Okay, so I have a cheapie Testors airbrush. Single action external mix. I just finished converting a Bachmann 2-8-0 tender to oil and putting a doghouse on the tender (eventually this thing will be an SSW K-1) Got all the fittings and stuff on the bunker, got the putty on and smoothed, and stripped the lettering off so that the engine black would go on real nice. Cleaned it thoroughly with a nice warm soapy water bath and scrubbed with an old toothbrush. Let it dry overnight. Hooked my airbrush up to my air supply, set the regulator for 20PSI and carefully stirred and thinned some Polly Scale Engine black. Got about a second of paint and the thing sucked pigment into the tube. Got it unstopped, stirred the paint even more, sprayed my test piece again, started painting the tender. Then it spewed pigment all over the tender. Needless to say, the denatured alcohol I used to strip left a nice residue, even after a scrub in water.

I decided not to strip it down and start over. The real ones had paint imperfections too. I'll just have to weather it or something.

I'm hoping the dullcote will cover some of that up. Needless to say, I'm seriously considering a switch to oils and a nice double action internal mix brush.

Sorry, I just needed to vent.

Now, i get to figure out how to scratchbuild some bolsters to fit the old PFM sideframes I bought that are correct for this locomotive. I may give up and buy a set of Bowser's Reading tender trucks- they're very similar.

And as we all know, someone will announce a SSW K-1 2-8-0 in RTR plastic when I finish mine. (Hey, it happened with my Milwaukee FP45!)

Sorry to hear of the airbrush mess. Get yourself a Passche (V or H series) and small compressor with a good water trap. You'll be glad you did.

Cheers!
Marc

I'll look into a Paasche, Hack, thanks for the suggestion.

I got my "round tuit" today and almost finished my Cotton Belt K-1 Consolidation.
I decaled the tender and locomotive, dullcoated it, and put it back together (I'll have you know I got it together right on the first try )

All it needs now is me to scratchbuild the bolster and get two trucks assembled, and I may yet add a handrail on the oil bunker.

Here's a few pictures. I'll get some more tomorrow while I'm down at the club.

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Nice job on the 2-8-0. I like the dog house.

I did the same thing (convert the tender to oil) with a simple styrene cover. I painted the cover with Polly S Steam Power Black, pretty good match after a nice layer of dust evenly covered the loco. The railing is from some scrap brass rod I had. It just didn't look right for a Santa Fe steamer with a coal load, she looks a bit better now:







As far as airbrushes go, I've had excellent results with my simple Badger 200 airbrush. I got it, along with a small compressor from Micro-mark during one of their sales.

I don't know if any of you guys have ever tried this. I've been using a CO2 cylinder for my airbrush for about 10 years now. A really nice plus,it is oooohhhh so quiet . I'm pretty sure a 10 pound cylinder is in the neighborhood of 80-100 US. Price to refill is around 18.00. Another nice thing about using CO2 is not having to worry about moisture (I've never had a water problem). Its filled to around 1000 psi,regulated to spray at 25 to 30 psi,it lasts quite a while. I've been on the same bottle for 2 years now,(I don't paint like I used to). Not sure,but I think I could get 40 paint jobs (HO scale) from one refill.
I know its not an unlimited supply like an air compressor, the quiet factor is what does it for me.

When using Pollyscale paint I've had better luck spraying it straight from the bottle.Try it on a scrap piece first to see if it works for you

Spraying it straight from the bottle is what clogged me up the first time.

As for an air supply, I've been using a can of Badger propellant (with as little painting as I have been doing lately, one can has lasted a long while), but have misplaced or filed it in file 13, so I just hooked it up to our big air compressor that has a filter/dryer in the line and regulated it to about 25PSI

Thanks for the comments on the model, I appreciate it.

Matt- This one started as ATSF 2518. ATSF 2520 is next, probably to SSW G-2 548

Bradley, remember what I said in the class I gave you guys. Some of those paints...(as high quality as Polly Scale may be) can be quite a pain to thin correctly. Make sure you are checking your air supply pressure and giving the surface about 6 inches should work nicely. When I did the cabs for the Chessie GP40-2's it took me two times to get the paint just to shoot right! I wouldn't recommend spraying Poly Scale straight from the bottle, but some other paints seem to have left me no choice. I believe its floquil that is seemingly thin and you can hardly thin it anymore...Could be wrong! As far as an airbrush, I agree with all the guys above! Badger makes a great airbrush, and who could pass up the classic model from Paache. Me on the other hand will probably retire my Paache to less detail work for the Iwata Eclipse. You can actually get one from Hobby Lobby (they always seem to be in stock) for about 90 bucks or so with the 40% off coupon. Of all the airbrushes I've used (and that is alot) the Iwata is the easiest to use (aside from the Testors Aztek which they also stock regularly) and easiest to clean. If you are really planning to get more into the modelling side of things, better equipment normally means better results and more opportunity to build experience. Email me if you ever have any problems! BTW: Nice steamer! I look forward to oogling over it at the club!

Take care bud!

-Rich

My biggest reason for choosing Paasche is the ability to clean it. Like most airbrushes, a simple wash shot through the brush is all it takes. For those times when you forget to clean properly in a timely manner (been there, done that ), the Paasche disassembles and re-assembles nice and easy (be careful not to damage the needle). With all metal internals, it's a breeze getting the crusty stuff off - not to mention that it will handle everything from water-based to automotive lacquer without issue. I even sprayed Dupont Imron (aircraft paint) without fuss - not recommended, but it works.

I have a handful of other Japanese airbrushes that I use for things like rail and other light detail, but the Paasche is definitely the workhorse of the group.

Cheers!
Marc

FWIW, if you are looking to replace your airbrush, I've been happy w/ the deals I got from www.dixieart.com. Their web pages are a bit of mess but there's lotssa stuff to look at and, at least when I was buyin, the prices were right.

I've been using a Paasche for about four years and I really like it. Simple, reliable, easy to clean and American made too. The only thing about it is that it is a single action brush. I really should have spent a little more on a dual action brush. I've used mine to weather over 300 pieces of rolling stock and completely paint another twenty or so. Personally I am really fond of Floquil paints, but I have managed to get good results with Pollyscale too. With Floquil I usually thin it down to 85% paint-15% thinner instead of the recommended 75-15%, which is too thin for my taste. I have found that fine line tape is a must have for painting diesels. You can get it in most auto parts stores. It is pricey, but it is definitely worth it when your favorite railroad uses lots of stripes.

Sorry about the lousy picture, this look a lot better in real life...



Collin

Sorry about the lousy picture, this look a lot better in real life...

Did you paint that yourself?! And is that a Cannon cab or is it just modified? Looks great! BTW Bradley, are you still having problems?

-Rich

Yep, that is my paint job. The cab, nose, sub base, fans and intake grills are Cannon. The unit was a snoot nosed CP model that I got on sale. I stripped off the factory paint and applied an off white primer. Then I sprayed it white and masked the appropriate areas as soon as it was dry. Then I sprayed orange followed by green and black. I used microscale decals for the lettering and logos only. The decal set included the tiger stripes but I decided to paint them on instead.

Collin

Rick- no more problems,if only for the fact that for the past week I've traded my airbrush for a wrench to work on a 14" gauge locomotive.

I'm not hating my airbrush as much now.

Saturday I primed an AMB LaserKit MKT Wooden caboose I had put together. I used Polly Scale Reefer white straight out of the bottle. sprayed on like a charm. Today I shot the caboose with a nice coat of PollyScale Reefer Yellow straight out of the bottle and int was smooth as silk. I've started using compressed air at about 20PSI instead of the testors propellant in a can, and I think that's what's making the difference.

Caboose is now decaled, and i"m on to more important things, you know, like getting the underframe together, and getting the flat cupola roof glued on and contoured to the curved cupola. That's why the good Lord invented rubber bands!

I'll post some pictures when I get everything together. Hope to have it at least runnable by this weekend and exercise it at the club.

Bradley