Painting In Apartments

Hi Themage, some appartments have a balcony of some sort with large glass door preceeded by a mesh door, if your apartment doesn't have one, a medium-large window will do. When you do your construction and painting work just use one of those small (or medium) sized mobile electric fans. Just place the fan so that it "blows" the fumes TOWARDS the windows (and thus outside). For the environmentalist, you might consider purchasing a fume filter to place at the window so to filter out the fumes.

You can also find a single room (with a window) that will be ONLY used for building models. When painting/construction, work near the window, close your door and use a respirator (NOT face/dust mask) that is able to filter out fumes.

Hope this helps!

Mage - you could also switch to acrylic paints... no fumes at all.. there are many good brands of acrylic paints, just try a few until you find the ones you like! My favorites are Color of Eagles (mfg'd by Vallejo in Spain) They can be brushed or sprayed on and they go on smooth like enamels! Other good brands are Model Master and Tamiya.

I live in an apartment and use both of the above mentioned ideas. the only problem I have is airbrushing in hot weather(I live in Phoenix) in which case a paint booth would be your best bet. Either use a room strictly for painting or have it set up for easy removal.

What about using rattle Cans such as enamel cans and auto paint

Anybody have any complaints against them , or what kind of rules do they set for painting at you apt?

when I lived in an apt there were no rules per se on painting inside, other than the obvious risk of losing some of your deposit from overspray on the walls, paint spilled on the carpet etc. I am sure a noisy compressor would be out, but a hobby compressor would be no prob...

Use both rattle cans and a compressor. Generally I take my model outside to use a rattle can(weather permitting)

i once live in an apartment before. Lucky that i have a modelling room and i use spray booth all the time. the exhaust fan/hose of your booth should be aim outside ie. window or any opening. That's fine with me and during that time my wife never complaint smelling chemicals outside the room.

my 2 cents

Airbrushes are out for me because of the cost (food/water come first!) so when I do spray I use rattle cans on the back porch. I did take the time to tell my neighbors what that godawful sound was, and wrap each can in a towel before I shake it to muffle the sound somewhat. No complaints so far.

I live in an apartment and use the balcony to do all my airbrushing (I know you said AB was not an option, but if I can use a little 1/8HP hobby compressor and paint at all times of the night, I'm sure a rattlecan will be just fine). Just be sure to not nail everything around you with oversrapy, as those cans can be quite messy. My wife is quite understanding as I've got over half the dining room table occupied by my hobby supplies and kits I'm working on.

Hmm, I'm in the same position myself, come September. I think that as long as you paint by a large window, it should be fine. I don't know how long I'll be able to do that. I've heard it gets pretty damn cold in Ottawa during the winter. I have the Testors mini blue compressor, which does not make too much noise. Also, I'm not sure about acrylics not making fumes. Maybe not as dangerous ones as enamels. I've been airbrushing acrylics exclusively, and I have to say that the MM Acryl and Tamiya paints make their own fair share of fumes when airbrushed.

I've had to go about this a couple of ways when I lived in apartments. I had an air tank that could be filled at work and do small amounts of airbrushing. Then there is the whisper air source for art studios (very quiet). And as far as spray booths go I ran a dryer hose to a window that had a piece of ply wood cut to fit giving me an all weather painting set up. Just remember drop cloths are way cheaper than carpet