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scalenut

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Posts posted by scalenut

    Paint Process Opinions

    in Model Building Questions and Answers

    Posted · Edited by scalenut

    sounds like pretty normal procedure to me .. the ultimate realisation I have found is working tword getting the best finish you can from the initial spraying part of the paintjob.. when I get a lucky nice finish from the spraying part, I can get to a glass-like stage with little effort by just using Novus#2 and #1.

    it's like working from a great foundation to begin with ,, not easy but worth perfecting,, saves a lot of sanding

    Paint Booth Venting

    in Model Building Questions and Answers

    Posted · Edited by scalenut

    the first big misconception I am seeing here is that airbrush booths are designed to eliminate fumes... that is not generally true

    tho a booth obviously helps draw fumes out by default.. the primary purpose of a booth is to capture overspray.

    unless you have an industrial system installed in your hobby room , you will not eliminate all the odor of building/spraying models ..it's important to realize... that's not the main object of any hobby airbrush booth.

    my airbrush booth is in a closet in a small spare bedroom, I ran my duct down thru the floor and out a foundation vent ( I have a crawlspace rather than a basement).

    because I have laminate "wood" flooring, the hole in the closet floor is easily repaired/replaced in the future.

    the fact that the air duct from the booth goes down and out has a benefit .. I really don't need to add additional filters or have a really strong fan .

    I have a piece of window screen over the duct to keep out any creepy crawlys,,and the duct has a sliding door in it too keep out any cold(or hot) air drafts from outside.

    however you can still tell when I'm spraying when you walk by the hobby room....tho it's very tolerable it's a part of building models

    Thinning acrylic craft paints for airbrushing?

    in Model Building Questions and Answers

    Posted

    You actually have a few choices. On the cheap side, I've heard of people using Windex, 70% rubbing alcohol or distilled water. Tamiya has a thinner that works well with their line of acrylics, but I haven't tried it with other brands. I assume Testors has something similar. Last, believe it or not, you can use lacquer thinner.

    I've read that acrylics can harden on the inside of an airbrush, so take whatever measures are necessary to clean it completely after using it.

    acrylic paint these days is considered a category .. under that you have well over a dozen or more types of paint ... I believe tamiya is an acrylic lacquer

    craft paint is "usually" an acrylic resin type beast

    thinners that work well and don't work well..... vary greatly between types, best advice is use the brand thinner for the paint (than further experiment from there if cost is an issue)

    Computer Decals

    in General Automotive Talk (Trucks and Cars)

    Posted · Edited by scalenut

    sorry for the long post ,it's meant for someone fairly new to drawing decals

    it's not easy to explain but hopefully it helps someone understand the differences and the reason vector is generally recommended. It's vastly more efficient for drawing /modifying decals than raster based programs.

    unless you are already quite efficient in a good rastor based program and understand layers... but than at that level, you wouldn't need assistance in getting started.

    Andy

    Computer Decals

    in General Automotive Talk (Trucks and Cars)

    Posted · Edited by scalenut

    I've been doing scale model custom decals service for 7 years now, I have a couple alps printers and a scale vinyl mask cutting service

    +not a Forum advertisement/I'm not able to take requests at this time or place+

    I get a bazillion questions and "drawings/skewed photos/visions/iphone pics...lol" from people across the net and it's a real pain to explain to every person why I need to have.... or create.... the artwork in vector format.some understand .. most do not.. and that's ok

    if someone wants to get heavy into drawing their own custom decals,,, get a VECTOR software.

    If your new to drawing and want to learn a specific software to make decals..start with a VECTOR software.

    If you want to draw decals and send them to someone with an alps,,, draw them in a VECTOR software and draw them in layers

    ..in the case of alps the colors need to be separated onto their own layers,and,have a white hidden/visable background layer added

    if you (or I ) go thru a lot of effort drawing a decal set and there is any chance you might want them in a different scale down the road or change/modify them in any way ... draw them in a VECOR program.it saves a ton of work

    If you want a custom paint mask from any supplier or custom guy .. it must be in(or converted to) vector format... the printer/cutter does not understand any other language.

    yes you can do decals with any program ,at home,on an inkjet.. from downloaded images.... and I know many people have "mad photoshop skilz" (I get that all the time...lol)

    but If someone submits a raster image to an alps guy .. it would have to be a pristine image , to exact size, and at very high resolution that can be blown up, (hopefully)converted to vector, than shrunk back to size just as cleanly.

    That's so the poor alps guy can easily draw the hidden and/or visual white layer behind the image(so the decals will be opaque). and separate all the color layers .

    Alps prints one color layer at a time.and you have to "tell" it what color to print for every layer.It doesn't print dots..it prints solid colors and stacks colors to get other colors... somebody has to break all that information down and feed it to the alps..layer by layer. and even than sometimes it's a guess if the combination of layers will produce a close enough match.

    the alps can be told to print in "dot mode" as well.. but the resolution is so low on the old alps technology that a cheap inkjet can do better

    trust me... vector is the king of the decal and vinyl cutting/ printing world.

    If your a photoshop wizzard Like Harry P , than I assume he can find ways to do this in photoshop

    but not many people know photoshop inside out enough to produce some trickery to feed an alps as well as illustrator does.

    the best option for vector is get a cheap copy of >corel draw<.. any version from the last 5 years will do the trick.

    play with it...learn it... and your miles ahead.I've seen unopend "official" Discs for as little as $12

    inkscape is vector and free but I have never tinkered with it enough to recommend it or not

    if your just doing the occasional decal at home than there are many easy options,programs and tricks to make that happen and get acceptable results on an inkjet or laser

    an inkjet doesn't print layers.. so for home inkjet/laser use only use what software works best for you.just concentrate on getting the clearest image you can at the exact size you need and possibly working around the " printing white" issue .. than hit print

    and as witnessed in this thread some people have become darn good at not using vector and producing great results

    anything beyond that or any need for white/gold/silver or metallic colors, and you will need to submit it to someone in a vector format.

    might as well learn it to start with.the learning curve is no harder than word, paint or photoshop.

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