Winter + low-budget + modeling = :(

CarlGo · Post by **CarlGo** » Sat Jan 26, 2013 9:43 pm

So it's winter now, and it's really putting a crimp in my model building progress. I have a bunch of models partially assembled but I don't have any way to paint them.

My usual strategery to paint was to set up a table outside and lay down coats of paint with rattlecans, as I am a poor person with no heated garage and no budget for an airbrush setup...

So is anyone else in the same boat? How do you get around the problem of stupid winter being a stupid face?

Or do you just hunker down and wait it out until spring?

Mr. Badwrench · Post by **Mr. Badwrench** » Sat Jan 26, 2013 11:46 pm

I used to have the same problem, many long years ago. I guess it depends on where you live. In Colorado, the winters are pretty mild. It's not unusual to see days in January and February when the temperature hovers in the mid 50's or warmer.

Rogviler · Post by **Rogviler** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 12:39 am

Funny, I get MORE modeling done in the winter since there's less I'm able to do outside and if I don't keep my hands busy I will go completely nuts. Plus I'm usually exhausted in the summer due to all the bike riding, walks, and playground time, not to mention working on the cars and other maintenance stuff around the house...

As far as paint, I usually spray stuff outside on something portable like a piece of cardboard, then move it inside to a bathroom where it can sit with the fan on and dry without stinking up the house.

There's always this, which you should be able to afford unless you're sleeping in the cardboard box:

http://www.starshipmodeler.net/talk/vie ... p?t=104334

I do tend to do more hand painting in the winter, but that's as much a part of that keeping the hands busy thing as it is about issues spraying.

God, I can't even imagine just sitting in a chair all winter staring at the wall...

-Rog

CarlGo · Post by **CarlGo** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 5:49 am

I'm up near Montreal, and even if we hadn't just come off a -40 cold spell, I still wouldn't risk any outdoor spray painting-- I tried it once ages ago, and the results were pretty ghastly (craquelure all over the place!!!)

Rogviler wrote:There's always this, which you should be able to afford unless you're sleeping in the cardboard box:

http://www.starshipmodeler.net/talk/vie ... p?t=104334

Sweet! For a few scary minutes i thought i was going to have to hand paint my Enterprise.

Looks like it's DIY time... Thanks!

(Love your sig Rogviler, BTW.)

steam235 · Post by **steam235** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 1:00 pm

I'm kinda in the same boat but Colorado has a very mild winter. It's 50 degrees at 11:00 am I think by 2:00 it should hit sixty and I have several carboard trays loaded with masked pieces to be sprayed. It I don't get it sprayed today though that might be my chance for a week.