The
basics of painting Brass
Painting
brass can be a difficult task for some but is made
much easier with a sand blasting booth.
The problem is that BRASS oxidizes and
prevents the paint from making a good grip on the
surface of the metal. In the past special etch
primers have been tried and even these still allow
the paint to chip relatively easily.
With the sand blaster all the brass parts
that need to be painted are suitably sand blasted
prior to applying the etch primer and paint. The
sand blasting just roughens up the surface
sufficiently that is gives an excellent key to the
paint without any other preparation other than a
light blast of air to clear away any remaining
particles of grit from the blasting process.
An etch primer that has been found to be
successful is "Craftmaster Aerosol Etching Primer"
and this can be found on the web site of
Craftmaster Paints www.craftmasterpaints.co.uk
- whilst not cheap it says to apply thinly as
possible in one coat so a can goes a long way!
HOWEVER most brass that is to be painted
will also have needed to be soft soldered to
another piece to make up say a cab of a loco
or body of a truck.
SOLDERING and sand blasting do not mix.
Always solder first and then sand blast else it is
as near as impossible to solder a good joint. Even
more difficult if you have used a special etch
paint such as mentioned above as the paint
will not even burn off with a pencil flame torch
being a water based paint.
That
is enough for here but more on soldering brass in
another section.
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