You just cannot beat the finish you get with an airbrush! And for model railroading, a simple single stage or external mix airbrush is all that is required, and could not be easier to clean. Some of the old pros still use enamels and lacquers on their projects, but I find that it is very hard to beat the finish you get with the Polly Scale paints. I've heard many other acrylic based paints recommended, and if they have a color you really want, they are worth a try, but the other brands I have tried cannot compete with the quality of Polly Scale. I do prefer to put on a very thin coat, it dries very fast, within 15 minutes, and ready for the second coat. better to do it that way than to risk a run. and some colors will crack if you pile it on too thick.

I want to get into weathering with the airbrush, but am just not at that point right now on my layout. But I have painted an engine and some rolling stock with great luck, and I think applying the decals was the hardest part of those jobs. Be sure to lay down a coat of gloss under your decals, then spray flat overtop of it is you want the flat finish. Decals just will not adhere to flat paints.

Cleanup is a breeze on these single stage guns, mine comes apart easily, just pull a C clip and unscrew the nozzle, wash out the bottle and rinse out the stem that sticks into the bottle. and use a set of cleaning brushes made for airbrushes to clean out the inside of the nozzle parts. Plain soap and water work great on Polly Scale paints, easy to clean. Only takes 5 minutes to clean my single stage gun, with nothing but water and dish soap.

 And it is just fantastic for model buildings and other landscaping and modeling projects. I only use brushes on the small stuff anymore, just tiny details.

ON the subject of masking. There are several good options that work well. Some good quality blue painter's tape can be used, I stick mine on the plastic self healing mat and cut it into narrow strips and use it on small models, works very well. 3M and Tamiya make modeling tape that can be found at the hobby shop or on eBay and are very inexpensive. And for complex masking issues, Parafilm can be used, they sell it at Micro-Mark and in pro paint shops, and works well if you cut it with a new hobby knife to the shape desired. And I have also used some of the Microscale paint on masking, paint on a few coats nice and thick, cut your lines with a hobby knife and pull off the area you want painted. It says not to use with acrylic paints, but if you are airbrushing it will still work. Out of all these options I own them all, but still use the blue painters tape for almost all of my masking projects. It's so cheap and easy to work with.

I've only been airbrushing for about a year, so this is a testament as to just how easy it is to use and master. My best advice is to just do it! There is no substitute for practice and experience. Reading up on method and technique can be very helpful, but there is just no substitute for getting in there and getting your feet wet. And you do not have to spend a fortune to do this, I bought my favorite single stage gun for only $12 on eBay, and use a $50 air compressor. I also use a water trap on the line under the gun, in humid areas that can really help. Especially on larger projects, the more air you use the more water will build up in the line, and without a trap it will cause spitting and spots on your work. So a cheap in line water trap is a nice piece of gear to own if you plan on doing a lot of airbrushing. This is my experience with starting out airbrushing! I hope this helps other beginners, which I was just a short time ago!

Russell

My favorites for masking are blue painter's tape and regular Scotch tape.  The Scotch tape works especially well in places where it needs to settle down into small cracks and crevices, as it's very easy to see when it's properly burnished into place.  For any sort of tape, I never use the edge that came from the factory.  Instead, I lay the tape on a piece of glass and cut a new edge with a sharp blade and a straightedge.  That gives a much cleaner, straighter edge.  I also sometimes sand the paper backing on masking tape to make it thinner and more flexible.

With those simple techniques, I have painted stripes as narrow as 3" in HO, on Southern, CofG, and UP locomotives.  In many cases, I find it easier to paint a stripe than to apply a decal!

Toni,

Thanks for sharing and the video. I've never had the guts to try my airbrush on a loco or rolling stock. I think I'll give it a try on weathering some rolling stock.

Rick

I've never had the guts to try my airbrush on a loco or rolling stock.

Go get a cheap freight car (we've all got some sitting in a box under the layout, don't we?), give it a bath, and try it.  Notice how the original lettering shows through because the paint is so thin, but the car still looks pretty good.  Now strip the car and do it again.  Notice how much better the car looks this time around.  If you really want to illustrate the change (for yourself, or for all of us) take 4 photos - the original car, the car painted, the car stripped, and the car repainted.  It might be educational, and it'll cost you the price of a little paint and some alcohol.

  Guys,

 Thanks for the tips with masking, especially about making a fresh edge with regular old tape!  I seem to remember one of the tips I read eons ago, about preventing paint "creeping" under the edge of your mask.  Once you have masked off the color you want to keep, shoot a thin coat of the same color along the edge of the mask to seal it.  I think this tip came from an automotive painting book, and is probably more useful for jobs where you are building up images with lots of layers and then laying down 6 or 10 layers of clear over the top, but i thought I'd mention it.

  Now I have to remember to get past the glass place and see what the thickest piece of glass they can get me out of their scrap bin.  Either that or get me one of those cheap Enco granite or marble surface blocks, maybe swing past one of the countertop places and see if they have a chunk of scrap.

  In the meantime i will sacrifice a hunk of my un-fazeable polypropylene sheet that I got from work.  I swear, nothing will stick to that stuff!

For the glass, you don't need anything fancy.  I have a small piece out of a picture frame, which is a great size for working on.  It's larger than most of my models (except structures and passenger cars) so I can build up styrene and wood items without gluing them down, but it's still small enough to put away easily when not in use, and also it doesn't require a huge area on my workbench.

I'd forgotten to mention the painting trick, too.  I frequently use that, shooting a very light coat of the same color that is under the mask.  In addition, I try my best to always shoot away from the edge, to hopefully prevent forcing paint under the tape.  Those techniques, along with using light coats over the mask, have gone a long way toward eliminating bleed-under.