Ideal temperature question

QUOTE: Originally posted by Pouncer I have a question that I hope someone can help me with. I am back into modeling after a 21-year absence. My workbench is in my garage. My garage has no heating or air conditioning. I live in Southern California so the temperature doesn't change too drastically. We are now in the winter time and at night it gets into the 40's on a regular basis. The temperature inside the garage gets in the low to mid 60's. Is it going to be too cold for me to be able to build and paint a model during the winter? What problems if any can I expect to come across? What about the warmer months? In the past when I was a kid I did it all in my bedroom. Can't do that anymore. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I am trying not to have to bring it all indoors and smell up the kitchen. I would also like to keep the wife happy.

What part of southern California do you live? I was born in Glendora, raised in La Canada Flintridge and later lived many years in Van Nuys. (I now live in Phoenix.)

When it comes to painting, 60 or 70 degree weather is usually not a problem, but don't paint when it's raining! I've had paint do funny things on rainy days. As for the summer, if you live in the inland valleys like the San Fernando Valley, don't paint if the interior of your garage is above 90 degrees--the paint dries too fast and you get a lousy paint job. And don't even bother modeling at all if the temp is over 95--glue dries too fast, paint dries too fast, sweat from your hands gets all over the model, nothing wants to work right. (I speak from the experience of living in an apartment in Van Nuys where the only air conditioner was a little window unit that did nothing but raise the electric bill, so I never used it. That apartment would definitely get warm. Now I live in Phoenix in an apartment that has GOOD air conditioning--and ones of the amenities of this complex is free utilities! But I digress.)

I don't know if you have an airbrush yet (I don't), so my experiences are largely based on brush painting with the occasional spraying with the rattle can.

Well I got 2 ideas for you 1st one is if you have the room and the skills just make a skeleton framework of 2x2's and cover with thick plastic sheeting and you have yourself a small fairly dust free enviroment that you can heat up with small radiant heater, this way you just heat up the area you occupy and get more effeciency out of your heater. 2nd idea is if you just want to keep your paints at a decent tempatur you can buy a cheap foam cooler , lay it on it's side cut shallow slots on the inside and put in some thin wood shelves and just pop the lid on to keep them insulated from the cold.

I work in my detached garage, which has zippo insulation (read as NONE). Living in Oregon, the winters can get downright cold...last winter I was down there working in about 30-40 degrees and didn't have any problems. I bundle up (long underwear and my old army watch cap and good boots) and my airbrushing didn't suffer too much. Could be because I use a siphon tube, so i'm essentially holding the paint bottle while I'm painting. Maybe that makes the difference.

People have mentioned heaters, as in using them prior to painting. It just occured to me that this might work for me, also...as long as I turn it off before painting. Something about an open element with paint vapor floating around that my wife tells me is bad...

its about 40 degrees in my hobby room (in my shop in the good old central valley) Before I do any painting I heat the place up (you can use a big shop heater). I havent had any problem brush painting but airbrushing is a disaster in the cold.

Pouncer,
You could always try using a small electric heater to warm the workspace a little before you paint. There are quite a number of types on the market - ones that don't emit carbon monoxide in a confines space (not good) - use one of those to get the temp up a little, and you'll have better results in colder weather.

The drying and curing times are really your biggest concern with painting in cold weather. I keep my paints stored inside, but I've painted outside (using a rattle can) with temperatures up to minus 5 (Celsius). I take it in immediatley to dry, but applying the paint worked fine.

You might consider pre-warming your paints by placing them in a pan of warm water, and then mixing them inside before taking them outside to spray. Paints can be sprayed in cold weather. Just be prepared to allow for significant cure times as compared with spraying in warmer temperatures.

Gip Winecoff

Paint should be kept and used around 70drgrees for best use. If it gets to hot or cold it doesn't work properly. Check the labels on the paint

Low to mid 60's shouldn't create any problems, although much lower than that might affect your painting. Ideally, you want temps in the 70's for most paints, especially acrylics.

Regards, Rick