The Little World

Or was that in the morning? It’s so hard to tell with these old folk sayings. The people who say them to you are old folk and they generally forget what they came in the room for anyway…

I had no idea when I embarked upon a life of chromatic crime – also known as airbrushing – that it would involve such dependency upon the weather. And the atmosphere, and the height above sea level of Rhode Island Red chickens. When I used to spray model cars with cans of Pactra enamel it was just a case of shake like hell then blast away. I took no notice of the temperature of the room or the humidity of the day.

Now it is different. I need to wait until the heat drops or rises in my paint shed and dare not try my luck when it is thundery or muggy. Clear coats are the worst – one bad factor and the fine mist you intended to seal the decals turns into a sandpaper blast. Or starts to make puddles in the wheel wells.

I have taken to keeping an accurate old darkroom thermometer in the work shed and refuse to spray when under 20º or over 36º. There are generally other things that can be done on a kit in the meantime, and even if it means just washing up a new one and start knifing away, I can do that.

The other problem with the atmosphere in the work shed is after the spray has gone on – if it is too cold it leaves the opportunity for the thing to pick up dust and rodents during the drying phase. To cure off the paints on the coldest of he days I put the models in a plastic box on a rack above an old Dimplex heater. I leave the drawer of the box open a crack to let the vapours out and as long as I do not get impatient and start poking the paint, all is well. I used to paint too thickly and the warm bow was a mistake, but now I do thin coats, it is perfect.

I have also started taking advice from Phil Flory about the new Mr Hobby Rapid Thinner. I use it for most of my matte painting and then wash over the painted surface with a warm blast of air from a hair dryer. I have never melted any models and the flat finish it gives sets in a flash.

Note to local readers: Metro Hobbies in Melbourne have supplies of little colour-coded taps that screw onto their thinner bottles. My old set of ketchup squeezie bottles from the local Kitchen Warehouse were starting to split and leak, so I bought a couple of sets of the Mr. Hobby ones. I can’t recommend them highly enough – though the delivery times from Metro are starting to stretch out considerably.

Not their fault – they process the orders quickly and then trust to Australia Post…