First Kit !!!

Some peope had issues with damp causing an orange peel sort of effect, spoiling their top coat.
(see previous posts in the last 4" build forum)
They sorted the problem outby making sure that they fitted a water/moisture trap on the gun to ensure that the air supplied was completely dry.
I took heed of this and purchased an inline filter for the gun on ebay, it cost about £7 or £8, I have not had any problems since I fitted the filter.
Dont start to spray if the air is too humid or cold (unless of course you have a nice warm spray booth !!!)
Thr Craftmaster paint is easy to use as long as you use their thinners and to their recommended ratio.

Frostie

Thanks for the advice, good to know that it is a fairly robust paint. I've always used cellulose for DIY stuff so I was wondering if there was much of a difference with the coach enamel. Seems fairly similar tbh, spray at the right temp, right ratios etc. Have you had chance to get some lining done tonight? I've had the joyous task or removing excess dried on isoflex from the edges of my wheels......... fun

Weston

No I work away (Egypt) and wont be home until next week, then its, start taping up and lining, I have yet to make my mind up what colours to do the lining in, yellow and red or yellow and black, I will have to sit and make my mind up !!! Mabe yellow with very thin red and black outer lines, at least we have plent of time with this build to do the paintwork between fettling and building.
Roll on K2!

Frostie

Hi Frostie
Buzz lined his blue Burrell in gold and it looks very good, the beugler one shot paints do a gold but it is a bit browny. To my mind the brass colour they do looks more like gold than their gold.

Cheers Steve,

I have been using the American one shot paints from Pinstriping uk, I cant remember what the make is tho, I am hoping that I can get a nice gold thick line with a very thin red line either side with another very thin black line outermost either side of the red.... I think that it will be very striking against the Oxford Blue, I am also hoping that the blue will mellow out a bit darker after a couple of steamings, than Buzz's .
I must say that I like Buzz's colour scheme, thats what made me want to paint mine blue !!
I am going for the brass hubs as I think they will look good against the blue and gold on the wheels.
When is the next club meeting ???
I will be home next week (I hope)

Malcolm (Frostie)

Hi Frostie

The next meeting is Friday week the 18th at the Miners institute at St.Agnes (7.30pm) Buzz will be very pleased you are making another blue engine as it is quite a rare colour in a miniature. I don't think the paint will darken much with steaming unless you let the oily grime build up!

What colour blue did Buzz use ?, I am using Oxford Blue (Craftmaster) I think it is a tad darker then Buzz's
I will be home on the 17th so I will just make the meeting, I will put it in my diary.
I wonder if Tony T is going, I will pick him up if he wants a lift..

Frostie

If your thinking of blue Craftmaster now also do ex-mayor blue and the ex-mayor yellow for the wheels. It's hot off the shelf and has only been available for about 2 weeks. Adam at Craftmaster has been working hard for me over the last few months to get the samples and match it, so if anyone interested worth giving him a call.

I expect the winter work being carried out on Ex-mayor has helped get the colour match as well though.

Hi Frostie
I don't know what colour Buzz's engine is exactly but I believe he used craftmaster paints so it could be the same one. I'm doing a talk on spraying & lining at the CMSVC meeting and letting everyone have a go with some beugler pens on biscuit tins etc. Should be a bit of fun anyway, I've been told I mustn't make a mess as the carpet is nearly new, ha ha .......................................where's that white spirit!

Steve,

That sounds good, and should make an interesting evening, especially as I have a Buegler but not a lot of experience using it, I will bring it along.
The Ex Mayor Blue sounds good, I think its a darker colour than Oxford, I will check it up and order some if it is darker.
Dunno what I am going to do with two litres of oxford blue tho Hmmnnnnnnnnn

Hi
I have used Oxford blue on my DCC road loco and have posited some pictures in the owners pic section under IanL it is not as dark as I thought it might be but has darkened slightly as it has dried out fully, not decided on stripes as yet possibly just Crome yellow. Only painted the wheels so far so it is difficult to know how it will look on larger panels just completing assembly of the tender.

Ian

Some thing iv picked up here as i all so am doing my engine blue and have spent some time trying to find the blue i want is that no one has said any thing about what color base cote they are using if at all never mind a varnish as both will have a massive inpack in the final color. Me I'm using grey primer black base cote and blue top cote because i want a very deep blue just like Renown as for going for varnish iv not made my mind up yet iv done some testing with it ill see how i feel once the tender has been lined out.

My second thing iv all so noticed is craftmaster seems to be the paint to use on STW models why is this yes i have used it a lot on my engine and have found it to be hard to use in some case's over other brands but my top cote is not it's a totally different brand and if you know as many full size engine men i as do they seem to use Mason's on there engines. The reason i say this is down to the fact craftmaster is a after all boat paint (its where they come from I'm not after a fight here just saying) and we are all looking for that color we love and want to put on our engine if you look at it that way there is a lot more company's out there that make very high end boat paint with a pick of a lot more colors that can be sprayed or burhsed and all so do high temp paint for your smoke box some one that has spent 150k + on a boat wont use cheap low grade paint. Not just that when you walk in to your local marina to pick up some paint there tends to be lots of boats painted in all sorts of colors. go and speak to the owner of the boats they will tell you the color of the paint how they painted it who's and what it was like to use and so on that info first had can go a long way.

I really am not trying to push any body's nose out here just saying that there seems to be a bit of a one track mind about paint i want others to go and pick a color for there engine that not every body and his dog has.

And just so you all no the color of my engine is called 8 and i like that beacuse no body else will have one painted number 8. why be the same as every body else after all

Ianl did you now there is 2 places in derby you can get craftmaster paints in Derby ?

Stu

P.s I'm very up set if this seems like a moan or a dig at some one it is not at all in any way having spent a life time playing with paint and engines the first this some one all ways asks is what color is it don't you thing it would be nice to have some one say iv not seen on like that before it;s nice ????

Stu

It's a good point well made. There are several other suppliers of paint and yes it's worth shopping round to get the colour and price you want, or if you can't find it get it mixed specially. Most can supply any standard RAL colour no problem at all.

In my case I contacted several suppliers and the only one who pointed out the "published" colour for ex-mayor was wrong was Adam at Craftmaster, some never responded to a quote request. More than that Adam contacted Nigel and arranged for actual paint samples from the engine so they could colour match it for me (how's that for service!!). But again you have to go with who you feel most comfortable with.

In my case i have 2 coats gray primer, 2 coats blue base coat with 3 coats ex-mayor blue top coat. On the wheels 2coats red oxide, 2coats yellow base, and 3 coats ex-mayor yellow. Not planning to varnish as such but will varnish the pinstripe and gold leaf for their protection. I have also found the time left between coats an effect the final finish. I find leaving 4-5days between base and top coats greatly improves the quality of the final finish, something I picked up on the forum.

The best paint I've ever used is International's TopLac designed to go mainly onto fibreglass boats that have faded over time. It really is lovely paint to brush on and the finish is a real 'wet look' gloss that flows well to eliminate brush marks and that lasts for years. However being designed for boats the colour range is limited and is mainly 'Toy Town' colours that don't suit steam engines much. They do a reasonable maroon but it is a bit too reddy for me. The best thing about the Craftmaster paints is that they do the right colours in a very hard wearing enamel, they do a complete range of paints that are all compatible with each other. The risk of mix & matching other peoples paints is that they can react badly sometimes and the results are expensive and time consuming and sometimes very difficult to put right. ( I know I've been there!) I had a blue dye come to the surface on a synthetic Mid brunswick green about a year after painting. It surfaced everywhere oil had dripped and I had to 'T' cut the blue away and fortunately it hasn't come back but it was very time consuming and awkward. I'm not saying everyone elses paint is rubbish just that when you find a supplier that supplies a good product at a reasonable price and with a good after sales service I stick with them. Finally on price, cheap paint is ok for sheds but when you are painting something that has a value of thousands and a good paint job can add £5000 to the value a couple of quid a litre extra to my mind is irrelevant.

When referring to price I was refering more to negotiating the bast value for what you want rather than going cheap. As you say it's easy to ruin an engine with a poor paint job, and I'm sure we have all seen examples of that over the years.
Indeed I have spent time stripping back to bear metal and starting again when things went wrong with the bowser chassis due to comparability problems between base and top coats when on paper they should have been compatable. It held me up for weeks but all came good in the end though I'm pleased to say.

I have tried to spray with cellulose paints, but find as an amatuer (hobby based painter) that I just cant get a good enough finish.
I think that the crafmaster enamels are very forgiving in application (for me anyway) and I can achieve a reasonable finish.
I have to agree with Steve, that their paint range is more for the person who wants to stick with the traditional engine colours, rather than just having a colour that stands out ! Each to his own I guess.
I think that the main flow of the forum was in suggesting a good quality paint that most people can use, to get a good finish, without resorting to expensive spraying equipment.

Frostie

Have only painted the wheels so far
Two coats grey etch primer followed by two coats dark blue high build undercoat, followed by at least two coats of Oxford blue enamel top coat, have flatted back after very other coat. As mentioned above I have also found that I get a much better finish in the top coat if I leave at least two days after finishing the last undercoat. I am brush painting as I do not have any spray facilities or experience on doing this and wanted to do it myself, I may well chance my mind when I have a go at painting the tender.

Not sure about the varnish thought it may help protect the pinstripes from cleaning abrasion, but concerned about this possibly yellowing with age or oil contamination, which may then result in blue plus yellow = green, is this what happened to Steve in his post above with having to rub done the green stain? Applying varnish just to the pinstripe may be a solution but possibly a pain to achieve.

Stu I have been getting the Ctraftmaster paint supplies from Burton on Trent canal chandlers could you let me know where the two place are in Derby that you mention.

Happy painting

Ian

Hi Ian

Im sort of in the same boat about what to do with my varnish iv done a few test's and have felt them on the roof of the workshop to see how well they weather ?

If you would like to come and have a look at how and what im doing in my workshop you are more than welcome bring some thing to paint if you would like to try your had with a spray gun or air brush in my little booth and have a look over my tools as i have a lathe and mill all so if you need one.

As for paint i pick mine up from millar marine or shobvall boats.

Stu

Hi Stu,

I think it is Shobhall boats where I got my paint from there is supposed to be one at Shardlow but have not been there yet.

I would like to pop around to meet you and see what you are doing, I am away this weekend send me a PM to arrange a time .

Best wishes

Ian

IanL wrote:

Stu I have been getting the Ctraftmaster paint supplies from Burton on Trent canal chandlers could you let me know where the two place are in Derby that you mention.

Ian

If you get stuck I ordered mine direct from Craftmaster, not sure now costs compare to their suppliers though.

hi just got kit one as i running 4 mouth behined on one of the pic i notices in the front wheel theres bronzs bush (wheel bearings) do there come in kit 2

Hi Richard,
Some kits came with bearings and some didn't! Mine didn't and I was as confused as you when I saw Frosties pics. I rung Steve at STW and he said they were switching to a 29mm axle shaft without bearings rather than a 22mm shaft with bearings. Apparently the axle is made of a high graphite steel and works just fine without the bearing. Hope this helps - if not give Stave a yell and he will explain it technically!!!!!!
Cheers Andrew

Hi Richard,

I guess that your kit was one of the later batch.
STW have done away with the bronze bearing as Andrew stated, the modification is supposed to make the axle stronger as it is now several mm thicker.
I am currently working on my main wheels
Enjoy your building mate.

Frostie

FROSTIE AND ANDREW
HI THANKS FOR INFO

RICHARD

hi just tryed to put front tyres on warm up on rad all day came to fit got one on then joint let go the over one let go at joint what glue stick the end togerther
help
Richard