Best Of Fading fast...

[tom mann]

I've been using Aged White for some recent fades and I like the results.

[ednadolski]

How does that compare to PollyScale Dust? Do you mix in any clear flats or other colors?

The PS paints would still be opaque rather than transparent, right? 

[tom mann]

How does that compare to PollyScale Dust? Do you mix in any clear flats or other colors?

The PS paints would still be opaque rather than transparent, right? 

Polly Scale Dust looks more like "Frost"  ;D

I create a mix of about 50% Reverse Osmosis water to 50% Aged White to get transparency.  In Z scale, correctly thinning the paint is much more critical, since the specks that are a result of paint that is too "unthinned" are much more noticeable. 

If the paint is thinned, you rely on transparency to achieve the fade.  Unthinned, (or not thinned enough), and you have to rely on partial coverage. 

[Sokramiketes]

How does that compare to PollyScale Dust? Do you mix in any clear flats or other colors?

The PS paints would still be opaque rather than transparent, right? 

Polly Scale Dust looks more like "Frost"  ;D

I create a mix of about 50% Reverse Osmosis water to 50% Aged White to get transparency.  In Z scale, correctly thinning the paint is much more critical, since the specks that are a result of paint that is too "unthinned" are much more noticeable. 

If the paint is thinned, you rely on transparency to achieve the fade.  Unthinned, (or not thinned enough), and you have to rely on partial coverage. 

What's the reason for thinning the paint instead of adding color to flat finish?  Personally I find it hard to consistantly spray a fine mist, so when you mix the color into a clear base, you get transparent paint that can be sprayed on in wet coats and built up from there, rather than misting it on dry, getting splattering, etc.

[tom mann]

What's the reason for thinning the paint

Thinning PollyScale paints makes them transparent, so you can spray on a coat without worrying about paint speckles. 

Think of the extreme:  using the paints dry.  In this case, they are opaque, so to create a fade, you have to partially cover the surface, so the "factory finish" shows through.  This can be fine, but in close up photos, you see a specking of your fade color. 

Thinning allows you to spray a lot of paint to totally cover the surface.  It doesn't really have anything to do with a fine mist or not.  The challenge is to not thin them too much to create "spattering".

I think we are saying the same thing...I say "thin with water" and you say "mix into clear base".

[ednadolski]

Another reason to thin the paints is that PS, out of the jar, is too heavy for airbrushing.

Interesting about the Reverse Osmosis water, how critical is that?   For acrylics I use the distilled water from the supermarket, is the RO a better choice?  I would think that esp. for smaller scales, adding some kind of wetting agent might also help to avoid the speckled look (tho maybe the PS paints already have something like that, I don't know).

On transparency, isn't that also a function of the pigments in the paint?  I thought that was why Gary liked the Zinc White artist's paint over the Titanium White.

It would be interesting to try to tint the Aged White with the various oxide colors, complimentary to the colors of the model being faded.   Time for me to get out the airbrush ....   

Ed

[GaryHinshaw]

Neat to see some new ideas to try.  I had the same question about RO water.   ???  I need to look into that.

I still don't really know what it means for a pigment to be transparent... seems like a bit of an oxymoron.

Fortunately we locals have a few forced days off to experiment, and I might have some Aged White in stock. 

[ednadolski]

Another quick question on the Aged White: do you find that it works better on cars of any particular colors?

Ed

[wazzou]

I'm going to have to Google RO water.  I've never heard of it until Mr. Wizard mentioned it.

[tom mann]

Here is my latest Z scale project. 



The bottom hopper has been faded with aged white.  If it was not thinned, you would see speckled aged white pieces of paint and it would look as if sprayed with a rattle can.

[GaryHinshaw]

Looks good Tom.  How many coats do you do to get that?  Most of mine have been 10 or more very quick hits (no need to wait between coats).

[ednadolski]

dammit, Tom, how do you take such good pics?  

(The lettering on those Z scale cars is incredible!)

[tom mann]

dammit, Tom, how do you take such good pics?  

Lashedup helped me years ago.  I still struggle getting lighting right.  But a good 50mm macro lens and the knowledge that the lens works best at f8-f11 is a big part of it.

[Bangorboy]

Tom,

How did you create the lettering for this hopper?  You had asked about the PulsarPro system in another post.  I have it and a laser printer, but I haven't been able to print sharp lettering small enough for N scale, let alone Z.  I was able to create some exciting lettering over a scanned Mini-Metals truck usning Inkscape, but it lost all resolution in the printing process.

Bill B
South Okaloosa N Scalers

[Chris333]

I think those are factory paint:
http://www.zscalemonster.com/azl/90900/90920.jpg