True Color Paint experiences?

[nickelplate759]

Exactly what I do - paint with thinner, clean up with acetone.

Tried using acetone for thinner twice ('cause I'm a slow learner), and won't do that again - just like you I couldn't get a smooth finish.

[peteski]

Bought a large (pint) container of TruColor thinner & did some touch ups where masking was a bit off.  Definitely a much easier/better experience. Cleanup is acetone though. At $40+ for the thinner, I’m going the economical route, and cleanup is just as good.

Decals this weekend, hopefully. Weathering & pics to follow. Probably not til next weekend though.

TruColor products come in plastic bottles (same as the AccuPaints did), which seems to be somewhat permeable  to the paints solvents.  Even the 30ml bottles show solvent evaporation after few months.  For years I have been moving paint from those bottles to 1oz. FLoquil glass bottles with metal caps. I also add an aluminum disk seal into the cap. It is made from disposable aluminum baking or roasting pans from a dollar store.  I also completely clean the bottle's lip  and the seal before resealing the paint bottle, and afterwards I shake the bottle so is there are microscopic gaps between the lip and seal they will be filled with paint and sealed  when the paint dries up in them.

Here is a part of my paint stock. As there are only 3 original plastic paint bottles among all the other glass bottles.


I have some seldom used colors of AccuPaint which have not been open for over a decade, and they still retain the same level (I use fine permanent marker to record the paint level and month/year on the bottle to keep track.  Yes, I'm *VERY* anal about my precious expensive paints.  If the same paints were stored that long  in the original plastic bottles, the would have become a thick goo.  Yes, these paints can  be revived by adding thinner, but the thinner is a blend of different solvents and I believe they all evaporate at different rates, so just adding fresh thinner will not restore the original proportions of the ingredients.



I mentioned all this to recommend that you move the paint of very expensive thinner to a glass bottle with a really good seal.  IMO, well worth the effort.  And yes, for cleanups Lacquer Thinner or acetone work very well.  I usually also mix some acetone into my lacquer thinner for some  extra kick  (since its formula does not contain acetone).

[ATSF_Ron]

Thanks for the reminder about the paint bottles, Peteski. That’s going near the top of my hobby “to do” list!

[haasmarc]

I handle Tru-Color paint a little differently.

I put a strip of masking tape on the bottle to mark the current level.  Once a year (usually on Christmas break), or when I am about to use the bottle, I fill it to the mark, if needed, with hardware store Acetone.



When I go to paint, I thin it 50/50 with Mr. Color Leveling thinner.  I don't remember if I just tried it myself or read it somewhere but this thinner works great.  It has a retarder to help smooth the paint.  Much cheaper than Tru-Color thinner.  I spray at 28 psi with an Iwata HP-CS gravity feed airbrush.  No problem with tip drying and the painted parts still dry quickly IMO.

https://www.scalehobbyist.com/manufacturers/Gunze_Mr_Hobby/Paints/mr-leveling-thinner-400ml/GSI00013108/product.php?srsltid=AfmBOoq357NGwiy64tPuFgIYSkzDVOvUyakQISCbXoIde3snq0m9mC9soV8



Here is a sampling of test spoons which I keep for future color reference.  As you can tell, I get a very smooth, glossy finish.

[peteski]

I handle Tru-Color paint a little differently.

I put a strip of masking tape on the bottle to mark the current level.  Once a year (usually on Christmas break), or when I am about to use the bottle, I fill it to the mark, if needed, with hardware store Acetone.

As I mentioned, I suspect that is is more than just acetone which evaporates from the bottles. But if acetone works for you, that's great.

[ATSF_Ron]

Painting on the GP9 is mostly done and decals applied.  There's a bit of a mess-up on the "O" in Portland, but some judicious weathering can save that!  The decals must've been very old stock from my LHS, as an entire "Spokane" disintegrated as I attempted to slide it off the decal backing paper.  I added the rotary beacon to the back of the cab and will add all weather windows to the cab when I figure out the issue with the Gold Medal Models window material.  I cleaned them with paint thinner and let them dry.  Had to put them on tape to paint them, since they are so small.  Still looks crappy, IMO.  The paint flaked off in a couple places.  Also, I'm giving up on Micro Crystal Clear for windows.  Probably will go with small pieces of clear acetate and canopy glue.  Anyone have a suggestion for prepping the all weather windows?  I really like the look of them in prototype photos and want to include them on my model.

The final step is weathering this week.  The look I'm going for is right before the BN merger, so lots of road grime and dirt!

[ATSF_Ron]

Finished up some weathering on the loco shell and trucks.  I feel like I need to lighten the body roof some more and add some rust to the trucks.  Also, the number boards and all weather windows still need to be added.  But overall, I'm happy with the results.  My old iPhone camera doesn't do a great job with lighting.  It seems darker than what I see on my work table.

[peteski]

Looks nice and grungy!
As for the photos quality, I suspect that the issue might be with lighting rather than with the camera. Or try adjusting the phone camera's exposure value to lighten the photos.  On my Android phone I can touch the screen where I want the camera to focus and that also displays "exposure value" slider which then can be adjusted to brighten or darken the image before taking the photo. Not sure if iPhone works the same way.

[N Scale Train Boy]

iPhone does the same, tap the screen and you can slide up the slider that appears to the right of the focus.

[robert3985]

I agree with Peter that your exposure problem is most likely more due to lighting and exposure, as well as your stark white paper towel background. 

I also use an Android phone...my old Google Pixel 2 XL's battery finally bit the dust and I got a terrific deal on a new Google Pixel 9 Pro XL. Even though my old Pixel 2 was over 6 years old, the camera still worked very well...so, the age of the phone is probably irrelevant.

The problem with photographing ANY subject on a bright white background, such as your paper towel, is that the phone is going to expose for the average over the entirety of the photo image...or close to that...the intent being that both main subject and background should be closer to usably exposed.  This works okay for selfies and general landscape/vacation type photography, but not usually for close-ups of N-scale model railroad equipment.

As Peter @peteski has posted, if your phone camera has a feature that allows you to select what your focus/exposure spot is by pressing on the spot on your phone's screen, or manipulating a slider to increase/decrease your exposure, then use that feature to press on different spots to get an exposure/focus point that suits what you want.

However, starting out with a neutral background really helps out, and I often use a Kodak "Neutral Test Card" that is "Designed Primarily For Color Photography" with a 90% reflectance on the white side and an 18% reflectance on the gray side...the gray side being the side I use.  These are packaged 2 or 4 to an envelope with instructions, and are often referred to as a "Gray Card" even though they also have a white side.

For larger subjects, such as long engines, structures etc., I took one of my Kodak Gray Cards down to Michaels frame department and bought a full-sized mat board that was pretty close to the same gray color...maybe a little warmer in tone...to use for photographing larger N-scale subjects.

This works well for me and makes it much easier to get correct exposures, even though I always use the "touch-the-spot-where-you-want-your-camera-to-focus-and expose" technique to ensure that what I'm shooting is properly focused and exposed.

Photo (1) - Product shot of one of my kit-bashed UP CA-1 cabooses with a neutral gray background:


Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[peteski]

Yes, Bob does have a point about the background color.  If  you browse through my gallery photos you will see that modt of the model photos have a medium blue background like this:

[ATSF_Ron]

Thanks for the photo tips!  I'll have to play around with my phone settings some more.  And ditch the stark white background.

[craigolio1]

Tru-Color is my favourite paint out of what’s currently available to me. I use the tru-Color thinner and thin in my airbrush cup (Pasche VL dual action). I’ve had many great successes. I’ve also noticed it reducing in thr jar but because I thin by feeling my cup, I just add more thinner.

Someone here mentioned using tape, marking the level, and adding acetone a bit prior to painting to bring it back up to level. And also that Mr Surfacer 400 thinner. These are two things I’m going to do. Thanks for the tip.

Craig.