Spray paint & humidity - Model Railroader Magazine

Hello all,

Just another thing to throw into the mix...

I was just now detailing some generators that came with the American Model Builders Generator Flat Car Load.

After rattle-can painting them John Deere Green, a few days ago, I was using a silver paint pen to detail the ends of the shafts when the pen burped!

With my hands-of-ham and fingers-of-sausage I managed to make the spill worse.

After several expletives I decided the best course was to repaint the entire unit.

On other units, that the silver paint had strayed, I used a cotton swab with turpentine to remove the errors. This mistake was more detrimental! 

As fate would have it was raining with a temperature of 45ºƒ, with an ambient humidity level of 75%.

Not the ideal conditions to spray paint.

Using the water-bath method of warming the rattle can, I adhered the generator to a block of foam. All this was done at an internal room temperature of 75ºƒ.

I quickly went outside, under the porch overhang, and quickly re-painted the unit. 

After a few minutes, to allow the most volatile fumes to dissipate, I brought it into the train room. 

"She who must be obeyed" is used to strange smells coming from the train room. I opened the windows, to create a cross-breeze, and am now waiting for the paint to fully dry. 

For small applications this method worked well in high humidity and relatively low temperature conditions. 

Hope this helps.  

Post Script: "She who must be obeyed" noticed the smell, crinkled her nose and walked out of the train room with no immediate objections.

HTH!