Wreckmaster Posted April 6, 2004 Share Posted April 6, 2004 Ok. I know I tend to sandbag (listen or read but not respond) in this forum a lot, but I need some help. I have been forced into a career change that is not of my liking. I have been forced back into over-the-road truck driving. My home time is roughly every other weekend for 2 maybe 3 days. With this much time away I no longer have time to paint. Heck I barely have time to finish the honey do list before I gotta go back to work. Not to mention posting here. But, anyway. I want to paint out of my truck. I think I can do this, although I am used to a lot more room to spread out. I have rather limited space in the sleeper cab of the truck, but I have found some unused storage space. Any tips any one can give me on painting with limmited resources and space would be greatly appreciated. I was looking at a product in the Micromark catalog that they are calling a rinse well. Bacisly a bowl with a watter bottle attached for cleaning brushes. It looks like just the gizmo I need being that it is self contained and little assumed mess. If any one has used this product (part number 81415) or something simmilar, I would be very interisted in the results. I would also like to know if a simmilar product is available such that I do not have to pay shipping, Michaels or Dick Blick or the like. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orchid_Noir Posted April 6, 2004 Share Posted April 6, 2004 Rinse well's are GREAT! In a position like yours I think it might even become indespensable. I would definitely get the little dropper bottles and just re-purchase or refill as needed. Other than that I can't think of anything at the moment. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerridwyn1st Posted April 6, 2004 Share Posted April 6, 2004 Wreck: Yeah, I'm with Orchid: that rinse well may well be indispensible. If nothing else, it will limit the amount of water you have that can spill. I normally take along a painting kit when I go to work. It is comprised of two flat plastic boxes, like the ones used for tackle items. One is about 8x10 inches and only has one side. The other is smaller in diameter but has two sides. I don't usually paint a lot at work. The lighting is bad and there isn't much room or time to really "get into it". I usually work on cleaning and basing my minis so I can optimize my painting time at home. When I do paint at work, I make sure I do the following: 1) Plan ahead. I will have only a few minis that I'm actually going to paint on. The most I've ever had at painting stage was four, and they were all the same sculpt. 2) Only use a few colors, stored in dropper bottles. Smaller, easier to transport, less chance of spilling. Also paint-on primer. Vallejo and Reaper both make paint-on primer. 3) Pallet. A larger carry-out lid makes a nice pallet after you wash it. The rim will help keep water or paint from going everywhere. The parchment used to handle bakery goods with a piece of paper towel, both cut to size, will finish your pallet. 4) Take care of your brushes, and make sure you have caps for them. If you loose your caps, you can use cut bits of coffee stirrers or straws instead. 5) Portable light. The need for this depends on what you have available to you. May not need it at all, may be crucial. You can kind of use one of those clip-on booklights, assuming you have something to clip it to. You can also get magnifiers for some types of booklights at Michaels. Oh, and did I say plan ahead? You won't have a lot of room to carry stuff, so decide on what you really want to work on and plan exactly what colors you will need for it. Everything you need to reasonably work on a few minis will fit in a small tacklebox, as long as you plan ahead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archaon Posted April 6, 2004 Share Posted April 6, 2004 If possible, (I would) mount paint racks on the walls. But make them solid, it's gonna be moving and vibrating a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digital [email protected] Posted April 7, 2004 Share Posted April 7, 2004 Think ahead. Don't try and take 100 paints with you. Pick and choose the color scheme and take those colors you think you will need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whizard Hlavaz Posted April 7, 2004 Share Posted April 7, 2004 Think ahead. Don't try and take 100 paints with you. Pick and choose the color scheme and take those colors you think you will need. Yikes. Easier said than done, if you're anything like me... "I like this brown for leather, but maybe I'll try THIS one! But I don't want the belt to look like the boots, so I'll need to use THIS OTHER one for the boots. And, of course, the scabbard... Well, the scabbard's just going to need yet ANOTHER brown... Hmm. The pants are already brown... Maybe I should repaint them. Where are my blues? The shield's already blue, but I have THIS OTHER blue I could use..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerridwyn1st Posted April 7, 2004 Share Posted April 7, 2004 Think ahead. Don't try and take 100 paints with you. Pick and choose the color scheme and take those colors you think you will need. Yikes. Easier said than done, if you're anything like me... "I like this brown for leather, but maybe I'll try THIS one! But I don't want the belt to look like the boots, so I'll need to use THIS OTHER one for the boots. And, of course, the scabbard... Well, the scabbard's just going to need yet ANOTHER brown... Hmm. The pants are already brown... Maybe I should repaint them. Where are my blues? The shield's already blue, but I have THIS OTHER blue I could use..." Well, you know, Wiz, you could always take a good selection of basic colors and mix what you want. But that assumes you know how to mix... Wreck is trying to paint in the sleeper cab of a tractor/trailer rig. Doesn't sound like he has the luxury of taking 100 or more paints with him. Maybe get some of those flip-top keeper strips like they sell at Wal-Mart and store small amounts of a variety of paints. I've done this before, but now I prefer to just plan in advance and carry only a few bottles of what I really need. Wreck says he's only home every other weekend, so in addition to not having much space, he can't go home at the end of the day and pick up what he needs. So he may have to be more flexible and better planned than the rest of us would have to be. I'd suggest using dropper bottle paints (Vallejo, Andreacolor, Reaper Masterpaints (coming soon)) for the main colors. If you have some Reaper or Citadel colors you can't live without, transfer to dropper bottles or strip/flips so they take up less space. Good luck, Wreck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whizard Hlavaz Posted April 7, 2004 Share Posted April 7, 2004 Well, you know, Wiz, you could always take a good selection of basic colors and mix what you want. But that assumes you know how to mix... What is this... mixing... ? Pray tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Pat Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 You know, Anne started a painting group here and I had to start looking at being mobile. Then my work decided that I needed to watch the phones that don't ring on the weekend, so Mobile it was. I use small Dixie cups with water, and AOL cd's for paint pallets, all of which is disposable. All the paints and mini's travel in a plastic tool box I purchased at Wally World for about 10 bucks. its compact holds tons of paint and I'm completely mobile. Patrick "Mad Pat" Haughton Dallas Texas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coyote Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 Personally, I would go with an empty vallejo bottle for thinning water, a mason jar (or maybe, nonspillable coffee mug, with "Don't Drink" in big letters) with a lid. I would go with a disposable pallet, like parchment paper that can be tossed instead of being washed. You can fit about 60 vallejo paints in the top of a 12inch toolbox. then, put the rest of your tools in the bottom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neyuttad Posted April 10, 2004 Share Posted April 10, 2004 Most of my paints are either Vallejo Model or Game Colour and they luckilly fit snuggily in the a tin box I got from buying a Fossil leather wallet. I also have some reaper and gw paints that I have transfered into dropper bottles, I find them essential to keep things compact . There are about 24 of them, including extender, flow-aid, thinner and future floor(for temp sealing). With that I have all the colours I need. I also have a small kiddy penbox with - two vallejo kol. sable size 000 and 1 - a set of files - 1 x-acto knife with various blade types including microsaw - pinvise with bits and paper clips for pinning - revlon nail clipper - nail polish bottle filled with liquid plastic clue (daringly liberated from girlfiend) - two small tubes of 5-minute epoxy (hardener and resin) - a bottle of zap-a-gap - a lump of bluetac - pieces of scrap sanding paper - a jeweller magnifying glass (got that one from my geology lab) - aluminium pallet covered with disposable al. paper I think that rince well could be really useful. I too wonder if they sell those at michael's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wreckmaster Posted April 19, 2004 Author Share Posted April 19, 2004 UPDATE. I Took as much stuff with me as I thought I would need. *Full set of paints. (I have many bottles of craft paints, a few of the old Ral Partha stuff, and an assortment of Reaper.) *my brushes *Files *Magnifier *x acto *spray primer *a couple of mini *still looking for a rinse well I was out for 2 weeks and had no time to paint. I was either driving or sleeping or loading/unloading the freight. I simply couldn't find a large enough block of time to get started. I will take my kit with me again this trip, maybe I can sechudle things differently. Thanks for the helpful advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerridwyn1st Posted April 20, 2004 Share Posted April 20, 2004 Wreck: I understand the time constraint. Maybe things will work out better the next go-round. You can get some work done in a 15 - 30 min. time block, but you need to be very organized. Decide in advance exactly what you want to do. By deciding in advance what you will work on, you limit the set-up time needed and the amount of stuff you have to paw through to get started. This maximizes the time you can use to actually work on something. I use this to get in some time basing and cleaning figs while I'm at work. I have a small kit and work on stuff during my lunch break. I usually decide the night before what I need to work on, so it's fixed in my mind well in advance. Hope that helps. Cerri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.