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Problem painting whitemetal


97xx
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Am on my second rebuild of 40-year old WM kits. Both were dissembled and stripped with green Nitromors, and subsequently first repainted in acrylics a month or so later which went without issue.

 

Just trying to prime the tender of the second one - and have small patches where the acrylic primer will not dry. It almost does but has very slightly sheen in a patch - which then easily comes off with your nail.

 

Stripped it, sanded, cleaned, degreased, and repeat - same.

 

So, repeat but with a dusting of Upol Etch-8. Same. 

 

I know WM is porous but this doesn't usually cause issues when carefully cleaned, dried and degreased which this has been, just as was the last one I did a few months ago without issue.

 

It was originally painted with cellulose I'm pretty sure, as was the last one I stripped and rebuilt. Usually (40-year old!) cellulose is stable if painted over - especially air-brushed thinly with water-based acrylic!

 

Intuitively I'd blame Nitromors in the pores, but it's been apart for 6+ months, cleaned and degreased etc., blow dried (pretty hot) and so on. Last one was done the same way (probably less care) and I had no issue. It was also water soluble Nitromors I used both times.

 

I'm at wit's end now, as the endless spraying and removing is starting to spoil the rest of the finish.

 

Am now trying a thin coat of enamel matt varnish to see if this dries hard as a sort of 'isolator'.

 

What worries me is if this happens with the loco body - the tender (Bulleid Q1) is devoid of any detail luckily, but the loco will have a slew of Archer rivet detail added (onto WM as this works really well) and clearly I cannot afford any sanding down on that one...

 

Help!

 

Thank you...

Edited by 97xx
Added the enamel step and comment about loco body
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Hi there,

 

Well  discovered the nowadays Nitromors is no where near as potent as in days of modelling yore.

 

I prefer good old Wilko`s bog standard stripper !!

 

989215950_9Sz0sqA-Imgur.jpg.7ea010a25be52b480b3bc9627936ff31.jpg

 

Rinse off with water.

 

I use Viakal to clean white metal models.

 

 

DSC04840.JPG.e8221ee3b2ee58cadc5489bf09d84e19.JPG

 

 

 

Rinse off with water again.

 

Dry.

 

I use rattle can etch primer Closterman black or grey.

 

 

DSC04880.JPG.dd234d5983dde6ecca3cb7005fd6a722.JPG

 

 

I don`t use Acrylics for my rolling stock preferring Enamels which to my mind are much harder wearing when fully dry.

 

 

DSC04883.JPG.ff4a875a0941c9fd6ae71f963a35665d.JPG

 

Hope some of that helps....

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An update: the attempt to isolate with matt enamel varnish did not work either.

 

There simply is a visibly porous patch that has something in it that cannot be eradicated. I was tempted to ultrasonically clean it, but with all those whitemetal soldered joints decided that wasn't likely to be a very smart move.

 

Basically I've had to sand the whitemetal area right down and fill with Isopon P38.

 

Hopefully this will now work...

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@ROSSPOP A really smart shunter's truck or should I say 'Chariot'?

 

Thanks, yes, I think I'm not short of chemicals and cleaners, just that none of them have worked on this one patch.

 

I have to say the rest of the acrylic primer (Railmatch 2506) has stuck to the whitemetal like the proverbial to the blanket.

 

You've prompted me to dig out my 00 one, which also shows a buffer height discrepancy - the model was built exactly per instructions and parts, but I wonder if the wheels are 1mm too big?

2018-06-29 at 13-47-17.jpeg

Edited by 97xx
Added the 'Chariot' Q.
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On 14/01/2021 at 10:04, 97xx said:

An update: the attempt to isolate with matt enamel varnish did not work either.

 

There simply is a visibly porous patch that has something in it that cannot be eradicated. I was tempted to ultrasonically clean it, but with all those whitemetal soldered joints decided that wasn't likely to be a very smart move.

 

Basically I've had to sand the whitemetal area right down and fill with Isopon P38.

 

Hopefully this will now work...

I can see no reason not to use an ultrasonic cleaner, the power in domestic ones is sufficient to free off debris etc but totally insufficient to “rattle” soldered joints apart.

Once cleaned why not fill the porous area and rub down.

Jim P

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