Hi All,
I believe it was in the early 1980's that there was an article about air
brushing by Paul Scoles in the Narrow Gauge Gazette. Unfortunately, I leant
out that issue and it never returned.
In it, he argued that prototype equipment always started out gloss so he always
started out with Scalecoat, the only gloss finish RR paint readily available at
the time. He then went on to describe how to layer the weathering using
Floquil because it was so flat. This would give a layered effect to the
weathering which nature does do.
It was a very compelling article.
I was a custom painter in the 1970's and up until then, I used Floquil. It
always worked well and covered well. Because it had a flat finish, it took dry
transfers very easily and very well.
After that article, I switched to Scalecoat. It was a difficult change because
Scalecoat's coverage was not as quick and not as opaque as Floquil's. I found
that if I thinned out Scalecoat 50% with thinner and did very light coats,
usually up to 3, taking time to cure in between, I would get the results I
needed. Since then, I have always used Paul Scoles techniques with Scalecoat
as a base.
The downside of Scalecoat is that you have to be extremely prudent when
applying dry transfers as they do not adhere to a glossy surface easily. Even
with a flat overspray, I find I have to exert more care in their application.
It can be done successfully because I do favour dry transfers over wet decals
and feel I have achieved the results I desire.
I have had success with water based paints as well but I have needed to use
larger nozzles and have to keep some clear Windex handy as thinner to clean the
nozzles which get clogged pretty quickly.
BTW, my airbrush, a Passche VL, is celebrating its 35th birthday this year. I
still have the original cardboard box.
Floquil has had its formula changed so it may not behave as it has in the past.
Testors now owns it. I only use it for weathering and colouring ties and the
sides of the rails.
I still use Scalecoat and wish I could get the Floquil Flat Finish to use as a
final coat. I can't get it anymore because of gov't requlations.
cheers,
Andy Malette
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