Model Railroading > Air brush painting?

I’ve already completed as much as I can stand of this job of painting a caboose in “authentic” TP&W color. Fortunately the caboose was a bargain price at a swap meet and it met most of the technical aspects even tho it was a C&NW bay window in HO by Walthers, undecorated.
So some years ago a good friend gave me the two colors; chartreuse and chocolate brown that were very close to TP&W 1940-60 era and the colors of the TP&W GP-7 that I have. I set them aside for toooo long. Then decided to try painting the caboose to match the same era as the GP-7. The paint was still very fluid and seemed to mix well. They were in unmarked Floquil bottles from the last century. So I decided to thin them a bit with “Universal Enamel Thinner” starting with the lighter color, chartreuse and air brush it on after a nice coat of primer gray over the plastic caboose.
As soon as the chartreuse started spraying out of the air brush a fine sticky spider web material started spitting out and coating every nook and cranny. If it had more volume it would have resembled cotton candy. So I stopped right away, stripped the paint and the sticky fine webbing off. Then came back after cleaning every thing off and switching from my A Binks sprayer to a B Binks. Then noticed the paint had started to coagulate. So I mixed it even more. The 2nd time it did the same. Cob webs everywhere. But the paint did coat well this time.
After the charteuse dried I masked it off to paint the darker color. The air brush painting did the same thing without thinning as the paint appeared to be better condition. Since the darker color was less involved I started brush painting. It was too thick, so again used the enamel thinner and shook it up good. No sooner than I got the brush in the small bottle the thinner started to separate like oil on water. I finally got to brush on but not perfect like a good air brush job.
Any ideas? Please, Only experienced air brush painters need to help me out. I’m already confused. Maybe this is what happens to older enamel paint? Steve

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If you are using the original Floquil, it is a lacquer-base paint - not enamel. Try using lacquer thinner but be careful as it will attack plastic. They sold a barrier cote for plastic so that it would not craze the plastic. I have been able to use Floquil Primer, very carefully, and then the top coat without any reaction.

Sounds like you had a reaction between the paint & what you thinned it with.  If I were you I would start new - try mixing your own paint to match the correct color & this way you'll know exactly what to thin it with.  I love spraying Scalecoat - very user friendly paint.  Scalecoat ll for plastic & Scalecoat l for brass.  Mix it 50/50 with the correct Scalecoat thinner & airbrush at about 15-20 psi.  Will leave a  beautiful gloss finish ready for decals.  Good luck.
Jeff

Yeah, don't mess with the Floquil. Find a Scalecoat match to the Floquil color.

The few times that I used the original Scalecoat (not Scalecoat II) I always found after it had dried to be"soft" and never "felt" dry. I never tried Scalecoat II because I have always had good luck with Floquil.

> They were in unmarked Floquil bottles from the
> last century.

Unless you are an experienced paint sniffer you don't know what has been put in a convenient bottle. As tramfan commented, if it is Amsterdam, NY Floquil, it is lacquer. And that would give the result you describe with enamel thinner. That is the most likely. Also many acrylics with enamel thinner could also give the same result. Original Accu-Color (Not Badger or Testors) came in square Floquil like bottles (and round and, who knows what George got a bargain on!) and was also incompatible with enamel thinner.

You could experiment with lacquer thinner and also with acetone and see if either would work. Or, just plain water.

Or buy modern paint and try to rescue the project. If you are brushing, look at Vallejo's 600+ colors and see if there is a close match. Or check craft paints as your local craft store. If you have to have a railroad name on the bottle look at True-color or Scalecoat.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/20 10:37 by Lighter.

> Only experienced air brush
> painters need to help me out.

Since 1968. Does that qualify? "Experienced" airbrush painters might not give a great answer since by that "time" (whatever the minimum qualification for answering the question might be) mixing paint is more instinct than by the book.

I hear what you are saying - trying to filter answers. But you are likely to get very different answers from any two airbrush (or stick brush, for that matter) painters. It's usually best to just toss out the question for general comments without requiring a resume!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/20 10:47 by Lighter.

Lighter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > They were in unmarked Floquil bottles from the
> > last century.
>
> Unless you are an experienced paint sniffer you
> don't know what has been put in a convenient
> bottle. As tramfan commented, if it is Amsterdam,
> NY Floquil, it is lacquer. And that would give the
> result you describe with enamel thinner. That is
> the most likely. Also many acrylics with enamel
> thinner could also give the same result. Original
> Accu-Color (Not Badger or Testors) came in square
> Floquil like bottles (and round and, who knows
> what George got a bargain on!) and was also
> incompatible with enamel thinner.
>
> You could experiment with lacquer thinner and also
> with acetone and see if either would work. Or,
> just plain water.
>
> Or buy modern paint and try to rescue the
> project. If you are brushing, look at Vallejo's
> 600+ colors and see if there is a close match. Or
> check craft paints as your local craft store. If
> you have to have a railroad name on the bottle
> look at True-color or Scalecoat.

I have been painting with Floquil paints since 1974 and consider myself an experienced painter. You can't use plain water, it will not mix with Floquil paint. If you can find Floquil thinner that would be your best bet other wise use a good quality lacquer thinner, a little goes a long way. When Floquil announced the end of their paint I bought a lot of paint and their thinner, my supply is about to "dry" up. You can store their paint as long as you seal the jar real well and upside down. 

> You can't use plain water, it will not mix with
> Floquil paint.

Correct. railscenes had UNMARKED Floquil bottles with UNKNOWN paint in them.

I have a bunch of Floquil bottles that were bargain-priced in packs of six for mixing project paint that I bought a few years ago. Most of them I've never labeled as to what is really inside. But the lid clearly has the Floquil logo. If someone were to get one of those bottles and put enamel thinner into the paint, the symptoms would be as the first post described.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/20 07:05 by Lighter.

I have had a "bad" bottle of Scalecoat on occasion where it just wouldn't seem to dry, but generally it is an excellent paint.  Sometimes when it is stored for several years it can get funky.  I use predominantly Scalecoat ll & love it.  The other issue with Scalecoat vs.Floquil is Scalecoat is still produced whereas Floquil is gone.  Scalecoat is available through Minuteman Models.