DPM city classic models! Those details just take way too long.
Does anybody else get this frustrated with details like this? What do you do about it?
I had a similar problem with a Walthers ADM elevator. All the bars on those windows are molded on. I went a head and used a black sharpie for the window trim. Looks good to me.
Go over the raised areas with a sharpie that has a stiff end. A soft end may cause it to touch the windows.
All in good time, Lou, all in good time. I have a couple of townhouses right on the front edge of my layout. They are just crying out for some interior detailing. I already have Preiser’s “Woman doing her hair” and she’ll be in there somewhere, not too conspicuously.
If you are referring to the Walthers MILW station and frieghthouse I feel the same way. It would be one thing if these were in the 20 dollar range, but Walthers is charging premium prices for buildings with non separate windows. If I knew in advance this was the case I would not have ordered these from my hobby shop. Like you I have many Walthers industrial and residential buildings and will be sure the window castings are separate before buying another one. Chris
If you spent all that “brush paintin’ time” practising with your airbrush, you might get good enough to airbrush those windows without having to use masking tape - just a question of time management. [swg]
However, if you insist on using a brush, spend the money for good quality ones and take care of them. A good brush can make this job go much faster. If your eyesight isn’t the best, get glasses or invest in a
I use a piece of clear packing tape to mask the wall, then use an Xacto to trim out the window openings, then shoot it all with a spray bomb. Takes a couple minutes to cut the mask but literally seconds to paint the windows.
I’m trying to figure out how to adapt a similar technology to my house…[banghead]
It generated a very lively discussion. I pointed out how much time could be saved if the kit makers would make the detail parts as seperate castings rather than molding it on. The opposing viewpoints ran the gamut. Some complained it would add to the cost. Others said I was expecting the hobby to be too easy. Others simply said they enjoyed painting the fine detail. I didn’t expect anything to come of the post and as far as I can tell, it hasn’t. I’ve simply changed my buying habits to try to steer away from manufacturers which mold so much detail on to their buildings. To me, hand painting is a total waste of time when there is a way it could be done much more quickly, easily, and neater.
Have you tried “painting” them with an ink pad? I did that and got reasonably good results. Just don’t press too hard. Mine was a background structure and I didn’t need to thoroughly paint them. Just had to remove the appearance that they were clear plastic.
I tried using the ink pad method. Unfortuantely on the two panes I tried, I smeared it onto the glass.
I found that Sharpies work really well for cast on mullons. That way I can use more than 1 color! And if you slip, the point of a drawing compus works well to scratch it out.
Unfortunately with a 5/0 point brush, details < .5mm are darn right impossible. Getting a consistant amount so it spreads but doesn’t run is difficult. Masking something that small is impossible as well.
Scratching out mistakes with the point of a #11 is helpful, but not a cure all.
Also, you have to get up and clean your brush as to remove paint crusting on the bristles every 15->20 minutes. All very time consuming and frustrating.
BTW: There is an upside to hand painting large brick walls. Inconsistant paint coverage can lead to subtle variations in brick tone which makes the building look more realisitic. But I’m sure weathering could have similar effects.
Walthers “Gold Ribbon” series of structures has the windows,doors etc produced in seperated colors. I’ve built one of these kits and they are GREAT. I think they should make all there kits this way.
Walthers also drove me crazy with the mullens molded into the glass on the car shop. That took me over a week at an hour each night! Then I had to pinstripe the back with tape to hide the glue marks.
The best method I have found for painting the windows with the molded on mullens is as follows:
Find a hard level surface such as a piece of wood. Spread thin layer of paint over the wood (I use the craft paints, don’t soak in to the wood and don’t dry too quick. Press the glass into the paint, as there is no give in the surface only the mullins & muntins ??? get painted.
Quick and easy, I did all my car shop windows in about 30 minutes.
Kibri started that “glass molded to the window” craze, and a lot of the Walthers kits have Kibri parts (read:extra parts) in them. I built the Worthington Block and all of the other yellow and red brick kits and now I have about 42 extra 1 story wall sections with 4 skinny vertical window openings in them. I may try and turn them into something since I paid for them.
