I just returned from the hobby shop with a fresh load of paint to get some color on my scratch builds. First attempt has returned TERRIBLE results. :tb-wacky: So terrible I don't even want to show. So help me out, what could I be doing wrong? I bought Testors enamel, because the sign in the shop said works on plastic and they were $1.50/bottle. (I'm working on a stiff budget) But since these initial results are so terrible, is enamel a bad choice for styrene? Do I need any prep on the styrene? Should I scrap this paint and choose a different paint? I cant afford an airbrush right now, so it needs to be brushed. Basically, how do you paint styrene?
Mark, For thinner the easy answer is use the Testors Enamel thinner. You could also hit up the local auto parts store for some Enamel Reducer but that will probably be in the $15-20 a gallon range by now. Anymore on styrene, I am partial to acrylics. If something doesn't go right, off to the sink I go and wash it off to start over. Also adding water to the acrylics to make washes is much easier. It just seems to me that acrylics seem to allow more detail to show through. When the paint is wet, it is 95% water/solvent. When it dries, all that evaporates and just leaves pigment. It doesn't tend to hide details as bad. If paint doesn't flow, just add water and it will flow better.
Thanks again Tony, I like the idea of Acrylics better as they're much cheaper. I was able to scrap off most of the enamel from this round, then I covered the model with a coat of ruddy brown primer. I'll paint that with acrylic later tonight and see how it turns out.
Well this is definitely an 800% improvement over the first attempt, however I'm still getting poor results. The acrylic is way easier to work with, but I still cant get smooth brush strokes. It comes out blotchy and streaky, clearly giving away it was painted by brush. (Focus on the green and white, the red/brown is the primer, and the thin white is an accident) Though I will admit my skill with the brush leaves much to be desired, that has got to be less than half the problem. What else might cause these results? What can I do to get smooth application?
Also, I'm using Princeton 4050 series Synthetic Sable brushes, made for Acrylic and Watercolor, so I should be fine there.
I can't afford an airbrush either. But I have one. I bought an entry-level Badger years ago at a hobby shop for about $30 and used an air compressor my dad had (which eventually broke). Then a couple years ago I found an air compressor for $20 on Craigslist (They go for over $100 new). A lot of other people besides model RRers sell airbrushes on Craigslist (like artists), so I'd recommend buying your airbrush and compressor there too. Acrylics are the way to go. I'm so happy that PolyScale is now the common choice over the classic Floquil enamels (which are both bad for the environment and your personal health). You can also find acrylics for mega-cheap at Michaels, which you can use for scenery. So I'd strongly recommend scouring Craigslist (you live in SF, right? That's where Craigslist originated in the first place, so the market should be good there) for a cheap but good airbrush and compressor. It's soooo worth it. Once you've gotten the hang of an airbrush (practice on some junk plastic first), thin your acrylics with either windshield wiper fluid or 99% alcohol.
I had problems similar to yours in the past when I was a scratch builder. My solution was to spray on a very light mist coating of spray can primer prior to painting. Gray for light colors and primer res for dark colors. This gave the paint enough bite to adhere.
I still brush paint stuff from time to time, so here's a couple of things I've learned (the hard way) over time. I prefer Pollyscale, but Tamiya and Testor's acrylic's will work just as good. 1. Primer first for light colors. Gray or white is the best. Use a flat if at all possible. If you want to stay with acrylics, Krylon makes an acrylic based spray, Krylon H2O, sold in most Michaels and other craft stores. 2. Load the brush up, and paint with smooth, even strokes. 3. Don't go back over the same area until it dries!!! 4. The second coat can be thinner. But thinning paint is best for airbrushing. 5. Make sure you clean the brushes good after use. I have a brush cleaning jar with a coil on the bottom of it that gets brushes cleaner than just a jar of water. Michaels or other craft stores should have something like it. Also get some artist's brush soap. Great to get dried paint out of brushes.
I don't have an airbrush, so I either use cheap rattle-can sprays or brush-paint. Brush painting with acrylics doesn't come out smooth and even with a single coat. I always plan for at least two and sometimes three coats. Once the color is uniform, I usually overspray it with either a satin coat or Dul-Cote layer. This coating gives an even surface which reflects light in a more "prototypical" manner, and looks more natural.
Thanks everyone. The white coat in the photo above is about 5-6 washes thick, but its still blotchy. If that's because of the light color on the brown primer, I suppose thats not bad, but I dont want to have to throw on 6 coats of each color over the entire model. Metro- I would love to get my hands on an airbrush, new or used, unfortunately the finances are so stiff that anything over the cost of a simple pizza must be budgeted several months in advanced. :-( I must use what I have. And if it doesn't work, I can still do what I must to make it work. That being said, I spent most of last night reading anything I could find online about enamels, since I already have a good starter variety of them. This afternoon I stopped by the art store for a cheap can of thinner and now I'm ready to get my hands dirty again. Only problem is.. no where in my research was there a recommended mixing formula for Thinner/Enamel. So does anybody have a good mix ratio for Thinner/Enamel?
I understand completely. I'm on a very limited budget myself. But do try and scour Craigslist every so often for airbrushes and air compressors. If you see a sweet deal on either or both, go for it!
Well I gave enamels a second shot, this time adding paint thinner to the mix. I'm very satisfied with the results here! The paint mixed perfectly to get the exact color I desired and assumed the perfect consistency for painting. Best of all, it even went on as if painting a canvas! Here it is, the light blue and gray building. You can see its still a little gloppy, but unlike the blotchy from before, I can fix this issue with my brush technique. It should be noted, this building was primed with Krylon ruddy brown spray primer (the color of the roof of the left building) and that baby blue covered that up with out a hitch. After this, I had a bit of gray paint still in the dish, so I tested it out on straight styrene. It went on much better than before, but still quite streaky, so primer is definitely a required step. I still have 3 buildings to paint, so I'll keep my progress posted here in case things take any unexpected turns. Thanks for everyone's help!
A few more tips regarding enamel paint: Testors enamels (in the little square bottles) and Model Master enamels (round jars) are oil-based paint. Don't try to mix them with Model Master Acryl paint, which comes in the same size jars but is water-based! You don't need special thinner; mineral spirits from the hardware store or discount store will do the job. Turpentine works too but is more expensive. Enamels are considered "old school", but they are still very useful. First, they dry much more slowly than acrylics, which is bad for a base coat but great for weathering. You can take your time and blend colors until they're just right. Second, metallic enamel paint seems to stay mixed much better than metallic acrylic paint. I always keep some Testors silver on hand. You can mix enamels by stirring and then shaking. Avoid shaking acrylics or you will end up with a bottle full of bubbles! Thinned enamels airbrush very nicely. Keep in mind that the vapors are flammable and bad to breathe--use a spray booth or work outdoors if possible.
While I own a number of airbrushes, I still use auto primer spray cans on styrene. I use very light coats, which dry in seconds. Auto primer eats styrene unless it's applied in mist coats. I learned this technique in the day when Floquil ate plastic and needed "Barrier" to protect the plastic. I found Barrier was thick and obscured the very details that Floquil, due to its finer pigments, was supposed to preserve! And then I sand with very fine grit sandpaper--600 grit at a minimum. Then I paint with a brush. I'm building houses and, more importantly, ships. You can't totally paint a ship beforehand, and masking it for airbrushing is also pretty impossible. So I try to build up a smooth primer coat before brush painting. And then I apply paint as evenly as I can. It is a bit of an art. Less paint is better than more paint. I do find that modern paints will "lie down" if you don't apply them too thickly. Some of my loco repaints for Pennsy RR (Brunswick Green) have laid down very well.
