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Airbrushing – A Deep Dive

This is perhaps the most comprehensive piece on airbrushing you’re going to find online. It’s oriented towards armor and aircraft modeling, but most of the techniques are applicable for just about anything.

Doogs Models

This is a post I’ve been meaning to write for a long time. After all, airbrushing is probably my favorite single aspect of modeling. And, with all the airbrushing talk that’s been swirling about the interwebs lately, it seems like the time is right.

So what is this? It’s a deep – I hesitate to say exhaustive – dive into many, many facets of airbrushing, from airbrush selection to paint selection to mixing paints to spray discipline.

Here are some in-post links if you want to skip ahead:

Part I: Choose Your Weapon

A – Do I even need an airbrush?

In my opinion, yes. It’s possible to limp along in this hobby with paintbrushes and rattlecans, and even thrive in certain genres like figures…

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New England/Northeast RPM 2016

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Blair Davies’ spectacular kit-bashed feed mill.

The 2016 New England/Northeast RPM is wrapping up as I’m writing this.  The meet moved to a new location this year and it seems like it was a success.  There were a lot of models on display and quite a few interesting clinics.  The new venue isn’t perfect, but I think it’s an improvement over the old location.

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Valley Forge RPM – 2016

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– GE E44’s by Drew McCann on display under scratchbuilt catenary.

I’ve been attending the New England/Northeast RPM Meet in Connecticut since 2007, but in that time haven’t been to any of the numerous other RPM meets that are held regularly across the country.  I like these events because they have a heavy focus on modeling and there is often a lot of really excellent work on display.

So, this past weekend I tagged along with some friends who were going to the Valley Forge RPM Meet in Malvern, PA.  The model room wasn’t huge, but there was some stuff I hadn’t seen before and I managed to take quite a few photos. There were also a lot of clinics on the schedule, but I only made it to Andy Rubbo’s talk on the construction of his impressive Pennsy Northeast Corridor layout.

We also hit up some hobby shops and managed to get trackside in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  I haven’t looked at those photos yet, but if they’re any good I’ll post them here or on Facebook.  It’ll be the usual NS/CSX/Amtrak stuff, but I did see one interesting thing 😉

Model photos are below the cut. Enjoy!

Chris

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Washington State – June 2015

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A northbound Union Pacific stack train with marine containers from APL, K-Line, Hapag-Lloyd and others rolls through Sunnyside Park on June 07, 2015.

I attended a work conference in Texas last spring and since I was already halfway across the country I decided that I’d might as well just keep heading west and spend some time visiting family and traipsing about the Pacific Northwest.

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Workbench Reorganization

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My new under-layout workbench. Where everything is organized and within easy reach.

I didn’t do much modeling over the summer.  I’d been increasingly dissatisfied with my little workshop and storage system.  A big issue was the fact that I never seemed to have the correct paint, detail part, styrene thickness, etc. when I needed it.  Earlier I had begun a process to list everything I thought I should have “in stock” but while I was prepared to spend the money for all this new stuff, I had nowhere to put it.

With that in mind, I made a few changes…

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New England/Northeast RPM Meet – 2015

One of the freight cars Dave Oppedisano had on display showcasing his weathering techniques.

I was in Collinsville, CT this weekend for the New England/Northeast RPM Meet.  As always it was a good time though there seemed to be fewer models this year than last.  Not sure what that’s about, but it is what it is.  The models that were on display however were of the quality I’ve come to expect from the attendees of this meet.  I especially enjoyed the two presentations Brian Banna gave about building his MoPac SD40-2 and GP35 and was glad to get the chance to see some of his work in person.

If you haven’t attended before, consider it for next year.  I have no interest in New England (or even east coast) prototypes, but I always find a lot of variety in the model room and have conversations that introduce me to new ideas and new skills to make my modeling better.

I took a lot of photo’s this year, check them out below the cut. Please let me know if I attributed anything incorrectly or misspelled any names.

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Turnout Motors

The four assembled and tested Mole Switch Machines for the staging yard.
The four assembled and tested Mole switch machines that will be buried in the staging yard.

Work has been progressing quickly on the removable staging yard I’m building for one end of my layout, and a few weeks ago I had reached the point where I needed to get the turnout motors installed. I’m using Proto:87 Stores, Mole Switch Machines which I’ve mounted on two sheets of .080” styrene sheet. This assembly sits in a notched hole in the foam baseboard, invisible from the top, but accessible from below. Continue reading “Turnout Motors”