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I've used their rattle cans to paint track, bridges, and steel mill buildings with good results.
but they clog fast
Like, after first use.
I haven't experienced that. One could always clear the nozzle after use.
I like this much better than screwing around with an airbrush, with its long set-up and clean up afterward times.
"if" i had a paint booth .... a air brush is fine if painting a 1/24 cxar or a humongous HO loco or a bazillion copies of the same rr car but when it's one N boxcar with 4 different paint colors on sides and top, using an airbrush means a lot of work. I've used one for a while, but if I can get decent coverage that looks good from a spray can, I'll go that route.
Funny, I look at this in the exact opposite way. To me a spray can is like a large paint gun spewing out large droplets (volume) of paint at a pressure I cannot control. Basically a fire-hose of paint. Last time I used a spray can of paint to paint a model was a 1:8 scale Mercedes Benz.An airbrush to me is like a miniature "scale size" paint gun with fine control of both the paint volume and air pressure. It also finely atomizes the paint. It's perfect for painting small items (like detail parts or N scale trains. When I do paint 1:25 scale model cars I really have to open the airbrush nozzle wide to get sufficient wet point coverage. On the opposite end of the scale, if I'm painting some small detail part that is 1/16" in size or trying to paint some deep crevice in an N scale loco shell, I can dial the air pressure and paint volume to a tight and very fine mist pattern, allowing me to get perfect coverage without the paint flooding the painted area. We are talking about precision spray painting, Of course I haven't even mentioned other tasks airbrush excels in (like weathering), but I think you get my point.Another thing is paint waste. With a "fire hose" spray pattern from a can, when you paint a small object, most of the spray ends up outside of the model. With an airbrush you have almost no waste. Paint is expensive. When painting small items with an airbrush, I can literally just put in few drops of paint in the airbrush. Spray can? Ever "spritz" will spray out lots of paint, with a very small amount hitting the small object being painted. I often decant spray-can paint just so I can have better control shooting it through the airbrush.The usefulness and versatility of an airbrush more then make up for what you describe as its negatives.For full enclosure, I don't have a paint booth either. I have an exhaust fan mounted in a basement chest-high window. Under the window is my table saw. The airbrush,its hose, and few accessories are in a drawer to the right of the table saw. Mu air compressor is to the left of the table saw. When I need to airbrush something I cover the table saw surface with a sheet of brown paper, take the airbrush out of the drawer and connect it up to the compressor. I have the paint in the airbrush jar already thinned and mixed earlier in my workshop (in adjacent finished part of the basement).Then I commence spraying, I usually airbrush multiple colors (with a quick flush using lacquer thinner between colors. At the end I do my 1-minute cleanup after the session, and put the airbrush away in the drawer. it really isn't *THAT* much complicated or time consuming than using a spray can.I suspect that many who turn their nose at an airbrush have never even try one.
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Topic: Rustoleum spray paints for plastic (Read 1785 times)
