Humbrol Creator 3d Software
Leda Billock
I think it depends on the brands that you want to mix. I know that not all acrylics are the same, for example Tamiya & Vallejo acrylics don't mix. Mixing Humbrol & Testors enamels? I had a quick google and found a guy who uses a humbrol/testor mix to make a wash, but nothing much else. You may have to experiment yourself I'm afraid!
Enamels should be no problem. I regularly mix Humbrol, Revell and Tamiya. Basically the solvent is the give away. If an enamel can be thinned with turps then it can be mixed with any other enamel that is thinned with turps.
Have mixed Humbrol and Revell enamels in the past with no trouble. Only thing I noticed was the mix took on the quicker drying time of the Revell paint and had to be worked with as fast as possible or constantly thinned while brush painting.
Im just going to touch on the whole difference between spraying and brush, speaking from experience, enamel will not going on well with a brush, I only use my enamels for small detailing, but if your going to do large parts by brush, use acrylics. My experience with trying to use enamels to do large surfaces by brush is failure, it doesn`t do multiple coats well and is a pain to work with cause it is oil based. Best of luck.
Beware of this! "Turps" means different things in different parts of the world. Genuine turpentine is derived from pine trees and is utterly different from "mineral turps", which is much closer to what we in the UK would know as white spirit.
Enamels are all based on something like white spirit but the exact solvent differs from maker to maker. I don't know of any definitive source that would show how compatible the solvents are, so I fear you'll be on your own. On the other hand, you could end up being known as the creator of such a source ...
I've noticed that DecalFix can cause weirdness in the subsequent matt coat, so I usually try to wash the model with water after the decals have all set and dried. On a recent project I had some large decals, so I was applying DecalFix very liberally.
When it came to washing, I noticed that as soon as I put the water on, huge white patches appeared where the dry DecalFix was. I was having some success scrubbing them off, added a little bit of soap, but I had to stop when I was rubbing so hard I knocked a stencil off. Now the water has dried, I have huge white stains all over the model, that won't come off with more water or any level of scrubbing that won't destroy the decals and even the paint underneath. Any suggestions on what I can use to get this off?
I sometimes get this and I believe it is a reaction between the gloss coat I use (Future) and either water or the decal solution, or both. It occurs with both acrylic and lacquer paint. I do find that if it is left for a few days without attention it will disappear unless it is beneath the decal itself. From bitter experience I found that trying to clean it was the worst possible thing to do as it only made it worse or sometimes permanent. In any case a coat of Future usually clears it completely - again unless it is beneath the decal.
It does not always happen and I can't seem to find a consistent set of circumstances when it will. However in general when I steer away from decal solutions and just use Future it only occurs rarely. You can get the effect of a decal solution just using diluted Future unless the decals are very thick.
Yes, this only happened when I tried to clean it. The excess setting solution was mostly invisible after it had dried, I could see it under certain light conditions and I knew it was there obviously. The reason I started cleaning models is because sometimes in the past, varnishing over the decals caused this reaction and made the varnish mily/frosty. But now I got the problem worse than I ever had it with just water!
It's not beneath the decals, in fact it isn't really on the decals that much. It's mostly on the surounding paint where it had run off while I was applying it, or where I inadvertantly spread it during washing. This lends some weight to your theory it's a reaction with the gloss coat (Revell Aqua).
For Matt coats I use Winsor and Newton acrylic varnish. All my paints are water based so I doubt they would dissolve or absorb the stains, I don't want to risk crossing my fingers and doing that just yet.
I don't think any sort of washing is going to do any good as I believe this is a chemical reaction in the surface of the paint/decal fix/gloss coat etc. That is why leaving it may help as the reaction seems to reverse itself eventually. In other words there is nothing to wash.
You did not mention what paint you did use. Some paints react badly to some of the decal liquids, for example Mission Models + Microscale Microsol and Microset caused first discolorations on a paint for me and then worked as paint stripper...
Yes, I'm talking about Humbrol DecalFix. I use Humbrol and Revell Acrylic paints. I have said that the gloss coat the decals went on is Revell Aqua Clear Gloss. It was dry for several days before I did the decals, but as I said I used the DecalFix very liberally in this case because some decals were large (D-day stripes as big one piece items for example). Although there was no initial reaction. The reaction happened when I tried to clean off dry excess, again several days after decal application.
I didn't think a varnish would suck the decals down into panel lines etc. but that's interesting. I have been using DecalFix for a long time without serious issue, but this is giving me pause about continued use.
I'm not sure that this is anything to do with the type of paint. I have had the same thing occasionally happen with Tamiya Acrylic, Tamiya Lacqour, Vallajo Model Air and Mig Ammo Acrylic. The randomness* makes me think it is more something to do with the particular decals, the adhesive film they use and how it reacts to the gloss coat and/or fixing solution. Water softness/acidity might be another factor.
I use Humbrol and Revell Acrylic paints. I have said that the gloss coat the decals went on is Revell Aqua Clear Gloss. It was dry for several days before I did the decals, but as I said I used the DecalFix very liberally in this case because some decals were large (D-day stripes as big one piece items for example). Although there was no initial reaction. The reaction happened when I tried to clean off dry excess, again several days after decal application.
Combine it with some form of decal softener and thats most probably what DecalFix is, but until I see the SDS I can only speculate by looking of how it behaves in practice. It does leave permanent glossy residue on matte paint.
Not sure what you mean by SDS, my bottle doesn't have an "ingredients" list and the website only offers "a water based solution...", so I don't know what the active ingredient is that does the softening.
SDS is a Safety Data Sheet detailing the composition of the product. It is intended for safety purposes and should list all the ingredients and their safety precautions. Some companies go quite open about their products, for example I found Tamiya SDSes that actually give the % ratios of pigment composition in their paints.
Probably same reason why it is easier to find a link to humbrol mythical 3D printer on their page than the safety sheet of their really available probably not safe to drink liquid ( -gb/articles/5615501361682-Humbrol-Creator-3D-Mini-Printer)
At about 1:50 they recommend wiping away any excess Decalfix immediately after the decal has been applied. At about 3:00 minutes there is an interesting comment about using Decalfix on top of their Clear Gloss Varnish. They say that as both the Clear the Decalfix are ammonia based then the Decalfix should be diluted with water to prevent it damaging the gloss finish.
I've occasionally had the white staining or more usually lightening from decal solution. This was microset/sol over Klear (Future) on Tamiya acrylics. It's always disappeared after a day or two, and/or because I put another coat of Klear over - because I read this evens out the glossiness of paint vs decals - before applying a satin or Matt varnish.
However, I tested a slightly counter-intuitive tip I got elsewhere: more DecalFix. Brush some onto the stain, the stain goes away, wipe it off immediately without letting it dry, stain doesn't return!
DecalFix may be containing some form of paint stripper (like Tamiya one). It may react to the top surface, and not cause the discoloration itself but make surface delicate and combined with whatever you did to it modified the surface to effectively became more matte, which gives 'white patch' effect.
Just to confirm that has mostly cleaned off rather well now by the above method of applying more DecalFix to the stains then wiping it away while still wet. Model is salvaged and now matt-coated to boot with no further trouble.
In the last period I've seen many "C" clips (such as this one) from my sets that lost their clutch power.
So I've car doors that falls in a creator set, wing opened thanks to gravity in my micro x-wing, and so on...
For minifigure hands is almost easy, that because I can use a round 1x1 place, place it over the hand and leave it for days/weeks/months... At the end of the period the slight deformation is enough to restore a bit of clutch power.
Different kettle of fish for the "C" clips, where round plate don't fit. Any idea different from using a bench vise?