Gibbon, Cozad & Western - "The 100th Meridian Line"

[C855B]

Looks good Mike, I wouldn't worry about a streak here or there, it's nature in action...when it's all done, you won't even notice it, and it will look "right".

True. Here's a prototype:



The long stripe in my sky is a little too even, however. This is what I'm going for:



This is from East Yermo facing south, an extra-low humidity desert sky that is very clear and very even, lightening closer to the horizon. You might notice I dialed-down the blue quite a bit since I had reservations about portraying that much intensity (although I do have Sky #0 and Sky #0.5 if I change my mind!). I might dust some streaks into the next section of sky to the right of where I stopped, since that would be typical of eastern Nevada and Utah, very similar to the NM semaphore shot. The eastern end (east wall) of the layout is going to be lighter at the top to be more representative of Nebraska.

[C855B]

A couple of final touches today, and we have sky:





60' down, 80' to go.

[GaryHinshaw]

That looks really good.

[C855B]

Thank you, Gary.

I admit that once the masking was peeled and I could take a couple of steps back, it was an OMG! moment. The crowning touch was a final "Should I?" touch-up to even the gradient down from the top blue, an impromptu mix not in the original formula plan, misted at double the distance of a "normal" spray pass. Obviously it worked. In the end there were seven shades.

I'm not going the let the Star Queen at it just yet since I want to bask in the glow for a little while.

[rodsup9000]

   OK, tell me how you did this. I know you mixed the different ratio of paint and I'm guessing it was sprayed, but how was it applied???

 I can't wait to see it after Robin gets a hold of it.

[C855B]

Start with a plain, even white wall, of course. The primer I used had a vapor barrier rating, so there is some moisture resistance under the coat of finish white. Both were applied with a roller, but an airless sprayer would also put enough down (regular air gun would not). I'm convinced it wouldn't have been as successful if the first color layer was over virgin drywall since the gypsum board and mud have different absorption rates. The color coats are 2:1 paint to water, so the surface can't be permeable.

You already noted the mixes. The #1, 2 and 3 (and "0") are straight from the paint "family" card, #1.5 and 2.5 are in-between 50:50 mixes. I mentioned earlier that matching the paint at the store(s) was not straightforward - Sherwin-Williams' and other brand palettes skipped right over the blues closest to the photos, not even close. We found a match with Pittsburgh paints at Menards and stopped there with the absolute cheapest base in flat - $15/gallon! Considering we were starting with four gallons (plus one more later on), cheap was good. Plus we amused the young ladies at the Menards paint desk with our attempts to match landscape photos.

We eye-balled the matches against the reference photos, with the caveat that both of us come from graphic arts and pure art worlds and color matching seems to be in our DNA. I wouldn't recommend using "we can match that!" services, my direct experience is their computer match doesn't deal well with subtleties, and the results will be all over the map if you try to rely on it for shades.

I used a gravity-feed air spray pot. Even after reduction, a siphon sprayer (even a Paasche!) couldn't move enough paint at the 2:1 mix. The paint:water mix was prepared in bulk, two quarts paint to one water in the gallon jugs. I pre-mixed the in-between colors, but now I think any variation from on-the-spot mixing in the pot would not be noticeable. I added 4 oz. of M1-branded extender to the 3/4-gallon mix, this improves the open time, helps keep the spray head clear and supposedly makes it flow better with the spray gun, but my testing with the siphon pot disputes this. Anyway...

Application was with the middle color (Sky #2) first, painting the entire surface as a base, and let that dry. [NOTE: this is when I figured-out we would need another gallon of the #2 color.] Then a stripe of #1 (darkest) at the top, essentially freehand, but using the masking as a reference, two spray "widths" from the tape (vertical spray pattern). Same idea with #3 at the bottom, but just one spray "width" after centering the spray for best coverage at the benchwork. Didn't have to wait for the top to dry before spraying the bottom, rinsed the gun and went right to town. Then let #1 and #3 dry.

Similar operation with #1.5 and #2.5, eyeballing the pattern with resulting stripes to attempt an even-ish top-to-bottom distribution, with the #2 stripe remaining visible from the first coat.

This was where we were here:



At this point I was puzzled by the lighter stripe (was it #2?), eventually concluding I wasn't heavy enough on the base coat. One caution - the usual paint characteristic of it darkening as it dries is a major pain with colors of subtle shade differences. For example, when I sprayed #1.5, when wet it was closer to #2.5. Then even in the few minutes between starting and stopping the pass, the earliest paint down would be drying enough to fool me into thinking I missed something. You'll notice the fan in the finished picture of the left side, it was to accelerate the drying after each pass to know where I was sooner rather than later.

I sprayed a second pass of #1.5 over that streak, and it still didn't resolve to my satisfaction, but after it dried, miraculously a third pass with the #1.5 at a "misting" distance from the wall evened it out.

Everything else from that point on was artistic adjustment. I decided that the blue at the top was not blue enough, mixed a small batch of "#0.5", and sprayed roughly a 3/4-fan width (1/4 of the pattern coverage above the masked line). I liked what I saw, but the cutoff was too sharp against the #1 stripe. So I eyeballed a mix what I could best describe as "#0.8", and then sprayed that at a misting distance centered on the sharp line between #0.5 and #1. Finis:



There was a lot of learning in the process that somebody else with more spray pot experience probably already knows. First was almost an "oops" where I should've known better - the "misting" passes were very dusty, and I was surprised how much dried spray dust went everywhere. Wasn't an issue when the intent was to go down fully wet. Another issue was being mindful of the overlaps. The higher area of the field required standing on a platform, and the starts/stops of moving the platform were very evident in the result. That leads me to "know your spray gun". I was running a fairly high pressure - ~65 psi - so the rush of air on trigger pull was putting down too much paint. As the work progressed, learning to use the double-action to relieve the blast first and then triggering paint made for better paint flows and improved feathering between passes.

[rodsup9000]

  Thanks Mike

[C855B]

My pleasure.

While the process seems complicated and foreboding (it was for me, for many months), execution went very fast and very easy after masking and the other prep. The gallon jugs worked better than expected - grab the shade, give it a vigorous shake, then pour it into the pot without mess. Radiator funnel worked dandy for pouring excess back into the bottle. Robyn would scold me me for painting "in my good clothes" , but there were no drips, no accidents or any other oopsies due to the containment plan and area preparation. A pass of color became almost casual, each executing in a minute or two. It was fun, definitely not my usual perception of painting.

[davefoxx]

I love to see the sky modeled correctly, and this absolutely captures the look and feel of a clear but somewhat hazy day.  Even without a detailed background, there is a feeling of distance due to that haze.

Kudos!
DFF

[C855B]

Speaking of "correct", I was looking at the video from the Milwaukee show today. Given the work here to model the sky based on in-person and photos, I noticed the skyboards and other "sky" backdrops on the layouts that had backdrops were... well... a light turquoise, not blue. It's not the lighting - I have a quart of paint mixed per our club's skyboard spec for repairs, etc., and noticed the same thing, it's "off". Where is it that skies are turquoise? And who set the "standard" or otherwise promoted this off color in the hobby?

[C855B]

... who set the "standard" or otherwise promoted this off color in the hobby?

After a bit of asking around, I may have answered my own question - ask blame Sherwin-Williams. S-W is about as universal as you can get for specifying a paint color where it's easy to make S-W Color Card X the standard among a spread-out group on a collaborative project. Problem with that, as we discovered in our own sky project, S-W doesn't currently catalog a sky blue in their palette. So if the standard started with S-W paints and the sky was chosen by grabbing a fistful of S-W cards, stepping outside, and comparing whatever was closest... oops, it really wasn't all that close.

[mcjaco]

Speaking of "correct", I was looking at the video from the Milwaukee show today. Given the work here to model the sky based on in-person and photos, I noticed the skyboards and other "sky" backdrops on the layouts that had backdrops were... well... a light turquoise, not blue. It's not the lighting - I have a quart of paint mixed per our club's skyboard spec for repairs, etc., and noticed the same thing, it's "off". Where is it that skies are turquoise? And who set the "standard" or otherwise promoted this off color in the hobby?

To be fair, the lighting at the State Fair grounds isn't very good.  In person they aren't turquoise.

[C855B]

Last Saturday, watching the paint dry on the base coat:



Forty more feet of it today before the shoulder gave out. We pause tomorrow to wrap the traincam monitor to save it from overspray.

I was seriously thinking about rollering the base coat on this pass to eliminate overspray. After factoring the mess and time of rollers and pans, then it finally dawning on me that rollering doesn't work all that well with masking tape, decided to try spraying again with a better rig. The new HVLP gravity pot is thankfully less messy. Low pressure puts down a "dot splatter" pattern that covers well but the large dots will work against fades. So I'll still have to crank-up the pressure to mist the transitions.

[Santa Fe Guy]

Mike if you are worried about masking tape and rollering not working try what I do for masking my models when painting two or more colours.
After you apply the tape go over the edge with the original colour. Let that dry and then do your second colour. Once you take off the Masking tape you should have a nice crisp line and no under runs.
Rod.

[C855B]

The problem I've had with rollering vs. masking is the paint goes down much more liquid and it's harder to control the direction of application versus brush or sprayer. So it wants to seek the gap through capillary attraction. Also, the wetness wants to pucker the tape, at least the lower-adhesion tapes.

The base color is done:



The objective is to have it done by end of day tomorrow, should the shoulder(s) cooperate. I'd like to be able to run trains over the weekend.