Hand Painted Graffiti?

[Ryan87]

I've seen some really well done hand painted graffiti done on models.
I would love to give it a try but don't know where to start...

What type of paint is best for this? (The usual hobby paints?)
What do you use as reference? (Do you sketch first, or go right from photo to model?)
How do you blend it in to the rest of the car to make it look natural? Is just a dusting from the Airbrush enough?

Any help would be great 'cause I'm stumped...

[tom mann]

I use watered down acrylics and a small brush.  For any fine details, I use fine point sharpies.  A coat of Polyscale dust blends everything together.

It's a real hit and miss.  Sometimes, I like what I have and some times it looks bad.

I have been practicing fine strokes with the airbrush.  Hopefully, I can combine this with the handpainting to get some feathering effects.

I always thought this was my best:

http://www.mannresearch.com/rr/atsf/boxcars_01.jpg

[Ryan87]

Thanks Tom,

Those Santa Fe cars look great (especially like the tag over the reporting mark on the left car)

I'm wondering if Masking off & airbrushing the main color and then Hand Painting / Drawing in the lines and detail would work...

[tom mann]

I'm wondering if Masking off & airbrushing the main color and then Hand Painting / Drawing in the lines and detail would work...

Yes, it works well in fact.  Mask very lightly so that the edges are ever so slightly feathered.

A genius would build up the graffiti in a series of alternating layers of hand paint/drawing and airbrushing.

[engineshop]

Why not use clear decal paper to paint the graffiti. It takes the pressure away from messing it up.

[Ryan87]

That's a really good Idea...
Would I need to do any prep before painting?

[tom mann]

That's a really good Idea...
Would I need to do any prep before painting?

paint the background white.

[sparky]

A genius would build up the graffiti in a series of alternating layers of hand paint/drawing and airbrushing.

And that is precisely the reason you'll never see it here on The Railwire...

[Caleb Austin]

I've used paint pens and sharpies. Like Tom said sometimes it looks good sometimes I wish I had left the model alone.