I have noticed that most people use either Floquil or Polly Scale paint for buildings, engines, rolling stock, etc. But I was wondering do you really have to use the expensive stuff? I was at Michaels yesterday and noticed that they have acrylic paint, in some colors that I want to use, for less than a dollar. Recommendations?
I use the paint from Michaels for my laser cut. I use Testors enamel for my metal details and grimy black for weathering my building and rolling stock. I also use Nupastels for weathering.
I was told that the acrylic paints for R/C cars sticks very well to small parts, railings etc. fatalxsunrider43
You don't even have to go with the craft paints for $1.00 if you don't want to. If acrylic is what you are using, get the tubes of Liqitex or Golden, or Van Gogh, or whatever they are carrying. They come in whatever main various shades you are going to want to apply as a straight color or as something to be mixed with either a bit of white or a bit of black or whatever. I thin them out with water and have been using them with an airbrush for about three years now. If you are NOT using an airbrush, you will have to be very careful with the mixture which is why the model paints are perfect, but a lot more expensive. Too thin and it will not adhere. Too thick and you will be leaving brush marks. The craft paints are thinner than the tubes, but will still need more thinning before applying with an airbrush or a regular brush. I am now starting to fool around with spirit based paints. Same tubes at Michael's, thinner for the paints, medium made from linseed or other oils, and there is an odorless turpentine or similar for cleanup. One thing I will tell you, the spirit based paints go on better (much better with a brush). Either way, make sure that you wash the plastic with some soapy water and thoroughly rinse before you start to get rid of the dirt and oils from your hands and make sure that the surface is DRY before you apply either acrylic or the spirit based paints. BTW- Liquitex has a line of matte finish tubes along with the regular acrylic tubes. If your Michael's is lucky enough to have them (not mine), you might consider this for buildings since it will dry flat and not glossy. If not, the only other place that I know of that has it is Pearl Paint, but I am sure there must be others. FWIW- You now have my collected wisdom on paints. I Googled Liquitex and there is a national chain Blick's that will mail order the paints to you. Pretty good prices, too.
I use craft paints on my RR,structures,track,scenery,ETC.For base coats on my scenery,I use custom mix house paints.Other than railings and details,I'd never even consider using anything but Floquil on my trains,though.The one exception would be on the rare occasion that I actually have to brush paint large areas,since I usually airbrush everything on my locos/rolling stock.If,however,for some reason I decide to brushpaint a locomotive roof flat black,or a caboose roof,locomotive sill,ETC,I'll use Testor's Modelmaster paints,since they don't dissolve the Floquil and crap it up...I also like the Modelmaster flats for railings,best paint I've ever used.. ..
Lou- My comments were directed strictly to structures. I should have made that clear in my post. I have used the Liquitex acrylics thinned out for airbrush work on cars and engines. I wouldn't even consider using craft paints or a hand brush for doing whole cars or engines. Don't you need to thin out the craft paints when applying it on a structure? The craft stuff I have used sure needed it.
I have used various Krylon paints very effectively for both structures and rolling stock. I use the Krylon Matte Finish 1311 in place of Dullcoat. I have done about 20 old time boxcars using Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Ruddy Brown Primer. It has never crazed the plastic. I use Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Flat Black for tenders, etc. I have a variety of other colors that I use on buildings. I'm very happy with the results. These paints dry extremely fast, particularly the matte finish. They also don't run unless you really park the spray for a while. By ther way, I find Neolube great for graphite smoke boxes.
I have become a believer in Polly Scale acrylics for structures, locos and rolling stock. I get a very high quality finish that works very well with decals. I put a primer coat on every project. I have had good luck airbrushing right from the bottle with no thinning (unless the paint is getting some age on it) at low air pressure. Lower pressure seems to reduce clogging in the nozzle. How do you determine how much thinning with craft paint? One thing I cannot get right is using Polly Scale white. Just cannot get the coverage I want. Any ideas? Dave G Cache Valley & Northern RR
Good store. I have a Blick's in Berkeley. Service is a B, selection is an A for most artist-supply stuff.
Try a base coat of gray; Milwaukee Road gray is a pretty light gray that I've had good luck with. You can also try a base coat of silver or aluminum color over black plastic.
