I’m using ‘Holloway House Quick Shine Floor Finish’ for varnish and as no surprise, the spray is a little heavier than desired. I’m testing at different distances… close, far and different rates of spray passes — seems to level-out okay. IDK, could be useful in some applications.
FWIW - I tried a spray bottle with homemade ballast freeze for gluing ground work. The spray was heavy and not well atomized compared to an airbrush. Good enough ballast freeze for ground work but probably too course and heavy for anything else.
Yeah, that’s generally what I’ve been doing, but constantly having to clean the AB makes me lose interest in painting at all. Guess I’m just not a fan of paint layering with varnish between each step so many modelers seem to enjoy. … Not to mention, disturbing the neighbors whenever I crank-up the compressor.
I knew an art teacher at a high school who restored old bicycles. He used spray bottles to paint the frames. He used a lead based paint, I seem to remember him saying it leveled out better but there may have been other reasons, Where he managed to get it I have no idea.
He also had a silk screen setup at school and made his own replacement decals for the bikes.
I saw them myself and the finishes were stunning.
Oops… I may have been misunderstood. Not even thinking of replacing my trusty airbrush for “painting” color… no way! I’m merely considering the spray bottles for laying-on a “clear coat,” thereby circumventing gunking-up my airbrush with varnish. … Leaving one less cleaning for tomorrow.
Worth mentioning… The spray pattern from these bottles seems very similar to spraying rattle-can paints. As with spray cans, don’t hold them too close. And I hear tell that some modelers refuse to even touch an airbrush and yet, they achieve astounding results… or so they say.
As far as “heavy handed” — been there, done that — can’t airbrush everything and sometimes the hairy stick or rattle-can becomes a viable solution… So why not add spray bottles into the fray?
I finally went for it and clear-coated a bunch of painted parts — some with very intricate corners. After a terrifying few moments, the ‘Holloway House Quick Shine’ droplets began leveling-out nicely. It was more about holding the work surface horizontally while spraying/drying it. Any excessive puddles were dealt with by gently rolling over them with a cotton swab. I seem to recall similar pooling when airbrushing clear coat as well. After about ten-minutes or so, I came back to very nicely clear-coated parts. Eureka! It actually worked! With that out of the way, I can finally move on to weathering with a little more confidence.
Ah-ha! What trickery is this? … Is the spoon half empty or is it half full?
Answer: The left side is untouched and the right side has been varnished.
I haven’t cleaned out the pump yet. However, to make sure it wasn’t clogged, I did a quick clean-up of the nozzle by rinsing it with water and wiping it off before restarting each test.
BTW: The six-bottle set includes nozzle caps and funnels as well.
Ok, so sounds like (and looks like) this is a good alternative for decal prep on military models (if that’s your jam, some don’t). Maybe even a quick and easy sealant method for porous materials if and when needed.
…
