Airbrushing

Pedro an aerosol can will not give you an even covering as they are not controllable enough, and you cannot get into small restricted areas with them for this very reason. Make up brushes are far to big too also giving little controllability, when using pastell I apply it with No1/2/3 sable watercolour brushes, which are time expired from painting duties.
http://greengoscalerail.fotopic.net/p35213895.html

You may not be convinced by the 37, I'm not sure what that means but bear in mind the size of the enlargement that that image has gone through, it was also take in artificial light which doesn't help the color cast. Whats not convincing about it? It was done from a photo for the purchaser, I only ask as you're the only person that I've heard that comment from, and hailing from the RMweb lot, they're not usually shy about coming forward

Aztec are excellent brushes, there are no issues with the plastic ones they are solvent friendly. They are widely used by the military and car modelling fraternity, and I'm waiting to get one. The last thing they are is a gimmick. The interchangeable nozzles are reported by my brother to be brilliant for speed of work and cleaning, its plenty robust too he's been in the states for many years now and had to buy his after he left his badger in the uk, wonder who got that then? .
As far as masking goes in the past I've used masking tape and selotape, taking the tack off my placing it on my jeans and pulling, never had any fluff issues yet. However the best masking tape bar none on the market is that made by Tamiya, and I've been using it for years. It's formulated for model makers and can be cut, bent, pressed and cajoled into pretty much any crevise you desire, and gives fine lining too as its so thin.
For my sharp edges, for the past six or seven years I've used the Tamiya tape, and then then use high st masking tape and newspaper, (depending on the model size) for the overspray areas. I'd never go back to the selotape now though, but still use large masking tape desensitized on my trouser leg!

papa. i think we are going to have to disagree on the weathering issue and the aztec brushes.
I did take a picture of my big boy that was weathered withought an airbrush but sadly i forgot to review the picture and when i got to work and viewed it it was far too dark.


"You may not be convinced by the 37, I'm not sure what that means" i didnt think it looked realistic. it was better than the factory weaathering that hornby and bachmann do. but your WD was very good.

The interchangable nozzels are a gimmick. admitidly they should be much easier to clean but if a needle and nozzle are well enough designed then there should be no need for the small/medium/large nozzle. a double or tripple taper will do the job just as well.

I use the tamiya tape too. it comes in a nice dispenser thats totalle rubbish but it does keep it clean which is half the trick with masking tape.
I have been hearing good things about eurostar masking tape. but i havent used it personally yet.

Peter

Had to think about this one, been a while since I did any vans. Assuming its a BR standard bauxite or grey van, I do the chassis first. Mask the body and roof, and get a good quality masking tape like Tamiya for the edge. You can 'fill in' the larger areas with a cheap tape or newspaper. I then use Halfords matt black acrylic car touch up spray. Gives a nice even flat coat. Needs to be held at least 9 inches off the model though, and do several passes with it. Too close and you'll flood the details of the chassis. This will dry in 15 minutes or so. I then reverse the masking using the solebar, (usually where the colour change takes place) as the fix for the masking tape. With a quality tape like Tamiya it can be cut and placed on some of the fine detail without a problem, as it's low-tack. Then I spray the body colour, wait till that dries, remask the body and do the roof. Once that is dry all the masking can come off and then I'll touch up any areas that need it with a paint brush. Areas for transfers are given a high gloss coating to help adhesion and hiding any carrier film. After transfers are applied then an overcoat of matt (or rarely satin) varnish seals them in before weathering.

QUOTE (Gary @ 14 Oct 2006, 15:12) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I would guess that if you airbrush the track you simply use a track rubber or fine sandpaper to remove the very thin coat of spray from the top of the rail. Care might be needed around points. However if you seperately wire the point blades to the main rails from under so that you are not relying on the point rail itself to conduct power then this is not an issue.

Happy modelling
Gary

Hi Gary,

This post might be a bit late but I only joined the forum recently.

Just a friendly word of advice. Never clean your tracks with sandpaper no matter how fine it is. You will eventually just compound the problems of dirty tracks. Take a new piece of track and clean it with sandpaper. Now have a look at that piece of track under a strong magnifying glass. You will notice that the sandpaper left some minute scratches on the surface of the tracks. As your trains roll over the tracks dirt starts to accumelate in those scratches and you clean your tracks again with sandpaper creating more scratches and more dirt accumelates etc etc. ALWAYS use your track cleaning rubber. I have found the one made by Roco to be better than the Peco one as the Roco track cleaning block is made of a softer rubber compound. When you weather your tracks always use acrylic paints and for this I found a mixture of Tamiya brown and grey (to get the colour you want) acrylics to do the job just fine. Acrylics when dry are much easier to remove from the track surface than enamels.

I mostly use Peco points and before I airbrush weather the tracks I cut thin pieces of masking tape that I fold with the tacky side on the outsides. I then insert it between the two rails where it makes contact to mask it from the paint. When I paint I take care not to get paint on the contacts under the rails. If you are worried that you might get some paint overspray in places you do not want it, you can paint these sections with a brush.

Enjoy your hobby.

Regards from Pretoria in sunny South Africa.

Johan

QUOTE (Makemineadouble @ 19 Oct 2006, 10:14) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I use an Aztec double action airbrush. I switched after using a Badger for 15 odd years. I prefer the Aztec it's superior to use and much easier to clean. I do mainly use Acryllic paints, I use Windowlene to clean it.
I have several other airbrushes for course work, but for precision it's the Aztec for me.


Just recently joined the forum so here is my little contribution on the airbrush issue.

I think the selection of a quality airbrush from several manufacturers is a personal issue. When you use a quality airbrush, whichever make it is, and you are experienced in the use of the airbrush, you should get the same results. Each airbrush has its own do's and do not's just as the various DCC systems etc each has its own demands.

I use a double action Aztec with the metal body that I got as a present and must say that I am quite happy with the results as I am with the gravity feed. I also use a diaphram compressor. I have never experienced any problem with the cleaning of the gravity feed cups or the nozzles. I have also found that the solvents usually found in model paints do not attack the plastic nozzles and that includes laquer paint thinners. Keep in mind that Aztec airbrushes are used by artists customizing cars, trucks and motorbikes especially in America and for this purpose they use automotive paints. That does not mean that I am not prepared to try out or use a Badger or any other quality airbrush - in fact I would like to do it some day.

Most of the airbrushing I do is when I prepare a building or structure kit before assembly. Most of the times I use acrylics made by Tamiya, Vallejo, Revell and Games Workshop (paints used by the wargamers) and also enamels by Humbrol and Testors. Here in South Africa we really have to shop around for model paints. For the thinning of Tamiya, Humbrol and Testors I use the recommended solvents whilst for the Vallejo, Revell and Games Workshop I use clean water with a tiny drop of dishwashing liquid in it.

Enjoy the hobby!

Regards.

Johan