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Post by papa3rail on Sept 1, 2022 11:22:31 GMT
Adam,take it from someone who's chunked plenty of stuff in the trash and started again. The missteps you endure during a project make the end product more meaningful to you. Your a talented modeler and in the end that will show through.
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Post by Traindiesel! on Sept 3, 2022 1:52:28 GMT
Adam, I'm enjoying following your progress. I've been wanting to try my hand at custom painting and decals for a long time. But after my first attempt over 20 years ago that ended up a disaster, I've been a little..... paint shy. The masking was too tedious for me and I didn't wait long enough between coats.
I may pick up a junk piece of rolling stock from under a table at a show and play around with that first.
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Post by atsda on Sept 3, 2022 2:21:57 GMT
I am not familiar with paints/ painting of plastic. I think painting is a touchy business. I don't know what the composition of the paints are; however, as others have pointed out, type and consistency is important. In the past, I have had good success in household painting projects using the oil-based paints. When the latex kinds became available, I never did like my results. I am sure it is the same with arriving at the correct surface treatment, viscoscity and application method. You have way more patience than I have. Keep on trucking. Alfred the right
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Post by Adam on Sept 6, 2022 17:57:33 GMT
The Tamiya paints that I ordered arrived today. Now i need to wait for the rain to stop and for the a less humid day to make another attempt at priming and painting. Stripping from the last go-around is about done.
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Post by 4dogsinjersey on Sept 6, 2022 18:36:05 GMT
I often paint in my garage. The air is calm and the temp and humidity are fairly good.
Give the primer a day to dry…not too heavy.
Same with the paint. Tamiya paint dries quickly, so a few light coats work best…just be patient!
I use a large piece of stiff cardboard as a base to paint on. You can elevate the loco body by sticking a proper sized spray can up inside to make hitting the lower surfaces with paint…
Tom
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Post by Adam on Sept 10, 2022 14:05:01 GMT
Chassis, trucks and lighting are about ready to go. I’m going to paint the LEDs. Yes, you read that right, paint them. A coat of raw sienna will soften the light. The LED strip will attach to the top of the shell. Next up, priming the shell. Wish me luck!
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Post by Adam on Sept 10, 2022 15:27:27 GMT
First primer coat down. You can see imperfections from my efforts to remove the last failed layer of paint. This layer was harder to remove for some reason so I had to do some sanding. I wasn’t able to get it 100% off, but did a fair job of it. This won’t be the perfect paint job, but I can tell the Tamiya paint is far thinner so I don’t expect the clumping that I had before. I’m doing this in thin layers as well. This weekend I will only do the primer and let it dry until next weekend when the maroon coat will go down. As I get the second and third primer layer followed by maroon, it should even out to some extent, at least that’s my hope. It should be acceptable. Boy what a learning experience!
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Post by Adam on Sept 10, 2022 19:11:08 GMT
After three primer coats, I’m satisfied. Now to let it dry until next weekend. Lesson: it’s obvious now but the paint matters!
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Post by josef on Sept 10, 2022 19:57:19 GMT
After three primer coats, I’m satisfied. Now to let it dry until next weekend. Lesson: it’s obvious now but the paint matters! Whenever I need to sandpaper for whatever reason, and especially plastic. I use 2000 grit as a start, then move to 2500 and finally a 3000 grit. Be sure if you do, keep the area wet. I then, when I'm sure I have removed all sandpaper marks, I wash item in warm water with Dawn detergent, then rinse with cool water. The water shine or wetness will confirm all sandpaper markings are gone, if not, I repeat with wet 3000 grit. When I prime, my first coat is a light mist and should be dry in 20 minutes and then give it a light coating. I usual give 48 hours for everything to dry before adding final coat especially if I need to mask off. Primer paint is usually thicker and helps cover scratches, etc. But too thick and it can make a mess of final top coat. Ask me how I know, (it took me a month to remove topcoat, primer by soaking in alcohol and using toothpicks and toothbrushes before I was satisfied I removed it all along with some 3000 grit sandpaper). 2nd attempt after learning, turned into a prized engine.
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Post by Adam on Sept 10, 2022 20:08:21 GMT
Thanks Walt. Another lesson for sure. The sandpaper grit was too high for sure. I did do the soap bath and wash as previously suggested.
No turning back on this one. It will be imperfect but next time will go much smoother.
My priming went about as you described. Or, at least, that’s what I attempted to do. Three coats, all light. But again, with my minimal expertise with spray painting I’m not sure I got it quite right. I’m not getting the thick clumping I had before but indeed my sandpaper scratches are coming through more that I’d hoped.
At this point I’m going to see this one through to the end.
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Post by ptc on Sept 10, 2022 20:54:33 GMT
Looking good, Adam.
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Post by josef on Sept 10, 2022 21:42:48 GMT
Thanks Walt. Another lesson for sure. The sandpaper grit was too high for sure. I did do the soap bath and wash as previously suggested. No turning back on this one. It will be imperfect but next time will go much smoother. My priming went about as you described. Or, at least, that’s what I attempted to do. Three coats, all light. But again, with my minimal expertise with spray painting I’m not sure I got it quite right. I’m not getting the thick clumping I had before but indeed my sandpaper scratches are coming through more that I’d hoped. At this point I’m going to see this one through to the end. I know the next one will go perfect. I'm glad your sharing your experiences. As you have, we all went through learning curves, errors, and mistakes. LOL, just thinking of my first model airplane, a Revell B-36 Bomber, I had more glue on the exterior and canopy then on the joints. Got glue on my fingers and instead of wiping and letting it dry, I continued putting the kit together. I kept that model for over 20 years as a reminder that "patience" is the key to complete a project. My wife finally threw it out.
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Post by Adam on Sept 10, 2022 22:03:42 GMT
Thanks for the advice and words of encouragement Walt.
Patience, not my forte but indeed this hobby and this project are lessons in that for me.
It will turn out OK, but the next one will have the advantage of lessons from this one.
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Post by Adam on Sept 11, 2022 22:31:42 GMT
Designed and 3D printed some parts today. The horn will get a silver coat. The dot to the right is the lens for the nose. The ruler is in mm. On a side note I decided to just try sanding the shell. I was dreading striping it again and since I knew the scratches were a result of my poor sanding job to begin with I went with a sanding instead. I went from 400 to 800 and finally to 5000 (buff) grit. This seemed to do the trick! I will give it a good clean and another primer coat and see what it looks like.
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Post by Adam on Sept 12, 2022 12:20:25 GMT
Here is the latest update on the saga of my efforts to effectively prime/paint the shell. First, I want to thank our fabulous community. I received great advice. Much of that will be applied the next time I attempt such a project (and I have one in mind), because I have decided that I will not start over on this one. After a 2 hour sanding session, I managed to sand away much of the scratch marks after the last primer coat. As you can see in the below before and after, the shell is in much better shape. I applied another light primer coat this morning. I may do a bit more sanding with 2000+ grit to try to and get a bit more of the scratch marks out (thanks to Walt for the excellent sanding tips). Either way, I'm much happier with the state of painting. And boy do I have to work on being patient!! BEFORE AFTER
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