Suggestions for: Ad Hoc Spray Booth for Inside

Grey One Apr 20, 2014

  1. Grey One

    Grey One TrainBoard Supporter

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    For my 'Wedding Train'
    http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?157333-Wedding-Train
    I will be painting up about 30 or more freight cars in flat white.
    I will have to do this:
    • Inside
    • Rattle Can Paint
    • In the next 4 weeks
    • Various un-dec freight cars - mostly Atlas
    Paint Booth Thoughts are:
    • Large cardboard box
    • Hole in the rear
    • Fan behind box - Blowing out window (which has a screen)
    • Put some form of screen over the hole in rear of box?
    • Clean the cars first? How?
    • Drying station?
    • Heat lamp?
    I am open to any and all suggestions, positive / negative / humerus and even off topic.
    Thanks guys,
     
  2. YoHo

    YoHo TrainBoard Supporter

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    Wash cars with dish soap and warm water. I had an adhoc paint booth with a cardboard box and a small shop vacuum. Put cheap furnace filter or cheap construction mask in front for filter.
     
  3. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Even with ventilation, once removed from the booth, the newly painted items will still emit some (odor) fumes. With that many to be painted, your residence will likely be a bit unpleasant. Also, be certain to have as much light as possible while painting. You want these to look good, so no thin spots, runs, or sags.
     
  4. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Shared this with Steve, off list, for some ideas. He asked me to post it:

    http://www.train-orders.com/MRR/PAINT/PAINT.html

    Photo quality is crappy. Maybe this summer I can take it outside for some better tries. My camera hates indoor use. :(
     
  5. bill pearce

    bill pearce TrainBoard Member

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    Ken, Your camera doesn't hate use indoors, it hates low light levels. It is set on auto, no? and it overcompensates with very low shutter speeds.
    Heat lamp is a bad idea, too much chance of melting a shell. I use an old ronco food dehydrator. It is set at a fixed temp, around 120 degrees, I think, and it can dry paint in an hour or so. And by dry, I mean completely outgassed ready for whatever next step you have in mind. Will also set decals. Use solvaset or the appropriate micro sol product, saturate and let sit in the dehydrator for five or ten minutes, If it has snuggled down, you are ready for overcoat.
     
  6. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    It's using the factory flash setting. Results are all over the place. One time, semi-dark. The next, identical subject and making no changes to anything, almost too bright. I have played with it for many hours and can never find any setting which produces any better than you see here. It's as if there is a defective sensor, or?
     
  7. mtntrainman

    mtntrainman TrainBoard Supporter

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    I'm like you ken...factory settings. I wouldnt know an F Stop from a Truck Stop...lmao !!!!!
     
  8. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Yikes! I thought you'd done some trucking? If so, where did you stop? :) I know, I know- At the RV railroad out back.....
     
  9. Flashwave

    Flashwave TrainBoard Member

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    I would like o make an addition to the above. He uses a Rubbermaid turntable to boh raise the model up and paint on, but I highly reccomend getting at least 2. The first one, build as normal, but do NOT fasten the top surface to the supports. Leave it sitting loosely. Paint model, then remove the op piece by lifting it off, and put a new top piece from the second kit down. As I recall, both surfaces are identical for production redundency so it sohuldn't matter. And this way, you can paint three seperate models at a time without touching or trying to move the other.
     
  10. Backshop

    Backshop TrainBoard Member

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    I do about the same thing except I put the fan in another window in the room, and have it blow into the room creating a positive pressure, which then forces out the paint overspray out through the window behind the box. You need to have only 2 windows open for this to work, the window behind the booth and another one for the fan. It can even be several rooms away, as long as there are no other openings to the outside between it and the outlet window. With only one way in and one way out, the air is forced to carry the paint spray out of the house. I also put the fan at high speed, and start it before I start spraying.
    Yes, lots of lighting is needed to check the work. I either have a bright spotlight set up away from the booth where I can examine the car from every angle or spray only on bright sunny days and examine it outside. You can see the light spots and missed spots so much easier.
    Once I'm satisfied with the paint job, I leave the car outside for several hours to completely air out, and don't do any decaling until at least 24 hours after.
     
  11. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Believe it or not, I actually have two. One is the two level, the other is just the bottom portion. The second version allows me to work on larger or more oddly shaped items. The two level is modified so the top has slots, and there are a pair of metal angles I can add, with wing bolts as tighteners, to hold something up in the air such as a shell.
     
  12. bill pearce

    bill pearce TrainBoard Member

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    Almost certainly not a defective sensor, there could be something else in the electronics, of which the sensor is only a small part. I'll bet its bad or undercooked design. Is there a different camera you could try?
    To be exact, the camera is defaulting to a very slow shutter speed, which accounts for the blur, and the lens is too slow to be of any use when it selects a higher speed. Always shoot at the shortest zoom setting, as the lens is likely several stops faster at the short setting, and it could get better.
    Lens design in compact cameras involves a lot of unfortunate compromises.
     
  13. DrMb

    DrMb TrainBoard Member

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    What sort of fan do you have planned for the back of your spray booth/box/plastic sheeting attached to a frame?
     
  14. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Bill- I'll send you a PM a bit later. I don't want to hijack Steve's topic. Thanks!
     
  15. Grey One

    Grey One TrainBoard Supporter

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    Thanks - I'll do that.

    No worries.
    -
    Where do I get flat white rattle can paint?
    I tried AC Moore - no joy.
    Do only hobby stores carry this?
    Thanks
     
  16. Flashwave

    Flashwave TrainBoard Member

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    I buy all my paints from WALLYWORLD and Meijer, for the cost of "model" paints you get three times the can....

    Sent from my LG-LS970 using Tapatalk
     
  17. emaley

    emaley TrainBoard Supporter

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    I just got a can of Krylon flat white today at the craft store. 12 ounce can for $5.99 compared to 3 ounce Testors for $6.19.
     
  18. Grey One

    Grey One TrainBoard Supporter

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    Um, wouldn't that eat the plastic?
     
  19. Flashwave

    Flashwave TrainBoard Member

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    They sell them for plastics, and no, I have never had that issue. Maybe it might, if you paint righton top of the subject, but by that point you've pretty much drowned out the setails anyway.
     

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