Sunday, July 31, 2016

My my....More with the Mats? Folding and Spraying

    I know that I'm starting to sound like a one-horn orchestra but there were a few questions asked by folks here and over on TMP. I have tried to find the answers and present the information below.

     First we have the 30lb ammo can torture test. Someone asked how the  mats handled being folded, I folded up a section and sat a 30lb ammo can on it for a week

for a whole week the poor mat lay there crushed under the weight of an ammo can full of cartridges

 


after I took the can off and laid the mat on the table I was a bit concerned, 
the creases seemed pretty serious

when I unfolded the mat there was a prominent ridge down the main crease,
 less so on the secondary fold

but after I rolled the mat up and spread it out again the creases were gone

     A second question asked was how well the mats would take spray paint as an alternative to dry-brushing. This seemed a good idea for going outside so I made some test-strips and grabbed some spray paint and headed for the back yard. I sprayed each strip with a single pass of spray paint, then a double pass and finally a third pass. All of these were executed at about 6" distance from the surface with the spray starting before facing the mat and finishing after the pass was complete. I did my best to ensure that the spray can was perpendicular to the surface.  After this was dry, a process that only took a few minutes (on a hot summer afternoon), I misted the paint on from about 10" out looking to get a "drybrushed" effect. The results are below. Judge for yourself. To my mind this is a very effective alternative to drybrushing as long as you can find a color that you are happy with.

outside in the sunlight, the spray cans are some commonly available colors 

inside under the florescent light 
positioned on top of a drybrushed section of mat

the same on the raw mat 

then I lost my mind and made a couple of dozen feet of 15mm roads


     It seems that spray painting is a very good option for speeding up the process. Now I have to go to the local hardware store and start checking out available colors.....I have to hope they carry "Mistint"



1 comment:

  1. This series of posts has been a real service. Thanks for posting! Going to need to buy one of these mats myself.

    ReplyDelete