Summer Daze

Between my busy performance schedule and the kids' summer vacation time, I've not had much time for work around the 'ol train space. I had some time today, so I decided to try out my new double-action airbrush I got on eBay for $15.00.

#2 was in need of a more detailed weathering job, so I went at her as follows:

1. Light fade coat of Grimy Black
2. Ash and steam scaling with Light Concrete
3. Undercarriage dusting with Earth
4. Highlight Drybrushing/streaking with a mix of Earth and Concrete

I'm fairly happy with how everything came out, though the weathering is a bit on the heavy side.

The coaches got a light undercarriage hazing with the earth mixture as well; I might do a bit of drybrushing also, since I enjoy the effect.

In recent weeks, I've been working on finishing my flatcar kits from Marsh Creek Models:

The oxide red mixture was actually the first thing I airbrushed with my new brush. Still need to add some touchups and paint the brake staff/hanger a different color. Well, of course, and add the trucks and wheelsets.

Regarding the airbrush; I'm very pleased with the action of the brush, and it lays color beautifully. Really quite a steal, as this is my first double-action gravity feed. I'm spraying straight Polly S acrylic, diluted with several drops of 70% iso alcohol and mixed in the cup. I set the brush around 15 psi for the fade coats during weathering, and at about 20-25 for laying heavier coats. In general, I can spray at lower psi than with my Paasche single-action.

Two tools, found on Amazon, have proven invaluable to my airbrushing process: my airbrush cleaning pot and a bottle of airbrush cleaning solvent. Really makes the process of cleaning the brush and switching colors a snap.

In other news: I found another one of these and couldn't resist snapping her up.

I haven't decided if I'll use another Toma Model Works body kit (like #2), or if I'll keep and detail/repaint the stock body.