Painting plastic

[Erik Bennett]

I've used Floquil, Tamiya and TLB for airbrushing plastic models.
Here are my experiences. Any comments?

To spray successfully, you have to use thin paint. You thin Floquil and TLB
with thinners. The thinners can erode the surface of the plastic with the
result that detail is sometimes lost or, with poly urethane (white) plastic,
the surface film is lost - you lose the gloss-making surface. You can avoid
this by holding the airbrush further away from the surface than normal, but
you have to be very careful not to lay on dry paint which appears as paint
"dust".
Almost all Floquil is flat, so you need to gloss the surface before applying
decals.

I tried TLB Venetian Red for painting an engine NSWGR Tuscan. It was glossy,
so my decalling was easy. I had to be very careful because I had thinned the
paint a fair bit. It was one of those white poly urethane models and the
surface seemed particularly susceptible to the thinners. However, the result
was excellent and the paint, being glossy, meant my decalling was easy.

Tamiya is thinned with iso-propyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) or metho.
Tamiya gives excellent results and is easy to clean up. Tamiya has
absolutely no effect on plastic, but is not nearly as hard as Floquil. I
sprayed a piece of styrene with Tamiya grimy black on one side and Floquil
on the other. After 4 weeks, I got the paint brush I use for chalk
weathering and wiped it across the Tamiya, then the Floquil. The tamiya
scratched fairly easily. The Floquil didn't scratch at all. This may not be
important if you aren't weathering or dont handle your models much.

Weathering: I have come to the conclusion weathering with an air brush
produces results that are too good. Unless you spend a LOT of time with lots
of colour changes, you cant get a proper weathered look. So I spray a bit of
diesel soot, maybe some road grime over the bogies, then do the rest with
chalk. Much quicker and easier. ALSO, if you make a mistake with the chalk
you wipe/wash it off. If you make a mistake with the air brush......

Colours: I went into an art supplies shop and asked them about making
colours. They gave me free a little chart which explains what colours make
what other colours. Using this chart as a guide, I make up my own colours.
Thus I need just a few basic colours.

Erik Bennett

[Ian McIntyre]

With most plastics you will need to use a primer such as Floquil Barrier or
a plastic primer from your local auto motive paint dealer. Most paint with
the exceptions of the new water based paints will attack one plastic or
another.
You could try very light coats and keep the model reasonably warm bit a
barrier coat is still the number 1 option.
Erik Bennett <benne...@idx.com.au> wrote in message
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