the Norbie method

[Greg Myers]

Anyone have a clue on this wonderful painting method mentioned on another board? Seems you need the secret handshake to get in on it over there.

Edited September 11, 2010 by Greg Myers

[Tonioseven]

"12- 15 PSI and thin paint to 2% milk consistencey. Move tip in close to body ( he says 1") but I shoot from about 1 1/2" to 2" away from body "

[Agent G]

And this is something so new and advanced that it requires a security clearence?

Sheeesh

G

[Brett Barrow]

Isn't the type of thinner part of it too, medium temp reducer for full-size car paint, IIRC?

[Greg Myers]

Not Moses, Norbie

[Jeff Sauber]

"Norbie"....is actually Art Anderson, and John K. Dezan is his pupil/young-Jedi that was chosen and "taught" the secret painting method, and the galactic powers of the model car building force.....LOL.

I'm not sure what all the hub-bub about this "Norbie" sillyness is....There's nothing really secret about it. Alot of folks have used variations of the "Norbie" stuff for years...

And yes, the famous model car "A-Rake"..[nose slammed down in the weeds, tail end up in the air}............I remember that look in the 1:1 world from the late 70's and 80's when the Hi-jacker shocks were the big thing.

The "A-rake" has been around for years....

[DRG]

My first car was lowered in the front and raised in the back and that was 1965.

[kustomkat1]

WOO big secret!! Like what everyone says, the technique has been around for years.

[Jon Cole]

Between Mark, and Jeff's comments... just too funny! Should there be any mention of the long rumored "initiation ritual" they go through?

[BHarrison]

Between Mark, and Jeff's comments... just too funny! Should there be any mention of the long rumored "initiation ritual" they go through?

Does it involve squeezing bananas while blindfolded? or "thank you sir, may I hav another?"

[Agent G]

Does it involve squeezing bananas while blindfolded? or "thank you sir, may I hav another?"

Oh that is sooooo wrong....................

G

[Art Anderson]

"Norbie"....is actually Art Anderson, and John K. Dezan is his pupil/young-Jedi that was chosen and "taught" the secret painting method, and the galactic powers of the model car building force.....LOL.

I'm not sure what all the hub-bub about this "Norbie" sillyness is....There's nothing really secret about it. Alot of folks have used variations of the "Norbie" stuff for years...

And yes, the famous model car "A-Rake"..[nose slammed down in the weeds, tail end up in the air}............I remember that look in the 1:1 world from the late 70's and 80's when the Hi-jacker shocks were the big thing.

The "A-rake" has been around for years....

I plead guilty. The technique is one I learned way back in the early-mid 70's when working with automotive acrylic lacquer on models. I'd done some of that earlier, for painting models of Indy cars (which I built almost exclusively for almost 20 years, only a few excursions into street automobiles). I had to relearn how to use the stuff, as overspray from ordinary recommended airbrush techniques of the time caused partially dry overspray to "eddy" around the back of body shells, making for a finish there that looked like the car was in a sandstorm, literally.

It was in figuring out how to avoid that, that I came up with the idea (bear in mind, back then no internet, no model car websites, and very fiew model car clubs anywhere to allow the sharing of information and ideas!). In its most basic, it involves REALLY thinning out lacquers (the 2% milk consistency is a starting point), doing likewise with lacquer primers, using low temperature lacquer thinner (ambient air temp 50 degree) at room (shirtsleeve) temps, the lowest possible air pressure at the airbrush, opening up the material control to get a decent but fairly small spray pattern, and then moving in close. One step with lacquer primer that I figured out was to polish the primer first, to a satin finish.

All this allowed me, back then, to get paintjobs that didn't hide the surface details, seldom needed anything more than a quick polishing with the finest grade compounds (later supplanted by NOVUS and MicroMesh, BTW), and best of all, no problems with overspray.

The "Norbie" name came from John Dezan's suggesting that I come up with someone similar to his "Jackson" alter ego/figure, who is a bit of a fixture on Spotlight, has been since Hobby Heaven days.

I've described this painting system countless times on just about every general model car message board, and in the 2 or 3 model car related internet chat rooms I've frequented over the past 14-15 years or so.

It's not an exclusive technique/system, others have found it out on their own as well, and I make no claims to being some sort of Nobel Laureate for it. But, it does run counter to a lot of people's notions, and certainly deviates from what most airbrush artists recommend for artwork. And also, it works very well with just about any type or brand of airbrush, from feedback I've received over the years.

There, does that explain things just a bit?

Art

[sak]

By "acrylic lacquer", you are referring to duplicolor cans? And what does low temp lacquer thinner mean? Does it relate to the time it takes to dry?

Edited September 15, 2010 by sak

[Jon Cole]

By "acrylic lacquer", you are referring to duplicolor cans?

Back in the day, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, men were men and sheep were nervous, we knuckleheads in the auto body trade frequently used acrylic lacquer to do partial repaints, blends, and panel spraying. We used the Dupont System, and would often mix in-house, or buy pint cans of lacquer. We would mix it with thinner right in the spray gun cup and shoot it. Clear lacquer available, but we rarely used it. Most of my time was in domestic automobile dealer body shops. Fix it, paint it, buff it, get it out the door.

Ahh, those were th *>~cough! cough!~<" ...days.

[Art Anderson]

By "acrylic lacquer", you are referring to duplicolor cans? And what does low temp lacquer thinner mean? Does it relate to the time it takes to dry?

Lacquer thinners, those aimed at professional painters, were/are formulated to provide a pretty much standard drying time, at different ambient air temperatures. This was so painters could get lacquer to flow out, then dry, in hot weather, or dry reasonably quickly in winter weather, hence the various temperature designations. I use 50-degree thinner with lacquers on models for a completely different reason, though.

Thinner made for use in 50-degree air dries much more quickly at ordinary room temperatures, say 70-72 degrees, giving it lots less opportunity to craze or etch styrene plastic, which lacquer thinners can dissolve if left wet on the surface long enough. Part of the stuff I learned while experimenting back there in the early 1970's.

Sak, back then, I hooked up with our local NAPA dealer, who sold NAPA's house brand of automotive paints, Martin-Senour. The guy had literally hundreds of rattle touchup cans of paint, some going way back to the late 1950's. In more recent times, I've also used my share of Duplicolor.

Art

Edited September 16, 2010 by Art Anderson

[Brett Barrow]

Isn't the type of thinner part of it too, medium temp reducer for full-size car paint, IIRC?

I knew I was close!!!!

It's low temp...

[sak]

So duplicolor is a form of acrylic lacquer? Could acetone be used in place of lacquer thinner. I find it dissolves the paint better than lacquer thinner and dries much faster as well. At least with duplicolors. Or is the type of thinner a very importment part of this method? It seems to me, this method is very similar to that used by those who airbrush nailpolish. Your method makes sense to me. Thinning the paint this way will help the paint atomize better no? And at that low pressure, the air flow from the airbrush is not pushing the paint around as its drying. I suppose that explains hoe alcad goes on so smoothly.

[Art Anderson]

So duplicolor is a form of acrylic lacquer? Could acetone be used in place of lacquer thinner. I find it dissolves the paint better than lacquer thinner and dries much faster as well. At least with duplicolors. Or is the type of thinner a very importment part of this method? It seems to me, this method is very similar to that used by those who airbrush nailpolish. Your method makes sense to me. Thinning the paint this way will help the paint atomize better no? And at that low pressure, the air flow from the airbrush is not pushing the paint around as its drying. I suppose that explains hoe alcad goes on so smoothly.

I suppose acetone could be used to thin lacquers, however it may well craze the styrene badly. I much prefer using lacquer thinners, they are a known quantity to me at least.

Art

[MikeMc]

I am in awe once again Art.

I have picked up on bits and pieces of this over the years,and I know it works...and (at least to me) makes total sense...smooth and thin, with solid color

Never knew the story though....Thanks!!

[george 53]

The guys like Art are WHY I stay . These guys are walkin encyclopedias of modeling! ALWAYS a pleasure ta hear the little stories BEHIND the stories!