The Little World

The working modeller has a dilemma when it comes to doing their spray painting:

Whether it’s better to do so in daylight or under the artificial lights at night. This may sound like a fatuous statement, but consider these factors:

a. Most people’s colour vision is more accurate in daylight. It is not biased by the colour temperature variations that electric lights have. Daylight is 5600º Kelvin to 6000º Kelvin and is remarkably consistent throughout a season. The various forms of artificial light may go from 2300º K to 3200º K for standard bulbs to 7000º K for some of the over-run LEDs. If you’ve a mixture of light sources in a spray booth or on a workbench you may not be able to tell precisely what shade of paint you’re working with.

b. A lot of spray painting is done with glancing light from a large source – a window or skylight. You can tell how your paint front is advancing and judge the amount that’s going down by the glossy reflection. In a night-time shoot you may not be able to assess how it’s doing.

c. Temperature and humidity can effect what the paint is going to do. Whatever range you consider best for acrylic or lacquer, you need it to be consistent. Day’s temperatures rise and fall as the sun passes – nights fall as the workshop cools down. There is a point below which spraying is difficult and a point above which the surface texture starts to become rough.

d. Neighbours may complain of compressor noise or paint fumes if they are home to perceive them. If they’re gone while you are retired you have more freedom of work time.

e. If you feel too hot or too cold your enthusiasm wanes. Listless sprayers do sad paint jobs.

I find I can do some undercoat and colour work at night in the summer – the shed has cooled enough to make it comfortable to work. But I make an unholy mess when I try to do clear coats at night – I am far better waiting for the next day.

Fortunately, brush painting, decalling , and building are all activities that can be done in either part of the day – as long as the cups of coffee keep coming and the phone is not inundated with scam callers.