Base coat

February 8, 2006

Well, at last I could spend some time on my Shay again. A few days ago I took the Shay apart and degreased all parts. Degreasing was done in two steps. First I put the parts in warm water with strong but harmless dish washing soap. One hour later I took them out washed them with abundant water and immersed the parts in a vinegar solution for another half hour. Again I washed the parts with clear water. I allowed the parts to dry for two days.

Then I applied the base coat on those assemblies that contained metal parts. The all plastic parts don't need a base coat. Normal modeling paint will attach to plastics anyway.

The first layer of base coat is always a bit of a disappointment. It shows harshly where you didn't work good enough. Where did you leave some glue, where did you overlook a finished detail or a little bit of flash, where didn't you deburr good enough etc etc.

A thin layer of base coat will suffice