Acrylic Paint Question
kiza...@execpc.com
a dead horse with this, but I need some opinions.
I have used enamels throughout my 15 years of miniature figure and model
painting. I am pretty well versed in the medium, and have always enjoyed
the finish and ease of use of enamels, along with their durability. I
both brushed and airbrushed these paints. I mostly used Testors and
Floquil paints, and liked using both.
HOWEVER:
My wife and I have recently purchased a condo that is completely carpeted
and has no basement. Which, as implied by my wife, means: "I don't want
the smell and stuff associated with enamels in our home and I don't want
anything dripped and/or spilled on the carpet that won't come out. I will
kill you if these things occur." She's been really great about dealing
with my hobbies in general, even going to the unheard of lengths of not
caring about my excessive purchases of models an figs throughout the
years. (As an aside, the condo has a TON of closet space. It's going to
take forever to fill them all with unbuilt models!) So I think I can
honor her request and respect her wishes on this one.
I have a Testors spray booth for airbrushing, but you can't escape the
smell of thinner in the air. Cleaning my airbrush requires a lot of
thinner blown through it. (Ch' CHING!) About the only thing I can use
the enamels for is brush painting.
SO,
I'm looking into replacing my enamels with acrylics. That way I figure I
can still use the stupidly expensive spray booth, avoid the unpleasant
smell, and clean all this up with water, which is free! I've read up on
the many surface tension ideas (dishwashing detergent, rubbing alcohol,
etc.) to help with washing, and also checked out other issues with the
paint medium. I am also going to start painting vinyl figures. My
question is:
What opinions do you all have on what paint line/manufacturer is best?
I am looking for a line that has finely ground pigment with excellent
coverage and durability. I want to both brush and airbrush these paints.
I do not want to mix every color I want to paint, as I use the miniatures
for wargaming and they need touch-up from time to time and saving a
acrylic mix is probably impossible. I want a line that has military flats
or at least dries to a flat finish. Price isn't really too much of a
consideration, I will have to get them sporadically but I do eventually
want to completely replace my current collection of enamels. (About 80
different jars.)
I have some Liquitex acrylics I purchased at an art and supply store, but
I really don't want to mix every color I use, and they're really thick.
I looked at the (I believe) Floquil Polly-S acrylics, which have a large
line of colors. I was thinking of these, since I really liked the Floquil
enamels. I've also read about Freak-Flex, Horizon, Model Master, Games
Workshop, Ral Partha, etc…
I'm trying to purchase the best I can, so learning the new medium will be
less frustrating and more enjoyable.
I am looking for a general consensus on what acrylic lines you've used,
how you like them, what made you stay with them, and your overall
impression of them.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. Any advice you could give would
be greatly appreciated.
--Mike
--
Those who beat their swords into plowshares inevitably end up plowing for those who did
not...
Frank Henriquez
The best paints are Polly-SCALE - which is *NOT* the same paint as
Polly-S. I think Polly-Scale has the best coverage and is generally the
easiest acrylic paint to work with.
A very, very close second is the Testors Acryl line. It's very similar to
Polly-Scale, and has the advantage of being easier to find. Most hobby
shops will carry it.
Tamiya is also an excellent, if older formulation, acrylic paint. It's
very easy to remove, even when dry, with household ammonia or isopropyl
alcohol.
Gunze Sangyo also makes an outstanding acrylic paint, but it is pretty
expensive and can be hard to find.
Finally, buy a bottle of some of the best acrylic paint around - Future
acrylic floor polish. You can use it to add a gloss coat, or as a base for
extending other acrylic paints (mainly Tamiya and Gunze).
frank
--
--
Frank Henriquez Programmer/Analyst Jules Stein Eye Institute, UCLA
fr...@ucla.edu http://www.ben2.ucla.edu/~frank/
Sam the Bush
I just bought a bleach bone 2 weeks ago and its already dried up !!!
GRRR!!!!) They give great coverage and give a nice , smooth surface .
If you do decide to use GW paint i advice picking up seperate bottles to
transfer from theirs .
Russ
Hi there guys
Here is what I do with the GW paints:
1) When I first open them, I put Vaseline on the threads and a bb in the
bottle.
2) When the paints start to dry, I get window cleaner, just cover the top of
the paint with it, recover and shake. You can use either more or less
window cleaner to get a thinner or thicker paint.
With this method, I have yet to throw out a bottle of GW paint.
GBU - Russ
Sam the Bush <sj_k...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:37B0D905...@yahoo.com...
Liam Rodgers
of course I haven't gotten any of the new bottles, yet. I have bottles that
are 10 years old that are still good. In fact, I used about 3 of them last
night, and the pigment didn't require any more water to help it out than
normal.
Liam
i0n <phant...@gagames.com.removetomail> wrote in message
news:do5s3.1781$M5....@newsfeed.slurp.net...
> And GW's excuse for the new bottles was that they'd dry up _slower_ lol.
> Stupid assholes that they are.
Doctor Faust
paints. They dry flat, are very opaque, and come in over 200 colors. They
are available through:
R&K Productions:
P.O. Box 1013
Agoura, CA 91376-1013
Call them to get a free brochure. There is also the first of three great
painting articles featuring Vallejo paints in Historical Miniature #19 which
is on stands now.
Dr. Faust's painting Clinic
http://users.vei.net/DrFaust
<kiza...@execpc.com> wrote in message news:7oqgau$6...@newsops.execpc.com...
> Workshop, Ral Partha, etc.
i0n
Stupid assholes that they are.
Sam the Bush <sj_k...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:37B0D905...@yahoo.com...
> i use GW paints and love them . (tho i HATE THE NEW $&%$#*$ BOTTLES!!!
> I just bought a bleach bone 2 weeks ago and its already dried up !!!
> GRRR!!!!) They give great coverage and give a nice , smooth surface .
> If you do decide to use GW paint i advice picking up seperate bottles to
> transfer from theirs .
>
>
> Frank Henriquez wrote:
> >
> > Mike, I use acrylics for most of my painting.
> >
> > The best paints are Polly-SCALE - which is *NOT* the same paint as
> > Polly-S. I think Polly-Scale has the best coverage and is generally the
> > easiest acrylic paint to work with.
> >
> > A very, very close second is the Testors Acryl line. It's very similar
to
> > Polly-Scale, and has the advantage of being easier to find. Most hobby
> > shops will carry it.
> >
> > Tamiya is also an excellent, if older formulation, acrylic paint. It's
> > very easy to remove, even when dry, with household ammonia or isopropyl
> > alcohol.
> >
> > Gunze Sangyo also makes an outstanding acrylic paint, but it is pretty
> > expensive and can be hard to find.
> >
> > Finally, buy a bottle of some of the best acrylic paint around - Future
> > acrylic floor polish. You can use it to add a gloss coat, or as a base
for
> > extending other acrylic paints (mainly Tamiya and Gunze).
> >
> > frank
> >
Airbrush4u
>Cleaning my airbrush requires a lot of
>thinner blown through it. (Ch' CHING!)
Hi Mike.
The airbrush should not require that much thinner sprayed through it. What
brand of airbrush is it?
Mike V
Blank Dave
to their figures list. There's plenty of very knowledgable sorts there to
asnwer your question. And they had just gone over a similar question.
Blank Dave
I know what you're thinking. Power up the robots, storm the city, burn it
to it's foundations until we find that GLORIFIED SPOON BENDER!!...But that
spells public relations disaster.
Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhoea ...
Massive, difficult to re-direct, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source
of mind-boggling amounts of excrement, when you least expect it.
Gene Spafford
Duo Maxwell
i0n <phant...@gagames.com.removetomail> wrote in message
news:do5s3.1781$M5....@newsfeed.slurp.net...
> Stupid assholes that they are.
Most of my paints are the old GW Citadel Colors...
I still pick up the old ones when I can. About a buck cheaper, and
the cap top makes a nice paint holder, so I don't need an easel sort of
thing...
Still have most of the ones I bought in 95.
Jim Cowling
I still have all of my hex-bottle paints...except for the ones that I used up,
and I just bid on a lot of 75 old hex bottles on EBay. They're much nicer
than the new bolter shell bottles.
-------
Jim Cowling, Unaligned Merchant of Menace/Writer/Atheist/Geek
The Plains of Amaterasu: more original Clan War stuff than you could ever use at
http://members.home.com/scowling -- scow...@home.com
-------
NEil Phillips
wisdom:
>i use GW paints and love them . (tho i HATE THE NEW $&%$#*$ BOTTLES!!!
>I just bought a bleach bone 2 weeks ago and its already dried up !!!
>GRRR!!!!) They give great coverage and give a nice , smooth surface .
>If you do decide to use GW paint i advice picking up seperate bottles to
>transfer from theirs .
I've heard bad things about putting GW paints through an airbrush..
--
NEil (phil...@webzone.net.au)
Support the use of real names on the Internet.
The opinions expressed in this message are not my own,
but rather are those of Microsoft Corporation.
T 'oma
> Is this a wide occurrence of GW paints drying up? I've never had any dry up,
> of course I haven't gotten any of the new bottles, yet. I have bottles that
> are 10 years old that are still good. In fact, I used about 3 of them last
> night, and the pigment didn't require any more water to help it out than
> normal.
>
> Liam
Yes; the new packaging was scientifically designed to be useless in 45 days
after initial opening, whether used or not ( sure seems like it anyway!)
>
>
> i0n <phant...@gagames.com.removetomail> wrote in message
> news:do5s3.1781$M5....@newsfeed.slurp.net...
> > And GW's excuse for the new bottles was that they'd dry up _slower_ lol.
> > Stupid assholes that they are.
> >
> > >
CORD
to them!
Rumor has it the paint pots will change again, and the plastic sucks in
the current ones (I must have broken 3 or 4 with a twist of the lid);
this time the two parts will be made of the same material.
Dredd
Russ wrote:
>
> Hi there guys
>
> Here is what I do with the GW paints:
>
> 1) When I first open them, I put Vaseline on the threads and a bb in the
> bottle.
>
> 2) When the paints start to dry, I get window cleaner, just cover the top of
> the paint with it, recover and shake. You can use either more or less
> window cleaner to get a thinner or thicker paint.
>
> With this method, I have yet to throw out a bottle of GW paint.
>
> GBU - Russ
>
> Sam the Bush <sj_k...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:37B0D905...@yahoo.com...
Michael Falcon-Gates
NEil Phillips wrote in message
<37b140ff...@news.ade.connect.com.au>...
>>I just bought a bleach bone 2 weeks ago and its already dried up !!!
>>If you do decide to use GW paint i advice picking up seperate bottles to
>>transfer from theirs .
>
>I've heard bad things about putting GW paints through an airbrush..
That's because they DO bad things. Stuck like crazy to the needle, didn't
stick at all to the buggy, no matter what pressure or how much I thinned the
stuff.
-m
ne...@spamfree-phantaci.com
c>I looked at the (I believe) Floquil Polly-S acrylics, which have a large
If you are looking for paints to paint vehicles/machinery Polly-Scale has
a great color range and are easily found at hobby stores for train
and historical enthusiasts. I really have only felt limited by
their skin tones and off colors which can make it hard for really detailed
WFB figs.
I would personally recommend, unless you have no other choice, to bag
any idea of using the GW paints. The new ones that is. They really
do dry up quicker than a married woman.
Other than that, you might want to still be careful around your carpet.
Put down a plastic roller mat (the ones they have for offices with carpet
and wheeled chairs). Acrylics on carpet *can* be cleaned. No one said it
was really easy though ;)
--Jim Shumaker
--
Jim Shumaker |
ja...@phantaci.com |
Mountain View, CA |
Mehmet II
> R&K Productions:
> P.O. Box 1013
> Agoura, CA 91376-1013
>
> Call them to get a free brochure.
do you have a phone # ?
TIA.
-nathan
Doctor Faust
Dr. Faust's Painting Clinic
http://users.vei.net/DrFaust
Come in and see the doctor!
Mehmet II <meh...@swcp.com> wrote in message
news:Pine.GSO.4.10.990813...@inago.swcp.com...
Alistair Hutton
<ruai...@zebra.net> writes
>Is this a wide occurrence of GW paints drying up? I've never had any dry up,
>of course I haven't gotten any of the new bottles, yet. I have bottles that
>are 10 years old that are still good. In fact, I used about 3 of them last
>night, and the pigment didn't require any more water to help it out than
>normal.
>
>Liam
>
>
fine but some bestial brown I bought a month ago is practically needing
equal part water to be usable.
--
Alistair Hutton
Life is good and Life goes on
Remove NAESPAM to e-mail me
Scott Daniel Ullman
>It's the new stuff. I've some 8 year old paints that I'm still using fine
>but some bestial brown I bought a month ago is practically needing equal
>part water to be usable.
I like the old bottles too. I've transferred all of my new GW paints
into empty Ral Partha jars. (RP sells them for $4.00 for a pack of six
from their web site.) If you like the old paint, liquitex medium
viscosity artist color is very similar (it even smells the same).
You do need to thin it down a little, though.
--
Scott Daniel Ullman