The Joy of Painting II

After the travails posted last time I started to pull things together. The first thing I did was to make my airbrushes more "compatible" with the big compressor. The compressor air line is normally equipped with a "quick connect" so I can use it with a host of accessories. All my air tools have the fittings that work with this coupling so it only makes sense to add these fittings to the two airbrushes I have. After all, one never knows when one will need to inflate a tire while painting...

Quick Connect

With that out of the way I needed to clean up several of the shells. They still had some paint on them and it was ruining the new finish. I set up a kind ot production line so I could efficiently strip paint...

Paint Removal

The process goes from right to left. First a bath of clean brake fluid. I buy the stuff a quart at a time and pour some into a clear plastic container (a Bachmann box) that I have set in a splash basin (Chinese food container). I let the shell soak a bit and move it to the "cleaning station" (another Bachmann box) where I scrub it VERY gently with a soft bristle brass brush. If there is still paint on the shell I place it back in the bath for a while and repeat the scrub. The third station is yet another Bachmann box filled with soapy water. I scrub the shell with a nylon bristle brush. This accomplishes two things. The water stops the corrosive action of the brake fluid while the scrubbing removes any residual paint and oil. After the shell is cleaned I rinse it off in a sink and set it aside to dry. So far the process works pretty good. Several shells can be stripped in a very short time...

Clean Shell

I sometimes use the airbrush without a paint jar attached as an air gun to push the water off the shell and cut the drying time. Once the shell has dried it's time to paint.

When I originally "built" the spray booth I used a pretty good size box. I realized the box didn't have to be that large. The booth is equipped with a lazy susan taken from one of those revolving tool holders. The model can be turned to face the brush so the box can be smaller. I only need enough space to allow the paint to start and stop off the shell...

Paint Booth

Once the shell is painted I spray thinner/cleaner though the brush. If I'm changing colors I also spray some fresh clear thinner to clear out the previous paint. I make sure to use the correct thinner for the paint I'm using.

I try to leave the shell in the booth until it dries overnight. Sometimes I will remove it if the paint has dried enough to be handled.

I try to do the painting in batches. I may use different colors but shells of the same color are painted before switching colors. The process goes fast enough that I can paint an entirely different color on a new shell within minutes. This does present a small problem as the paint booth may still be occupied by the previous shell. Fortunately there is almost no overspray. I can use the top of the booth without painting the entire work area...

Lehigh Valley FA Unit

I think I was so happy that everything was working well that I went overboard. Within a couple hours I had painted eight shells in a variety of colors...

Colorful Collection

In the foreground from left to right...Lehigh & New England FA, Lehigh Valley FA, New Jersey Central H-15-44 (green with yellow stripes), Jersey Central H-15-44 (blue with tangerine stripes), two New Haven DL109 units (pullman green with gold striping). At the rear left is a Jersey Central F7 A-B set (tangerine & blue).

The tangerine and blue H-15-44 represents one of fourteen Fairbanks Morse units delivered in that paint scheme. The units arrived on the property in 1948. They were repainted green with yellow in the early 1950's.

The next step for most of the units is decals. The tangerine and blue units need to be masked off so I can apply the darker color. Hopefully I'll do a decent job on the FM unit stripes.

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad