What is a good brand of paint to use for brushing (not airbrushing) white paint on to plastic? It seems most of the stuff I have seen is good for airbrushing, but you can forget about applying it with a paintbrush, it's just to thin and runny.
I use just plain ol' Testors flat white. I only will brush paint small details with white. Other than that, I'd spray or airbrush if possible. White really really sucks when it comes to brushing
I also use plain ole testors, flat or gloss white to brush paint. To thicken the paint alittle, let it set with an open container for a few hours.. This will evaporate some of the thinner in the paint itself. If possible, another way to do this is to let the paint set (in a closed container)long enough to separate (Testors brand) so that the oils are on top and take an eye droper and take some of the oils/thinner out of the container and then see how it is for thickness and if still runny do it again and/or leave set with an open container. Caution though, DO NOT leave it set open to long it will dry a crust on the paint and all and be gummy and ruin the paint itself.... I believe I left my paint bottle set open for 4 hours and then checked it and then if it didn't do much I took some thinner/oil out of the separated paint thinner/oil out of the jar without getting any paint pigments in the eye droper... This should help if your using oil based enamel paints.. Arcrylics (water based) i'm not so sure about... [ 08 December 2001: Message edited by: 7600EM_1 ]</p>
i use geso. Its an artists base for mixing paint colors and painting backdrops. It also works for plain white.It is a water base so when i'm done painting i spay on some dull cote or acrylic paint varnish to seal it.
I'm in a rented apartment, so I stick with acrylic craft paints (for cleanup reasons). They don't look as good as oil when you try to weather with them (my opinion) because they don't coat as lightly or as thin as oil based paints. But for painting structures and such they are great, and they don't streak as bad as oil based paints and if you don't like what you have done (or painted something by accident) you can wipe it away with a wet towel if it hasn't dried. They are usually semi thick to begin with and can be easily thinned with a little more water, and any spills can be washed up (if you get to them soon enough).
I'm kinda like a "half breed" here.... I use Enamel paint for the loco and rolling stock painting and I then use Arcylics to paint structures and so on... So I have 2 different techniques in painting.... I can do a nicely weathered (very lightly) on loco's and cars being I don't like the weathered point of falling apart look on my loco's and cars! The engineer wouldn't like that... But on my structures I weather them to look "used" some more then others and I basically paint them in tones... A base coat of each color on the main color and a base coat for the trim.... and then all the rest is weathering.... Being I use arcylics (water base) I do all my weather on my structures by hand! No brush no towel no nothing... I use my fingers! I use the lid of the container to get the desired amount of paint on my finger or fingers and then rub it on like it would weather from rain or whatever. splashes are done by an air brush..The rust effect on buildings suck as bridges or tressles and even signal towers or water colums, its all done by my fingers.... And turns out great!
I have never tried using my fingers to paint, but next time I think I will give it a try. Right now I am working on a large, old-fashioned coal mine and I am about 1/2 way done (weathering while assembling) so I don't want to change methods yet. But for building structures, acrylic paints work great for me.
Justin, If I can get a good digital picture to post of my Atlas water tower, i'll post one... I had painted the tank itself yellow (sprayed) for a good cover and a smooth finish to aply the weathering... The supports are painted black (sprayed). I used grimmy black color from Polly S to weather the supports all aplied with my finger. The tank was then mist sprayed with the same flat black that I painted the supports with, to represent soot and ash from the steamers, then with Polly S "rust" I aplied that with my fingers in a downward motion to look like the rings on the ole wooden tank to look as if they were old and rain and so on got to them (slightly) I don't weather in a over done manner. Then Polly S grays, and browns, and the grimmy black on the tank itself. all aplied on a downward motion to look like rain and all ran or runs down the sides. Same as the supports, all coated once flat black, then grimmy black the same as the tank was done. And some dark gray aplied with the grimmy black on the suports. Its all light to moderate weathering, all done with my fingers, besides the original color and all as a base coat. I'll try to get a good digital camera picture of it, so I can post it for everyone to take a look!
<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by justind: I stick with acrylic craft paints (for cleanup reasons). They don't look as good as oil when you try to weather with them (my opinion) because they don't coat as lightly or as thin as oil based paints. <hr></blockquote> Give Modelflex paint a go. It starts out thin and for weathering you can thin it with water and it will go on very thin (if you have problems with water surface tension then you thinned it too much.) When it dries, Modelflex leaves an extremely thin coat of pigment on the surface (even when brushed on) so you get heaps of detail showing that might be lost with the craft paints. Here's one I prepared earlier: Curtis Hobbies 24' Matson container/chassis kit The base coats were airbrushed (wheels and hubs brushpainted.) The weathering was done with brushes and thined Modelflex. As for painting with white - use a primer first but DON'T use 'Primer Gray' - I have much better luck painting white over SP Letter Gray. It covers well and you don't need as much white paint to get good coverage. When brush painting (not weathering but painting) I find it easier to paint with a THIN paint than a thick one. This allows the paint to find it's own level and the brush marks will disappear as the paint dries leaving a thin layer of pigment. I find this harder to achieve with thick paint. [ 13 December 2001: Message edited by: yankinoz ]</p>
Hi there 'Southern, Try Polly Scale "reefer white"... it's a water based paint, although alcohol [make sure you use isopropal] will thin it as well as water. I just finished Walther's Coaling Tower and I airbrushed Polly Scale aged concrete for the concrete bunker. Using a #5 (largest) needle it kept clogging, I had to thin it a lot more than the 10-15% they reccommend. I then built a small town station and did a lot of brushing [not air] using Polly Scale and Floquil. The Polly Scale did not 'wick' nearly as much as the Floqui did. BTW both brands are made by the same co. Hope this helps
Sorry about the double post, but I just had an idea. Paint about a 2 inch square of your favorite paint onto a 3X5 card and take it to your local paint store. If you live in a town of more than 100 people chances are they have a computer to duplicate that color. You probably have to buy a quart, but when you figure what you pay per oz. for RR paints you're way ahead.
Finally, another Southern fan. I use white testors enamel, but absolutley hate the bush strokes left behind. I am switching over gradually to acrylic due to ease of use with the airbrush and cleanup. I find that acrylic does not leave brush marks as badly, but it takes twice as many coats to cover a dark surface with acrylic. Overall I am happy with PollyScale.
