Question for anyone living in a studio or one bedroom apartment. Do the property managers allow you to build and paint in the apartment? How do you control the paint and glue fumes? How about the airbrush compressor noise? I am only wondering how it all works. I am not currently in an apartment but looking into the future when I will eventually move into one.
Thanks for your replies!
I would read any rules carefully but never had an issue. Also been a long time since I last lived in an apartment. You can avoid most paint fumes with using acrylics. There is quiet hobby compressors or portable ones that can be used.
Iâve always rented and just last year I moved out of an upstairs studio apartment where the floor was so noisy that it sounded like a creaking ship! I limited compressor use purely out of neighborly respect â problem was, the guys downstairs were always at home, so there was no perfect operational window for airbrushing.
I primarily use acrylics. Even so, I wear a respirator-type mask, run fans, a Dyson Air Purifier (with air quality monitoring app), and open-up windows when airbrushing. I mostly spray lacquer-based rattle-can paints outside.
During any of my occupancies, Iâve always made sure that anything I added or modified could be restored as close as possible to its original state. 
âmike 
âŚ
Thanks for the replies, greatly appreciated!
I am a few years away from renting and know the wait lists are long so trying to plan ahead. Not sure where or exactly when I will be moving but looking for somewhere that I donât have to deal with winter weather anymore. I would be looking at mostly 55+ apartment communities so maybe someone else in one of those types of communities would be a model builder as well. My plans are all a few years away though so just planning to be courteous to the neighbors.
My biggest concerns were the paint fumes and compressor noise. I do have a lot of old Model Master enamels that are still good but have been slowly getting into acrylics. I always wear a mask with the enamels but also usually with the acrylics as well. As for the noise, I was looking at apartments with even a small balcony but then you are still right next to the neighbors. So, noise is still an issue. A quiet compressor is an option only if I can afford one when the time comes.
I donât plan on modifying anything in the apartment and I will more than likely have one or two small display cases for the built models. I will also be trying to reduce the stash in the next few years to get the number down to maybe only 20-25 kits total. Sounds impossible I know LOL! I only have about 150 in the stash anyway so hoping to sell them off to a manageable size for an apartment.
Thanks again for the replies!
What about using a compressed air tank that others on the forum have mentioned. Filled with nitrogen or CO2, there is no compressor and no noise at all as I understand it. Just depends on how much trouble it is to get it refilled. I use a compressor with a tank, so it runs for 5 min to fill the tank then not again until I use up enough and then another short run time. If it was during the day, itâs no more noise than a cooking mixer or immersion blender.
Thoughts. Use a spray booth that has an exhaust hose that goes out of a window. Paint type would be less of an issue then.
I have a C02 set up, so no noise at all.
You will eventually be moving out to somewhere else. How to protect your finished kits during a move?
Apartment airbrushing?
I used to go outside on the balcony with a TV tray & kitchen chair. Placed a box fan at an angle behind me to blow the fumes and overspray away from me. My compressor was a quiet rotary made as much noise as a loud refrigerator. Never had any issues but that was 36 years ago.
Still using the same compressor.
If blowing toxic fumes out of your window, are you in turn blowing them back into your neighborâs home?
If windows are the side-sliding type, youâre most likely to have hose installation issues for a basic spray booth set-up. Vertical opening windows are a blessing. Ask me how I know. 
âmike
From experience including currently:
Make contact/acquaintance with neighbours likely to smell fumes, based on checking out common prevailing wind. Invite them for drinks, theyâre more likely to understand. Even arrange to tell them to keep their window(s) closed for an hour or so whenever necessary.
Compressor may be problematic, on a balcony itâs not just the noise but the vibration, goes thru concrete so easily. Put a thick/dense rubber mat under it.
If thereâs underground parking with power points, Iâve sometimes gone there as long as the ventilation systemâs viable. Best time is say 7.30pm, most people are home/dining so unlikely to be disturbed
Yeah, right! 
âmike 
OK you need to get them drunk/stoned a couple of times first 
One thing that also might need to be taken into consideration is the humidity in the new location compared to where you are at now. A compressor in a humid climate should technically be working harder to push the same amount of (wet) air compared to in a dryer climate = more noice.
Iâm building in an apartment but have limited myself to using acrylics and a small Gaahleri Serenair compressor, which is very quiet. Iâm also doing all the airbrush work in the kitchen area of the apartment, which is not adjecent to any neighborsâ bedrooms, etc.
From my experience, painting with acrylics does not produce any smell on adjacent rooms, so I do not think any neighbour would notice from an open window. As for the noise, there are small compressors like Soren has said above that should not bother anyone.
In any case, if you intend to get absolute zero smells and noise, there are spray booths and silent compressors -but both are not cheap.
If you have time enough you can test it before moving.
I agree with the above comments - use acrylics, get a spray booth that vents out a window (they make ones that fold up when not in use), and go for a CO2 bottle instead of compressor. The other thing nobody mentioned is to look for a two-bedroom place so you can have a dedicated hobby room!
I spray only Tamiya acrylics and have a booth - it is handy to suck away the clouds of spray and to catch all the particles in the filter, but as there isnât much smell I can get away without switching it on for small jobs. The booth sits on a desk in my home-office room so I donât need to pack it away each day - thatâs a real god-send I can tell youâŚ
Thanks again to everyone, all great suggestions.
I will take a look at a quiet compressor or CO2 tank. The quiet compressor would be a viable option depending on cost. Depending on where I move to, I will have to see where offers to fill the CO2 tanks and how big they are. Yes, humidity would be a factor to consider.
Painting in the kitchen area is a good suggestion as I could use the kitchen exhaust fan and also have a window open. The last couple years I have been acquiring more and more acrylics trying to break from enamels. I already have some AK Real Colors, Vallejo and Tamiya acrylics.
An end unit apartment would be ideal as only one neighbor to the one side and one below if I find a top unit but squeaky floors and vibrations would be a problem. Maybe a ground unit would be better if I could find one to avoid floor vibrations. The size and type of apartment depends on my pension/social security of what I can afford. I feel comfortable with a one bed apt. price wise to still afford the rent, utilities, food, internet and still have some left over for other amenities.
If I do decide to choose a 55+ apartment community, I am sure there might already be drunk neighbors LOL! Those 55+ communities do have families but there are also a lot of people over 62 and already fully retired.
Thanks again for all the suggestions and will be taking them all into consideration for when the time comes.
Sight and hearing deteriorates with age, just saying âŚ
On the other hand: vacuum cleaners also make noise,
Mr Hard-of-hearing listening to music or TV also makes noise.
Run the compressor to fill the tank, shut off the compressor and airbrush until the air-pressure in the tank gets too low for the airbrush. Compressors with a pressure controlled On/Offf-switch will
start the noise somewhere around 80 PSI and shut off somewhere around 115-120 PSI.
Airbrushing is usually done with less than 25 PSI or even below 20 PSI so there is a lot of air left in the tank when the pressure switch decides to activate the noise generator.
Let it fill when there is ambient noise, turn off the compressor and work in silence.
A larger tank is preferable.
Iâve been living in an apartment for six years now and canât see how this would be a problem. It wouldnât be any different IMO than someone painting oils or other mediums, unless there is a common building air exchange.
If youâre moving into a concrete apartment building a small compressor shouldnât be an issue. A wooden structure may be different. Vapours and fumes from glues I think is negligent too, unless of course youâre in a confined space or common air exchanger. Simple spray booths that vent out a window is a very good idea.
Tenant and common courtesy is a must living in an apartment, however one must be able to also live and enjoy their space. It isnât like you will be running a compressor or spray booths 24/7. You can always ask your neighbours if they ever smell fumes too?
Happy modelling.
âfumesâ from Tamiya Extra Thin are negligible, Small compressor could be placed in a cardboard box with top open for air flow, line box with felt or some deadening material.
Alternatively get appartment next to a skunk grow houseâ
Iâm just glad I live out in the sticks.
Certainly less fumes than when the ladies in the house are doing their fingernails.
Acetone free Nail Polish Remover can be used to glue/weld styrene in an emergency âŚ
I lived in an appartment for 8 years or so. I never had a problem but still some advice for your own health and the peace and quiet of the neighbours.
First a lot depends on the appartment, some seem to have paper walls, others are well contructed and that makes a huge difference when it comes to noise.
In my appartment, i built a tabletop âboxâ for modelling. It was equiped with a cheap kitchen damp extractor that released its air inside my appartment but had a large active coal filter so no fumes in my, or the neighbouring, appartments.
the air compressor was in a box with noise reducing material. These cartons for 30 eggs from the supermarket do wonders. And, equip the compressor with a tank. with a decent size tank, the compressor runs 15 minutes every two hours.