I have a couple of kits I need to paint. The boxes proudly say “paint with acrylic paints” and show pretty pictures on them. But I am unable to use my wife’s artist acrylic tube colors to do anything but make ugly, non-uniform smears.
No, I am not completely art-challenged. I just painted a balsa wood scratch built building (custom made to hide a tortoise) and I was pleased with the result. I used Woodland Scenics paints for this.
Whay do I have to do to brush paint (no rattle cans, and I have no paint booth) some styrene models?
Artist’s acrylics (assuming you’re talking about the sort that come in metal tubes with names like Grumbacher and Farber-Castell on them) are not as fine as craft or hobby acrylics. I’ve noticed that the artists ones I had laying around for art painting are entirely too thick to go onto smooth surfaces, as they’re intended to be on canvas and such and brushstrokes are part of the style.
Think about it this way: artists ones come out of the tube with enough structure that you can leave quite a pile (forgive my crassness, but you can make a little dog pile with that paint!), craft makes a dome-like structure that spreads horizontally, and hobby ones are watery.
I have had some success with the artisrs acrylics by thinning them with distilled water to get the consistency of milk then adding a small amount of Liquitex retarder ( availible at Michaels, Dick Dlick, etc. ) and using a good quality sable brush. But the surfaces must first be primed for painting. For that I use a Krylon rattle can. You may have to thin it more for larger areas. David
Not all acrylics are created equal. As you have found out, artists tube acrylics don’t work. The acrylics that come in plastic squeeze bottles found at craft stores don’t work very well either, although I have used them on plastic for places that don’t show much - such as on a bridge support made of styrene painted gray to simulate concrete. The squeeze bottle paints tend to show brush marks and will chip off easily unless the styrene is primed. You can get rattle cans of plastic primer at the big-box hardware stores.
Best bet for brush painting a styrene model are hobby acrylics such as Model Master, the late lamented PollyScale, or one I had very, very good luck with, ModelFlex. Brush painted a PA1 model with it using a soft brush - it flowed on smoothly, left no brush marks, and dried to a smooth finish.
You can make them work with delution ect. but why bother, craft paints are as little as 33 cents on sale per bottle and normal price can be less than a dollar.
Save the artist’s acrylics for dry brushing during scenery work. Light coloring of rock castings, roads and weathering of painted structures. The high quality heavily pigmented artist’s paint works quite well for drybrushing over that of the regular hobby paint.
Okay…speaking as someone who has experiemented extensively with multi media painting…oils, acrylics, gouche, etc. I would say that fine art acrylics are not intended for plastics…they peel easily. Oils will work better for that.
I use oils and acrylics for base scenery. Far better to have a deep green as an undercoat for grass than a stark white or gray.
For models, locomotives and such, I like solvent based colors. After 30 years of airbrushing, I have found solvent enamel to work far better that any water based paints.
Honestly now, I’ve heard differents thing from different people.
My best recommendation. Experiment!!! Sacrifice some time and perhaps a little $$$ and find out what works best for you.
SO far all I’ve done with the basic craft acrylics is use the black to paint the inside of structures to act as a light block. Even the crafter acrylics were kind of smeary, but being the inside it didn;t matter. I suspect a better option would be to first spray somethign like Dullcote, that would give the paint somethign to adhere to.
I have use craft acrylics on wood kits - works great there.
I’ve used acrylics like Pollyscale to paint a number of building with good results, BUT they usually adhere better if you first spray on a primer coat of a light color. Even then, I usually have to apply two coats of acrylics (by brush) to get an even finish.
I would rather spray a entire building, but sometimes there is so much trim that needs brush painting that I find it’s easier to brush paint the brick color up to the trim rather than trying to paint the fine trim after the brick color is applied.
Painting with acrylic doesn’t just mean using a brush. Several brands are made specifically for model use and are formulated for airbrushing. You can also get acrylic in a spray can.
The as-yet-unfinished steel fabrication plant at left was painted with Liquitex acrylic spray paint, available at some craft stores. It’s a lot more expensive than regular spray cans at $11 or more, but goes on very smooth. It also won’t craze or otherwise damage plastic.
I don’t have a paint booth, either, but I have good luck with rattle-can paints, either outdoors when it’s warm enough or in my garage when it’s too cold, or it’s raining.
The quality of a brush applied paint job acrylic or otherwise is the brush.If you want a good quality paint job use a good quality brush.I use craft acrylics all the time to paint buildings and cars a locos with no problems.One thing you really need to do is either apply a primer coat or at least a flat finish before painting the colour.I would also reccomend using a flat sealer once the painting is done.
For me the key to brush painting is to keep the brush wet. I dip it in water and then remove the excess waterby touching the bristles to a towell. Then dip it in the paint. I wet the brush every other time.
You’re absolutely right, Catt. Another important consideration when brush painting is to size the brush to suit the job: don’t use a 00000 brush to paint an entire large structure. For that, a 1/2" chisel-style brush would be a better choice. Good quality brushes of any size are not cheap, but well-cared for, they will last for years.
Until very recently I would have agreed with you, but most solvent-based paints nowadays have been re-formulated and many formerly good ones are either gone completely or have become next to useless. For example, Floquil, my favourite for over 50 years, in its current form does not deserve to even be called paint. I never thought that I would say it, but this one deserves only to be discontinued.
On the other hand, once I learned how to properly airbrush PollyScale, I found it to be almost as easy to use as the original Floquil and even more durable. I will miss it.
There’s not really very much more to say, others already gave good advice. But I will strongly agree with a brush for the job. There are many artist’s brush’s out there, Sables,camel hair and the like, by all means stay away from plastic bristle brush’s. A good set of artists brush’s cost considerably more, but with proper care and cleaning will last foever, like has been already mentioned. As far as primer goe’s, depends on the material. I have never primed a styrene model, unless the color is so much darker than the one I want. I always scuff the model first, before I even build it, much easier to do when laying flat. I use Automotive scuff pads, designed just for that purpose, you can also use a dish washing sponge, that has a scuff pad on one side,cheaper than Auto scuffs. Prep is the key to all good paint jobs, the actual painting is considered secondary in professional painting. I have been doing it for years.
