Hello from Finger Lakes, NY

Hello and welcome aboard.

Hi Jim T!  Welcome to the Forums!  Glad to have you aboard!

I use Vallejo Model Air Paints about 80% of the time.  With Model Air, I haven't needed to thin it as it's been ready to use in the AB out of the bottle.  With Model Color, I usually thin it with a few drops of distilled water to the same consistency of the Model Air.  Great paints.  Only problem I've had is with their primers.  Don't hold up to masking.

If you go to the Airbrushing section of these Forums, you'll get a lot of help with your question. The guys and gals there are very knowledgeable and ready to help with any questions/problems that you might have.

Looking forward to seing pics of your builds.  Hope I helped a little.

Jim  

PS:- Nice country up there.  I used to race R/C sailboats in those lakes back in the '70s.

Welcome aboard.

thanks guys for the warm welcome. Jim, I appreciate the mixing advice on the Model Color--first time I ever used it I impatiently just went ahead and poured it into my paint cup and of course gummed the brush up the worst it's ever been! Learned my lesson there. I haven't seen any Model Air, but I did pick up a set of the MicroLux weathering colors from MicroMark in the large 2 oz bottles. Haven't used any yet but supposedly airbrush-ready right out of the bottle. Last night I ended up thinking the Model Color about 2:1 using distilled water, worked just fine through the brush (using a Paasche Talon).

Only thing I'm working on right now is a laser-kit structure for the layout, I'll upload a photo or two and post them here.

Hey, also appreciate the opinion on the Vallejo primers. I'm just using rattle can grey primer from the Dollar Store, although on the wood kit I sprayed some Dullcote before that as a kind of sanding sealer, prior to the grey primer. Worked out pretty well.

Anyway, thanks again for the nice welcome!

Jim

Hello Jim and welcome aboard 

Here's some pics of the structure kit I'm building: "Cobleskill Coal Company" by Branchline Trains. Not exactly finescale modeling I suppose, but again, most of the techniques I've learned over the years I've picked up here and other similar sites on the web.

Jim

Looking very nice Jim. What type of material is that? Is a styrene or basswood type material? 

Hunter

Looking very nice Jim. What type of material is that? Is a styrene or basswood type material? 

it's kind of neat stuff--the interior structural walls (top photo) are a thin plywood with an adhesive applied to one side and covered by a paper backing. Once the interior structure is assembled (third photo), you peel the paper off and then stick the exterior milled basswood siding (second photo in grey primer) to the plywood. I thought it would be tricky to line up the siding against the adhesive, but the laser cut tolerances are so tight the thing really kind of snaps together. Overall I'm very impressed. The only 'non-regulation' modification I've made so far was add some 1/4" square bracing horizontally to the plywood to prevent warping. But so far so good. If I can get back to it this weekend it will get all the trim parts, stairways, etc.

Here's a picture of the prototype in Cobleskill, NY along the mainline of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad. Photo is from 1983, taken by John P. Carter.

Jim, that structure looks great.  Wish they had those when I was into trains back in the '60s.  All we had were those real thick plastic ones that really didn't look all that great.  There weren't many different ones either.  Can't remember the name.

I used to use the Sandable Auto Primer that came in the large spray cans.  If you put it on in light coats it worked very well and held up to any kind of masking tape.  The price kept creeping up and then it was hard to get.  Some of the guys on the forums say that they can't find it anywhere.  My last source ran out last week and he doesn't know if/when he'll get any more.  I started looking for a replacement last summer.  Instead of looking for spray cans, I decided to look for regular cans of primer that could be thinned with water, figuring that it would cost a lot less for more (the cheapskate in me). Have been trying different makes with different additives (Dist. water/reg. water/different thinners) with limited success (the ex-lab tech. in me).  If/when I find one, I'll be sure to let everyone know.  I'm trying to stay away from lacquer based paints to make it easier to use on models.

From the looks of some of the equipment on your bench, I'll take a wild guess that you are/were a machinist by trade. 

Jim  

Welcome I spent many a day up there with the big X

Nonsense JIM T I'd say that's exactly finescale modeling ..looks great to me bud . And  to the forum. 

5-high 

Welcome to the forum, Jim!  That's a pretty cool laser-cut kit you have there.  What are those blocks you use to steady the parts?  They look like they're milled with threaded holes.

Welcome from just down the road in Albany.

fox

Jim, that structure looks great.  Wish they had those when I was into trains back in the '60s.  All we had were those real thick plastic ones that really didn't look all that great.  There weren't many different ones either.  Can't remember the name.

I used to use the Sandable Auto Primer that came in the large spray cans.  If you put it on in light coats it worked very well and held up to any kind of masking tape.  The price kept creeping up and then it was hard to get.  Some of the guys on the forums say that they can't find it anywhere.  My last source ran out last week and he doesn't know if/when he'll get any more.  I started looking for a replacement last summer.  Instead of looking for spray cans, I decided to look for regular cans of primer that could be thinned with water, figuring that it would cost a lot less for more (the cheapskate in me). Have been trying different makes with different additives (Dist. water/reg. water/different thinners) with limited success (the ex-lab tech. in me).  If/when I find one, I'll be sure to let everyone know.  I'm trying to stay away from lacquer based paints to make it easier to use on models.

From the looks of some of the equipment on your bench, I'll take a wild guess that you are/were a machinist by trade. 

Jim  

 

not a machinist, but I really like nice tools. To Baron's question, the machinists' blocks are "1-2-3" blocks, so-called because they're 1"x2"x3". I've had all kinds of clamps, jigs, and whatnot over the years, and these are still the best things for holding things in place, keeping stuff square, and weighting things down. These are cheap ones off ebay, I pretty much just use them as weights, really expensive ones can run over $100 apiece, and have all holes threaded so they can be bolted together in different ways for various machining processes.

As far as progress on the kit, siding is on, windows, doors, trim, eaves all installed; outside wall support beams glued on, nut/bolt/washer castings all installed; and roof sub-panels are glued on. Not sure if I like the shingle material provided, I may alter that. Next up are the stairwell assemblies, I'll let you know how that goes. Here's some pics of where it stands today.

Jim

Just thought I'd pass along another photo of where it stands, I've also made it past my probationary period of moderated approval for my posts, so I can post and reply now in real time! 

BTW, I posted a query in the materials thread, but I'll mention it here: I'm looking for some flat seam roofing material for the stairway and walkway roofs. The tar paper they provide with the kit isn't right. Also I could use suggestions for a paint that looks like an aluminum roof paint. thanks in advance!

Jim

Howdy neighbor!  I'm in Dryden and work in Ithaca!  :)

jayjay82

Howdy neighbor!  I'm in Dryden and work in Ithaca!  :)

hey Jay, nice to hear from you!

Howdy, I'm  Sean, looking at getting into balsa wood models.  Been doing miniature gaming models for a while but want to try something a little more challenging.  

I'm  an industrial maintenance engineer by trade.

It occurred to me to post one or two more photos of where the project stands, it's basically done except for the main slate roofs. I didn't like the paper shingle material in the kit, so I've got some styrene slate shingles made by Tichy and am waiting on some sheet roofing material from N Scale Architect for comparison's sake. Murphy's Law is hurry up and wait. But here's where it stands, I used metal duct tape cut into scale 2'x8' strips for the metal roofing and painted it with Tamiya flat aluminum. The elevator conveyor housing is a resin part and the head platform was brass--which was fun to solder together. They've both gotten some primer and a coat of red paint by now, they'll get some weathering next, as will the whole structure when the roof is done.

So just about there. Will post a pic of the final product.

Jim