I decide to paint some automotive bodywork in the morning, so I hoover the PL office in the evening before, then diligently check and re-clean the airbrush.
I mix the paint with a clean pipette and put on vinyl gloves to reduce static charge. During pollen season, especially, I keep the window closed until I’ve finished. Filtration mask on, of course. I even dust my clothes off with a micro-fibre cloth, because we are all walking sources of particulate matter, after all. Forensics experts are happy about this fact; scale modellers, not so much.
Speaking of forensics experts, maybe I could find a supply of those white onesies on eBay…
All my precautions do seem to reduce the opportunity for detritus of various kinds to embed itself in my paint surface. And yet, inevitably… OMG! There’s one. And another. Three, four. And you can bet that one will land where it’s just a bit too inaccessible to be sanded.
I’ve tried almost every conceivable precaution, short of an extracting paint booth, for which I have no space. Besides, I’m not convinced that it won’t just draw more airborne particles into the work area.
Maybe what I really need is a clean room. No, I don’t mean a cleaner room; I mean a clean room.
Intel’s chip factory
If I could just fly over to California and sneak in there one Sunday, I’m sure that they wouldn’t mind too much. I’d need somewhere to plug in the compressor, but there must be a wall socket for the cleaning lady to run her Hoover around the place. American socket, though, so remember to pack an adapter.
Biohazard Lab
There’s a well-known one in Wuhan; but some people seem to think that it may be a bit leaky occasionally, so it could well be dusty, too. Porton Down is in the next county over from me, just a pleasant rural drive away. Sneaking past the security — especially while dragging a heavy Sil-Air compressor behind me — may be a tad trickier.
The South Pole
It looks really clean. Getting there would be hard but not impossible; Michael Palin made it. I’d need to pack a diesel generator and a warm hat, I think. And extra paint because postal deliveries may not be relied upon. You know how you always seem to run out at the most inconvenient time.
International Space Station
They have to keep it pretty clean, right? And there must be a power supply, so that’s that sorted. I’d just have to get myself on an astronaut training programme, though not looking forward to the Vomit Comet.
Space walk
If the ISS crew complain about paint fumes — and the many obvious technical difficulties can be overcome — this might just be the ultimate option. I mean, space is literally a vacuum, so no dust (um, well, apart from all the dust from space debris and asteroids…) On second thoughts, not ideal then.
At least, in space, no-one can hear you scream over yet another messed up gloss coat. 😢
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