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Acrylic paint are worthless

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Joel Stensberg

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Nov 20, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/20/96
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I have just spend a second night trying to get a decent paint covering
with the Floquil acrylic paints. I swear, I can piss in a bottle and
get better coverage than the C&NW yellow I tried. I have tried this
stuff thinned, not thinned and everything inbetween with no luck. I've
used Badger, Testors and Accuflex. None of the yellows, whites or
oranges cover for crap. Give me the ol' solvent stuff anytime. At
least it worked.

Joel

Joe Ellis

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Nov 21, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/21/96
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For best coverage with these colors in ANY kind of paint, not just
acrylics, try giving the item a coat of SILVER first. Silver covers
ANYTHING, even flat black, and gives a good base for the other colors.

Also, try painting the lighter colors _first_ and then masking and applying
the darker colors.

--
Joe Ellis o/~ The Synthetic Filker o/~ | TesserAct Studios
\\ ___\\\\____ ell...@mail.idt.net | P.O. Box 18577
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Dennis and Kathy Golden

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Nov 21, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/21/96
to Joel Stensberg

Joel Stensberg wrote:
>
> I have just spend a second night trying to get a decent paint covering
> with the Floquil acrylic paints. I swear, I can piss in a bottle and
> get better coverage than the C&NW yellow I tried. I have tried this
> stuff thinned, not thinned and everything inbetween with no luck. I've
> used Badger, Testors and Accuflex. None of the yellows, whites or
> oranges cover for crap. Give me the ol' solvent stuff anytime. At
> least it worked.
>
> Joel

I've had decent luck with them, Joel. I've used three grays, tuscan, bc
red, and grimy black, but no yellows as of yet. Perhaps results vary
with color.

What did the man say? Model railroading is fun!

Den

me...@aol.com

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Nov 22, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/22/96
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There are a couple things that would help this, you didn't mention any of
this, so I'll take the liberty (I would be interested in result if you
do/have tried any of these.)

1). Before a finish coat can look good, you have to build a foundation.
This means washing the model in warm soapy water. Afterwards, don't
handle very much, wear cotton gloves or use tweezers.

2). Then lay down a good primer coat. The primer should be a neutral
(brown or grey). Use a dark primer for dark colour, and a light primer
for light colours. I like to use a simple spray can for the primer, it's
easier. But, you have to condition the can and apply it very lightly, so
as not to loose detail. To condition a can, turn on the faucet hot. Hold
the bottom of the can on the running water. After a couple of second,
shake the can, you will feel the can cool as the heat is transferred to
the paint in side. Repeat until you can no longer feel the cooling. The
paint will spray remarkable smooth! Repeat from time to time if you are
painting alot at once.

3). Build up the finish coats slowly. You cannot apply a think durable
coat at once, it is built up one later at a time!

4). When thinning the paint, it should dry shortly after being applied.
It it's too thin, it will dry before it hits the model, giving it a grainy
look. If it's too think, it will puddle and pool on the model.

5). if you see a 'sheeting action' (like that dish detergent commercial),
you have oils on the model (or the raw plastic isn't ready to receive
paint, see primimg above). Wash the model in warm water with a little
soap.

6). When the paint is on let it dry at room temperature. Do not leave it
out side this time of year, the paint will discolour! I let the paint dry
naturaly, and the heat it gently to set it. With the metal Lionels I've
been working on, I set it inside of my stove overnight, and the pilot does
the heating. Be careful with plastic, set it on top of the over, or use a
hair dryer.

I hope this helps.
If you provide more details on your specific prooblem, I can address
those...

andrew harmantas

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Nov 22, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/22/96
to Joel Stensberg

Joel Stensberg wrote:
>
> I have just spend a second night trying to get a decent paint covering
> with the Floquil acrylic paints. I swear, I can piss in a bottle and
> get better coverage than the C&NW yellow I tried. I have tried this
> stuff thinned, not thinned and everything inbetween with no luck. I've
> used Badger, Testors and Accuflex. None of the yellows, whites or
> oranges cover for crap. Give me the ol' solvent stuff anytime. At
> least it worked.
>
> Joel
Acrylics handle differently from solvent based paint. You gotta up the
air pressure a bit, make just one pass, then stay away until that "film"
sets up, then go back into it again. What you want to do is apply thin
layers of what, when the water evaporates, will be a film that is
thinner and tougher than any other kind of paint. Only trouble is, as
you've discovered, the lighter colors don't cover as well as you'd
like. The biggest problem I have with these acrylics is keeping the
stuff from setting up in the spray head of my airbrush--now *that's* a
problem. But, Joel, don't count these new paints out yet. I use them
in other applications and have alot of respect for them. In spray
applications on smooth surfaces, granted they don't perform as well as,
or like, good old Floquil. The reason is, the molecules are disursed in
water and are long a stringy, and don't atomize as fine and uniformly as
spirit or solvent based paint. But they're working on it. We already
have a second generation of artists acrylic paint, in tubes, and it is
remarkably different than the stuff that's been available for the past
40 years. We will see acrylic liquid, in bottles. that wil spray better
and better, and it won't be long.

William Meredith

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Nov 22, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/22/96
to

In article <3295EA...@emh10.monroe.army.mil>,
andrew harmantas <harm...@emh10.monroe.army.mil> wrote:
>Joel Stensberg wrote:
>>
>> (text deleted indicating a lack of pleasure with acrylic paint.)
>> Joel
>Acrylics handle differently from solvent based paint. You gotta up the
>air pressure a bit, make just one pass, then stay away until that "film"
>sets up, then go back into it again. What you want to do is apply thin
>layers of what, when the water evaporates, will be a film that is
>thinner and tougher than any other kind of paint. Only trouble is, as
>you've discovered, the lighter colors don't cover as well as you'd
>like. The biggest problem I have with these acrylics is keeping the

(Some good stuff canned.)

I have used the Polly Scale paint applied on brass using an airbrush and
I have had very positive results. I primed the brass with the Polly Scale
zinc chromate and I also found the coverage somewhat frustrating at first
as noted above. However! once the first coat was applied and dried, the
followup colours went on wonderfully and even when brush touch-ups were
required, the paint flattened out perfectly. I thinned out the paint as
per manufacturer's instructions (~12%) and sprayed at about 25lbs. Works
great, thins and cleans with water and even smells pleasant! ;-)

Just my $.02.

Bill Meredith
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The above opinions are my own and not those of Nortel.


Andy Harman

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Nov 25, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/25/96
to

andrew harmantas <harm...@emh10.monroe.army.mil> wrote:

>We will see acrylic liquid, in bottles. that wil spray better and better, and it won't be long.

Thanks, I'll wait then <g>. Sure beats mutilating perfectly good
models with the "beta release" acrylic paints that are out there now.
Ok, some of them (need I name the name again?) are still in alpha
release, but I would say only Tamiya is beyond Beta.

Andy


azd...@aol.com

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Nov 25, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/25/96
to

Almost all orange or yellow paints require a light grey primer coat first

ian.b...@cern.ch

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Nov 25, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/25/96
to


>
>I have used the Polly Scale paint applied on brass using an airbrush and
>I have had very positive results. I primed the brass with the Polly Scale
>zinc chromate and I also found the coverage somewhat frustrating at first
>as noted above. However! once the first coat was applied and dried, the
>followup colours went on wonderfully and even when brush touch-ups were
>required, the paint flattened out perfectly. I thinned out the paint as
>per manufacturer's instructions (~12%) and sprayed at about 25lbs. Works
>great, thins and cleans with water and even smells pleasant! ;-)
>
>Just my $.02.
>
>Bill Meredith
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>The above opinions are my own and not those of Nortel.
>

I've used acrylic paint specially made for air brushing, that I bought
at a fine arts store. Works really well, even with a 'can of air' as
propellant.

Joel Stensberg

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Nov 27, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/27/96
to

>
> I hope this helps.
> If you provide more details on your specific prooblem, I can address
> those...
Maybe I should have prefaced my frustration-induced rant. I have been
doing custom painting for over 10 years. I am not a beginner. The fact
is that the acrylic yellows, oranges and white simply do not cover
without multiple (more than 2) applications. I prime all my work with
either a light (50-50 reefer gray and white) or red (50-50 SP Scarlet
and Reefer gray) depending on the final coat. I am using a Paache model
H single action air brush w/ a compressor. I have had good results with
the blacks, grays, green and maroons. It took me three sessions and
nearly half a bottle of paint to cover an A-B set of C&NW Zito Yellow
F-Units. I could have used less than one bowl of Testors, Scalecoat or
Floquil to do the same thing. Yes the paint is thinner with the new
stuff than the old and the details are crisper, but is the added time
and frustration worth it? I just don't think so. It's nice to be kind
to the environment, not have the fumes (even with a booth)or the
compatibility issue, but I just don't have the time or meny to do that
much messin' around.

With the old stuff, I painted 9 Milw. orange shells in one session with
perfect results and only a 1/4 bottle of floquil. So until they can get
the pigments in the lighter colors to cover decent, I'll stick with the
old. That is, until someone in the paint companies figures out that it
now takes three times the paint to do the same thing and gets rid of the
solvent-based stuff so they can sell three times more paint and make
gogopiles of money.

Beginners beware - start with the solvent-based paints. They are easier
to learn and paint with, then 'gradute' to the acrylics - your will get
better results a lot faster this way.

Joel

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