Hello I plan to build my N scale door layout with Kato unitrack... But I was thinking about weathering the tracks with an airbrush... Any recommendation, knowing that I want to keep it cheap? Thanks
If you have all you need, sure, why not. Even if you do what many do and simply use a spray can with some Krylon of the appropriate colour, you still have to wipe off the tops of the rails. Do you have a very fine tip so that you aren't also spraying the ties with the same colour? The tracks and ties are virtually never the same colour, except where rust has bled down off the rails and onto the tie plates and immediate areas of the ties. That goes for the ballast, of course. Personally, I used a fine artist's brush, although I am in HO. It went fast enough...about 20' per hour, both sides of both rails.
Try a badger single action airbrush(about $15.00-$20.00) might not even cost that much. and adjust your pressure down, also turn your part where the paint comes out down to just get paint the to come out makes paint go along way...
If you have a Harbor Freight Tool store near you.... You can but a $10 airbrush that is great for modelling. all the others are for professional artists (not for me...Too much $$$).
Air supply - skip the pulsers, get something with a tank and a moisture trap - or use an innertube with a moisture trap!!
made my compressor and tank out of old refrigeration parts it was cheap, well ok it was free had to buy the regulator. Might buy a second to control pressure drop, might buy an water/oil seperator other wise that is all i have into mine Paint booth is left over lumber from house remodel and evacuation motors are from a shop vac I might have about 100 dollars into my total setup between the booth and the compressor
French Guy, Your post in an indirect way nudged me into actually using my airbrush to see how it works. The only one I had used before was a cheap-ish double action from Harbor Freight, which I concluded was OKAY but not great, and basically a good solution for mix-it-yourself spray paints but not detail work. Well, after owning it for nearly 10 months, I finally hooked up my Badger 155 Anthem airbrush. After monkeying a bit with paint mixes and pressure, I found that I was able to get both nice fine mists, heavier coatings, and some nice detail control. I am sure that there are other airbrushes out there that have similar performance, but I am, for now, sold on this excellent one. I don't know where you are located. I got mine using a 40% off coupon at Michael's Crafts. I later had to go back and buy a hose since my other hose wouldn't fit this one, but the little kit I came with came with a siphon feeder bottle, an extra bottle and lid, and a color cup. They have other kits and models, too. I am sure some of the TrainBoard advertisers also sell them. Adam
I should have mentioned that the first results I got were not good. I thinned the paint a little more, and then the results were better but still splattery, and then I realized I was running at something like 35 psi, so I turned the regulator down to about 18 psi and the control improved quite a bit.
I clean mine out at 35 psi. If I ever shot paint at that pressure, the walls of my workroom would be Tuscan Red.
I got some further improvement by eliminating one possible pitfall and using, in practice last night, some colors actually formulated specifically for airbrush use. I didn't get uneven paint take-up nor did I get splattering on the paper. I am working on my technique, and once I get that improved a little more I may go back to mixing my own colors. I was trying to use thinned down acrylic craft paint and the results were not that good. I might just keep that stuff for brush-painting. Adam
Adam- The craft color stuff needs a whole lot of careful mixing with water. BUT- Liquitex tube paint (really cheap stuff) will mix perfectly with Liquitex airbrush medium and a bit of water and it will be great. Make the consistency to be that of 1% milk or skim milk and you are set. To prevent clogging inside the brush, you can strain it first with the funnel shaped screens #80 or #100 available at Pearl Paints. Then, all ambient undissolved pieces will be caught on the screen.
