Help With Painting

Hello, I need some advice. First, when painting an engine what's the best way keep hold the parts like the sill and cab while painting? And also what is the best way to move while wet to a place to dry?

 

I have some thingies made from old wire coat hangers that I use to hold the parts that I'm painting. Kind of U or V shaped that I squeeze together to put inside of the cab or body and pressure holds on to the parts from there. If you then bend the bottoms they can stand up while they dry. This takes care of both problems.

 

I use the chunk of foam and Toothpicks placed in my paint box and go for it.

 

On hollow body equipment I use empty toilet paper rolls.

 

I use clothes pins. I put the handle inside the cab, and I use another to hold the shell. I have a glass that will hold the clothes pins with the cabs while they are drying, the shells I hang over the edge of a box, the weight of the clothes pin is enough to keep them from flopping over.

That works well for N Scale engines.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I'd definitely like to see pics of the varying set ups.

 

I use paint stir sticks from the paint store. I double masking tape over with one side stuck to the paint stick and kind of like using two sided tape stick the part to the masking tape. For body shells I use foam glued to popcycle sticks with the foam inside the body and glued to the stick before using.

 

I also use toilet paper rolls, and for smaller bodies, I cut "wedges" out of the roles (on opposite sides of the roll) which makes the portion that sticks up inside the carbody shorter. I also use hemostats (blood clamps) on some parts as long as they're sturdy enough to not get squished. Most plastic parts, such as handrail/walkway/cab/truck sideframes/etc., have portions that are not visible when installed, and those spots are where I clamp.

For really small parts, I'll take some "reusable adhesive" like the rubbery/sticky stuff you use to put your child's artwork on the wall, stick a little blob of that to a 8" piece of stripwood, or a piece of wire coat-hanger, press the small part onto that, usually using the mounting pin on the part as what gets stuck in the blob of reusable adhesive, and spray away.

I have several pine 1X4's with holes drilled in them which is where the small parts go along with the stripwood or wire coat hanger they're stuck to....and I have several metal push-pins stuck into the fascia on my homemade wooden spray booth, which is where I hang the other parts being clamped by hemostats. The parts that have the TP rolls stuck up inside 'em will usually stand on their own.

After I'm done painting and I've cleaned my airbrush and closed any paint bottles and put them away, I leave the spray booth turned on to remove the fumes (I mainly use enamel based paints) and put any TP roll parts that are on my workbench, and/or the little parts stuck the 1X4 with holes in it, into the spray booth to let them dry...usually overnight...with the spray booth going.

With acrylic paints, I use a hair dryer set on "medium heat" and blow the dry parts (but not yet fully cured) for a couple of minutes....then, they're ready to go. You want to make sure ALL the paint is try before doing this, or the wet paint will bubble up through the dry surface, usually totally ruining your nice paint job. Don't ask me how I know this okay??

Remember to clean your parts BEFORE you put them on your holders, and use a new pair of blue Nitrile or un-powdered Latex gloves to put them on their holders before you start to paint. You don't want to get ANY finger oils on your parts, and I usually wash plastic parts in mild, warm soapy water first, then use my airbrush to blow the water away, then I brush on Bestine rubber cement remover (Heptane) with a big, clean art paintbrush, which really get's 'em clean. Use your spray booth to remove the Bestine fumes.

Hope this helps...

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

 

I use a pencil with the eraser end wrapped in masking tape. For larger parts like the loco body, a largeer wad of masking tape holds the body firmly on the end of the pencil. For smaller parts like the cab just use a smaller wad. If it gets too gunked up with paint just strip off the tape wad start anew. The pencil is long enough so you can hold it in your hand and rotate it while painting without painting your hand. When done painting just poke the sharp end into a piece of foam.