Kris,
Thanks for the details. The reason I asked the questions was that I sprayed some CB&Q Freight Car red undiluted on some stock car interiors using a Paasche H series with a #5 tip, and it took 40 psi to get the paint to flow. The spray pattern wasn’t as feathered as I get with some other paints, and there was some stippling at the edges. I had to screw the tip out almost all the way to get paint to flow at all. Those results suggest that a little thinning would be beneficial, maybe 4 or 5 parts paint and one part thinner. Tru Color cautions against using acetone as a thinner because it may affect the gloss finish. I don’t know if that true, or they just want to sell thinner. The other problematic issue for me was that I sprayed resin without priming, and my builders marks showed through the paint. Apparently, Tru Color is more translucent than acrylic paints I’ve use, and based upon that experience, I think I’m going to have to prime models before using Tru Color paints. Maybe other colors cover better? I have a gravity feed Iwata Eclipse, but I haven’t tried it yet with Tru Color paints, pending some feedback to my original questions. Another issue is the marked color change that occurs after spraying gloss models with Dullcote or Poly Scale Flat Finish. There are slight shade differences between the two flat finishes. I have some Poly Scale Satin and some Micro Flat and Micro Satin, but I haven’t sprayed a test chip to see how they affect the color and shade. The flats I’ve tried suggest that you can use different flats and satins to simulate various degrees of fading, but my tests are much too preliminary to confirm that suspicion.
So, do you prime resin models before using Tru Color, and what air pressure are you using? Do you have any comments about the color change after spraying flats?
Nelson Moyer
From: CBQ@yahoogroups.com [mailto:CBQ@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2015 10:07 AM
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [CBQ] Tru Color CB&Q Freight Car Red
Nelson,
My brother and I custom paint models (trains and just about anything anyone would ever want a model of) since around 1985. If you've ever seen ad's in Model Railroader for P&D Hobby Shops O Scale F units (CB&Q , NP, GN, C&EI, CGW, Rock Island & EL to name a few) you've seen some of our work.
Anyway we use more paints then most would care to know, right now I think there are about 500+ bottles here that I could choose from. These include model paints, auto paints and craft paints. Basically if we can make it go thru an air brush we will try it.
With that said we are both big fans of Tru-Color paints. They spray up really nice without the need for thinning in my opinion. Some people do thin them but it's not needed. The paint / ink (Which it's really more like) dries glossy (No need for gloss coat before decaling) and does so quickly to touch in less than 30 minutes usually. We have been known to tape off and paint three colors in one day for a rush job.
As the previous poster said for some paints the box car reds in particular there can be almost no noticeable difference in color, I'm sure the formula has a difference and maybe after ten years outside you would see it but fresh out of the bottle it's not really there. This is not for all BC Red's but for some of them.
Another note the colors can be a love or hate affair. I love their C&O/B&O blue. While I think their L&N gray is more like Family Lines gray and and their BC Rail green is not even in the ball park. With that said I would say that 95%+ of their paints are good representations of what they are meant to be.
I also like the plastic bottles, which are easy to open for me, a big plus with arthritis in my hands in my late thirties. If the paint dries up you can also add a little acetone to it and bring back a completely dead bottle. For the cost of paint now of days this is a huge deal in my opinion.
Clean up is easy with Acetone. While we use a downdraft spray booth with a heavy duty blower there is very little odor from the paint. I like to spray directly from the bottle that way all I need to clean up is the tube and cap and the airbursh itself, plus that way I use exactly what I need and there is no wasted paint.
If spraying using a cup I like our Paasche "Talon", or the Badger 200 for cup/bottle applications. These both have their disadvantages in my opinion. The Paasche is a cup only spray, and the badger is nice and light but it's compact design can make it a little awkward when spraying from a bottle (Especially Badger Model Flex). But those are just minor nitpicks and both do a very good job of laying down paint.
If you look at the models on my Flickr account most all of them were painted with Tru-Color paints. (I will be posting some C&O pics in the next day or two that are Tru-Color painted.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/41013066@N07/sets/
I think there are a bunch of units on the Company facebook page that are Tru-Color painted as well that are not on my Flickr page.
I think that answers your questions if you have any more feel free to ask and I will do my best to help you out.
Kris Crawley
SPR Backshops
