VE6AB Technical
Its All in the Details
As the various buildings on my HO switching layout are completed, they then need to be painted and once the painting is done, they need to be weathered giving the structure the look of a building that has been standing out in the weather for many years.
That's what is happening in this photo, I'm using an air-brush to apply weathering effects to this building that depicts a tire manufacturing plant.
If your not familiar with how an airbrush works, the airbrush that I'm using in the photo is utilizing compressed air passing through a venturi, which creates a suction that allows paint to be pulled from the interconnected paint bottle connected to the airbrush.
The high velocity of the air atomizes the paint as it blows past a very fine paint-metering needle assembly, with the paint covering the area being airbrushed.
The airbrush being used in the photo has a single-action mechanism where the depression of the trigger actuates air flow through the airbrush. The airbrush's color flow and spray pattern are adjusted separately from the trigger action. This is done through an adjustment of the airbrush's needle assembly located within its paint tip.
The color volume and spray pattern are maintained at a fixed level until the airbrush is readjusted. Although single-action airbrushes such as the one I'm using here are simpler to use and generally less expensive, they present limitations in applications in which the user wishes to do something more artistic than simply apply a good, uniform coat of color.
Dual-action or double-action airbrushes enable the simultaneous adjustment of both air and color at the trigger, by allowing you to actuate air by depressing the trigger and simultaneously adjust color by sliding the trigger back and forth. This ability to adjust color flow while spraying with the airbrush, along with the ability to adjust the distance from the sprayed surface, allows for the variation of fine to wide spray patterns without stopping to re-adjust the spray pattern as is necessary with a single-action airbrush. This allows for greater spray control and enables a wider variety of artistic effects.
For the majority of the airbrushing that I find myself doing, I have had good success with a single-action Paasche airbrush as seen here.
Expand the photo for a closer look.....
The air-compressor being utilized......
https://www.jerryclement.ca/HamRadio/VE6AB-Technical/i-KpHk8w3
Here is the tire manufacturing plant in place on the layout.....
https://www.jerryclement.ca/Outdoor-Pursuits/DawnThreader/i-CHvHmVn
