I need help converting to acrylics
Frank Henriquez
This info may be in the FAQ - if it isn't, it should be!
1) *NEVER* use plain water to thin acrylics, even if the bottle says to
"just" use water. Any mix of Isopropyl alcohol or ammonia will work just
fine. Some folks here use windshield wiper fluid, which is very cheap and
has a surfactant added. You can mix the isopropyl or ammonia with up to
50% water, although you may want to add a very tiny amount of dishwasher
fluid at the higher water ratios (to help break the water's surface
tension). I use isopropyl, and have mixed it with water, and will try the
windshield wiper fluid soon. All of these solvents are dirt
cheap...especially when you thin them...you can also use them to remove
paint from a model, even after the paint has dried (the Testors acrylics
are tough to remove, though).
2) While you're out buying your gallon of winshield wiper fluid or
isopropyl alcohol, but some bulk clear acrylic paint while you're at it.
It's cleverly disguised as "acrylic floor wax" , usually called
"Future"...but it's really just excellent clear gloss acrylic paint. You
can treat it like any other acrylic paint, too. Other brands will work,
too. A standard plastic bottle will last you at least a year or two. You
can use Future to thicken other acrylic paints, or to moderate a dull
clear, like the Testors dull and matte acrylic paints.
3) I use Tamiya acrylics and Testors acrylics. Tamiya paint is softer when
dry, but the paint is easy to work with. Testors is a newer formulation
and forms a tough paint finish. They also have an extensive color
collection, including FS colors. I've mixed Tamiya and Testors paints with
good results. Another excellent acrylic paint is made by Gunze Sangyo, but
I find it a bit too expensive. Some folks love Polly S acrylics, but I
find that they're difficult to airbrush and give me a "papery" finish. I
do use their grimy black to brush paint rubber tires on airplanes. Looks
great.
4) Testors makes excellent acrylic dull and matte paints. Be very careful
with the Tamiya dull acrylic "paint". It's actually a base that's added to
gloss paints to dull them, but I've *never* been able to spray this stuff
with good results.
5) Get a small set of artist acrylic tube paints or guaches. They can be
used for weathering.
6) I use Testors metalizers for my metel finishes, but I've heard that
Polly S? is coming out with water based metallic paints.
7) Finally, never use compressed air cans with acrylic paints. The
propellants are oily and will really screw up an acrylic finish. Besides,
the cans are expensive...10 cans worth will pay for a cheap Badger
compressor!
Frank
--
Frank Henriquez UCLA Astronomy Department
fr...@bnkl01.astro.ucla.edu
ig...@gate.net
out to the shop today to get a kit. Having dug out all of my stuff and started painting, I'm wishing I were
using acrylics instead of enamals. The fumes from the lacquer thinner are killing me. I have a Paasche
VL dual action airbrush and a Badger 250 single. I use a Paasche compressor. Trouble is, I just don't
know which brand to use or how to use them. Do you thin them with water? I have heard of using dish
detergent for something. What about dull coats and clear coats? Do they make these in acrylic or do
you spray the clear enamals over the acrylics? What brands are best?
Sorry for having so many questions but I can't take the fumes much longer. I really enjoy this hobby,
have since I was a kid. Tell me if this happens to you. Aircraft have always held my fascination.
When I was in the Navy, I built tons of A/C. When I got out, I built everything that was on the carrier I was
on. So I go to the hobby shop thinking I'm going to do something different. Maybe a car, boat, or a
truck. Something different. Then I walk past all those airplanes. My imagination gets going and I start
looking and looking. Then I spot a EA-6B. I grab it. I've built these before, I think to myself. Maybe not
this kit, but one like it. I look at it and think, I could do it better this time... I remember an article I read or a
picture I saw somewhere. Then I'm walking out of the store with this airplane. What happened to the
car? I just can't seem to build anything but airplanes. No matter how hard I try!
Jim
Matthew Y. Hayashibara
>
>Reading the articles in this newsgroup has forced me back from my
model building hiatus and got me
>out to the shop today to get a kit. Having dug out all of my stuff
and started painting, I'm wishing I were
>using acrylics instead of enamals.
>The fumes from the lacquer thinner are killing me.
Literally! If you are not using a spray respirator and a paint booth
with this stuff, you ARE COMMITTING SUICIDE!!! Lacquer thinner is
EXTREMELY toxic.
>I have a Paasche
>VL dual action airbrush and a
>Badger 250 single.
Is there such an animial? My single action/internal mix Badger is a
200. I know they have a 150 (double action/internal mix) and a 350
(single action/external) but I've never heaard of a 250.
I use a Paasche compressor. Trouble is, I just don't
>know which brand to use or how to use them. Do you thin them with
water? I have heard of using dish
>detergent for something.
I've used the Polly-s, Tamiya, Model Master, and Pactra, and gotten
good results with all of them. Gloss paint jobs are still a problem, it
seems polishing is required.
Water alone seems to cause problems... and rubbing alcohol alone seems
to dry too fast. A 50-50 mix of water and alcohol seems to work best.
This is just about what automotive windshield washer fluid is, and that
works just dandy! It's cheap, and the blue or pink tint does not seem
to cause discoloration, even with white paint. A drop or two of
dishwashing liquid in the fluid acts as a surfactant (breaking the
surface tension to keep the paint from beading up on the model).
I have heard of some folks using Windex, but haven't tried this myself.
What about dull coats and clear coats? Do they make these in acrylic
or do
>you spray the clear enamals over the acrylics? What brands are best?
For gloss coats, you can't beat Future Acrylic floor finish, from the
local supermarket... it's water-based, and sprays well without
thinning. Use rubbing alcohol or ammonia for cleanup.
For flat coats, the Testors Clear Flat acrylic works great.
>
>Sorry for having so many questions but I can't take the fumes much
longer.
Even though acrylics are a little less toxic, a spray respirator is
still called for... they can still do damage. You only get one pair of
lungs to live with. Take care of them! (After all, the more modelers we
have, the more kits are likely to be released!)
Wayne C. Morris
> Having dug out all of my stuff and started painting, I'm wishing I were
> using acrylics instead of enamals. The fumes from the lacquer thinner are
killing me. I have a Paasche
> VL dual action airbrush and a Badger 250 single. I use a Paasche
compressor. Trouble is, I just don't
> know which brand to use or how to use them. Do you thin them with water? I
have heard of using dish
> detergent for something. What about dull coats and clear coats? Do they
make these in acrylic or do
> you spray the clear enamals over the acrylics? What brands are best?
Paul Boyer did a comparison article for FineScale Modeller which was reprinted
in "Painting & Finishing Scale Models". He found Badger Air-Opaque to have
poor adhesion; Polly S didn't spray well (but is great for hand-brushing); and
Pactra Acrylic, Tamiya Acrylic, and Gunze Sangyo Aqueous Hobby Color all
worked fine. He also noted that Tamiya & Pactra had limited color selections,
while Gunze Sangyo had a wide color range.
For thinning you can use water, but rubbing alcohol, denatured alcohol, and
windshield fluid work better.
Tamiya has a clear gloss acrylic coat; I dunno about the others. Future floor
polish can be used as a clear gloss -- it's really a clear acrylic (the label
actually says "floor shiner and protector" and "tough acrylic shine", and
doesn't say "wax" anywhere). I've also used Testors DullCoat and GlossCoat
over acrylics, but you gotta let the acrylic dry a couple days first and apply
the clear in thin coats.
Bjorn Hell Larsen
Y. Hayashibara ) wrote:
> Is there such an animial? My single action/internal mix Badger is a
> 200. I know they have a 150 (double action/internal mix) and a 350
> (single action/external) but I've never heaard of a 250.
The 250 is more a small spray gun than an airbrush. Technically it's a
single action/external brush, but you don't have much control over the
width of the spray. It is good for spraying high-viscosity paints,
and to cover large surfaces.
I've got a 250 and a 350; hoping to afford getting a double-action
airbrush next.
> Water alone seems to cause problems... and rubbing alcohol alone seems
> to dry too fast. A 50-50 mix of water and alcohol seems to work best.
> This is just about what automotive windshield washer fluid is, and that
> works just dandy! It's cheap, and the blue or pink tint does not seem
> to cause discoloration, even with white paint. A drop or two of
> dishwashing liquid in the fluid acts as a surfactant (breaking the
> surface tension to keep the paint from beading up on the model).
I'm using windshield washing fluid as well, and it works great. The
brand I use (Statoil - manufactured by my employer) already contains
tensides (surfactant), so I don't have to add that.
> For gloss coats, you can't beat Future Acrylic floor finish, from the
> local supermarket... it's water-based, and sprays well without
> thinning. Use rubbing alcohol or ammonia for cleanup.
I actually managed to find a shop here in Stavanger, Norway, that
carries Future. I tried it for the first time this weekend, after
getting some bad scratches on a canopy. I wet-sanded the canopy with
1600-grit sandpaper, rubbed it with toothpaste, and finally applied
Future. It looked *great*! Easily the best looking canopy I've ever
mounted on a model. I haven't been so excited out of bed for several
years.
While I'm at it, I'd really like to thank all contributors to this
group for all the valuable advice being offered here. I started out
modeling a couple of years back, and keep on finding tidbits of
information here that ensures that my next model will look even better
than the last one.
Thanks,
Bjorn
--
Bjorn Hell Larsen, bla...@statoil.com Dr. No
SDATAKIT - Corporate IS/IT Standards, Architecture & Security
Statoil, Stavanger, Norway I speak for me