Paint Finishing Tips
KL Mok
modellers in general will find the information useful.
______________________________________________
Subject: Re: Acrylics versus enamels
"Jens H. Brandal" <jens.haak...@online.no>
> There seems to be a common opinion on the SMML that acrylics are too
>fast-drying for successful brush-painting, but as I mentioned a way of
>delaying the drying of acrylics to get better results when painting by
>brush; are there any other means to achieve satisfactory results when
>brushpainting acrylics? <<
Go to the artists' supplies shop. Among the back shelves will be a
collection of non descript jars (black letters on white labels) of
acrylic paint modifiers like air brush medium, GAC100, 200, GESSO,
etc. I have all of them but haven't found an application yet where
they improve my painting skills to make me use them. This is because
there is a product called ACRYLIC RETARDER (sometimes labelled as
Acrylic Extender) that does all I will ever want to make an
indifferent paint job look artistically professional. I now prefer
brush painting to air brushing - which also cuts out a lot of set-up
and clean-up time.
The retarder looks and feels like colourless hair gel. It mixes
freely with hobby or artists tube acrylics. Thin it with the retarder
and you have longer working time without compromising the adhesiveness
or pigment density of the paint. You can even use it to restore old
paint that had most of its carrier medium dried out.
Better still. As a gel the brushed on paint won't run so you can brush
on lines of different shades and colours with various degrees of
blending to simulate depth, weathering or wear and tear. Scratch the
paint on you car for example. The scratch colour will look like a
white line with a colour tint that you cannot duplicate on a model by
mixing the factory colour with white. I can simulate that scratch
appearance by dry brushing with white on the fresh paint and then
painting over that with a very thinned coat of the original paint
mixed with retarder.
The best part is when the model is finally done brushing on a complete
coat of retarder will bring all the paint to the same degree of
reflectance, the various matte and glossy paints will now all appear
as if they had been printed on with a "Goldilocks" effect - a satin
finish that is not too gloss, not too matte..
A long time ago there was a post with very much the same praise for
Future Wax. I did not have too satisfactory results with the only time
I tried FW. But with Artists' Acrylic Retarder I have found a product
I wish I had discovered ages ago.
> One problem I've had with the Aeromaster acrylic matt and satin
>varnishes is that of cleaning the airbrush. I certainly don't find that
>plain water does the job, and household ammonia are OK, with methylated
>spirits also working reasonably well. I haven't tried the "coloured"
>Aeromaster paints, but the Tamiya paints do solve easily with methylated
>spirits. Any suggestions for cleaning out the goo that the Aeromaster
>clear leaves if unattended for too long (and I'm not even talking half an
>hour here!) <<
The methylated spirits and ammonia formulas I find evaporate too
quickly to retain their effectiveness as cleaners.
On your problem of cleaning air brushes I do so immediately after a
paint job. The paint cup is removed and I squirt water (or solvent)
into the air brush as air is run through it. The squirt was originally
from a camera lens cleaner rubber squeeze bulb. A plastic bottle from
a hair dye dispenser which has a screw on spout top is a cheaper and
more convenient tool I now use. Use a napkin to soak off the meniscus
at the air brush tip else that little bit of solution will be enough
to clog the tip.
I complained to the shop clerk (a fine arts undergrad) that I had a
big problem with cleaning my brushes, especially the very fine ones.
Even the slightest bit of paint left on it would dry up and stiffen
the hairs that they become brittle enough to break off. That's very
frustrating and expensive.
His recommendation was to use a cleaning solution comprising ordinary
liquid dish soap and vinegar. The mix I use is 1 teaspoon of soap and
2 tablespoons of vinegar in a mug of water. I had no problem with
losing brush hairs or brush hair flexibility so far.
> There have been some valid comments on the favourable characteristics
> of acrylics vs. enamels, and to throw in some support for enamels; they cure
>faster than acrylics. Note that I said "cure", not "dry". Even several
>weeks after painting, the surface of Tamiya acrylics is softer than an
>enamel painted one. <
The humidity in my place is around 50% which may be why I have never
experienced your problem. But going back to the acrylic retarder that
stuff is a miracle product. I can handle the painted surface within
five minutes.
Nigel Cheffers-Heard
> Retarder and Extender did the same thing, folks in art shops tend to be out of
> their depth there.
--
Nigel Cheffers-Heard
photography + design
tel: +44 (0)1392 87 58 57
fax: +44 (0)1392 87 74 97
mobile: 0771 261 4514
nig...@cheffers.co.uk
www.cheffers.co.uk
Laburnums, Bridge Hill
Topsham, Exeter EX3 0QQ, UK
KL Mok
On 23 Dec 2000, at 4:18, mae...@erols.com wrote:
> Kelvin:
>
> Great post about acrylic retarder! I will try it out myself as a result
> of your posting.
>
> Just a few quick questions: Which brand of paints do you use >with the retarder? Polly Scale? Tamiya? Others?
I use Tamiya (and Gunze Sangyo because I was able to get a large
selection cheap from a shop that went belly up.) Better still I also
use artists' tube acrylics for Black, White, primary colours Red Green
and Blue, and all the earth tones for weathering - Burnt Sienna,
Yellow Ochre, Umber, take your pick. A 60ml tube (2 fluid ounce) of
artists' acrylics costs around $7 and it lasts for ever.
Tube acrylics' covering power and finish is superior to hobby
acylics. Their paste-like thickness is also very suitable for dry
brushing. Then there are those acyrlic paints (Anita's, Folk Art)
from the craft shops that go for $1 per 60 ml bottle. Their selection
of colours somehow seem to miss all the military colours we need but
these cheapies (every dollar counts) are great for painting diaromas.
The acrylic retarder mixes with all the acrylic type paints
mentioned above and probably any brand of water based acrylics
you have. And to clean your brushes just swirl them in the dish
soap - vinegar mix mentioned earlier and rinse.
The tint differences in military colours such as deep Yellow for
German Armour and Desert Yellow for 8th Army are too subtle to
try mixing your own so I air brush the original colour for the base
coat to the appropriate tank. Then I weather the model using
artists' acrylics, especially drybrushed white, then go over that
with retarder thinned (base) colour as described in my first post.
Instead of cussing I have even come to appreciate the brush strokes as
representative of those seen on real equipment. This is followed by
weathering for rust and dirt. Go ahead and experiment with whatever
comes to your mind. The retarder is a very forgiving medium. I had
painting mistakes covered over by as much as seven coats and it came
off looking just right for a scruffy battle worn tank, chipped
markings from broken decals looked like they belonged.
One more tip. Apply your decals over a wet coat of retarder (thin it
with a little bit of water to lengthen the working time) and follow
that with a coat of retarder over the decal. The decal will look as if
it is painted on with none of those sharp edges or white areas under
the decal's clear carrier film.
>In what proportion do you mix retarder, paint, and thinner? Does >the use of retarder necessitate > additional thinner, since the >retardent is a gel? What kind of thinner > do you use?
This refers to brush painting. The retarder is a very forgiving
medium and you can brush it on neat or together with as much
paint as you want. The retarder is the only thing I use. No thinner,
not even water. I leave a glob of retarder on the palette, pick up
paint from the bottle with a brush, dip that into the retarder then
apply to the model. And there is no contamination when dipping the
paint brush back into the bottle to pick up more paint. No waste. A
265 ml (a mug-full) bottle of retarder costs me only $5.65 and again
it seems to last for ever.
> And if the retarder slows the drying process, how can you
> handle the painted surface in 5 minutes? (I'm not playing skeptic >here, just curious).
Probably a surface effect. As a glob the surface area is much
smaller and therefore dries slower than a thin coat. After a few
painting sessions you learn to put as much retarder you
immediately need on the palette and the problem of the retarder
drying up on you just doesn't happen anymore.
>
> Why don't you respond to SMML so everyone can benefit from your experience. Thanks so much again for sharing your >experiences with us.
>
> Happy holidays.
>
> Mike Eisenstadt
You're welcome.
>
leer...@earthlink.net
I am still experimenting with the acrylic retarder. A question: have
you tried adding a little of this to a thinned mix of acrylic paint for
airbrushing? I wonder if adding a little would reduce the likelihood
of paint build-up on the tip of the needle.
Lee
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