I figure this stuff is probably mostly water with some type of alcohol in it. Anybody have a good formula? Or a good reason to spend the $10/8oz. for it?
Loathar,
Why not just use either some distilled water (<$1 for a gallon) or Isopropyl alcohol (70% or 91%). They should both work just fine…and be A LOT cheaper.
Tom
Lothar,
I use the same method Tom mentioned for my Polly S paints, distilled water. I can get a gallon for 69 cents at Wal Mart, so it’s plenty cheap enough. The Polly S bottles recommend thining with 10 to 15 percent thiner, but I just use the old “consistancy of Milk” rule, adding the water a few drops at a time, then stiring, and deciding if it looks like it needs more water or paint. Be sure not to over thin it either, as that can have not-so-good results if being sprayed from an airbrush (watery paints will run down the object you are painting, or sometimes “bead up” and form droplets on the surface).
Noah
I have good luck with tap water.
Hmmm…I thought some % of alcohol would be needed to help break the surface tension. OK, I’ll give distilled a shot.
Thanks
I have had good results with windshield washer solvent–the blue stuff in a gallon jug. The label says it contains methanol and I suspect a little detergent.
DFORD-Now that you mention that, my bottle of Polly S stuff does have a blue tint to it. Do you use the washer straight or thin it out?
I use the washer fluid straight. I start with 1 part washer fluid to 3 parts paint and add more washer fluid if necessary. To give credit where credit is due, I borrowed the suggestion to use washer fluid from other sources. The source that I can recall is “303 Tips for Detailing Model Railroad Scenery and Structures” by Dave Frary and Bob Hayden.
Along those lines, I have had folks suggest using glass cleaner (specifically “blue” Windex). This was from some experienced modelers. I personally use distilled water anyhow with good results.
Rubbing Alcohol - $4.99 500 mls is not that cheap, I’ve been using it straight but I think I will mix it 50-50 with distilled water. Seems to work fine, and at 100% alcohol mix the paint does dry fast. And the room does not smell as bad as it does with solvent based paints.
Over the years I settled on an 80/20 mix of H2O/70% Iso Alcohol. Just enough alcohol to break the surface tension, but not speed up the drying time much, (acrylic paints need enough time to do their self-leveling “thing”).
When weathering I vary the amount of alcohol, less for washes, more for “dusting”.
Is 70% isopropl alcohol really that expensive in Canada? I just paid US$ 1.98 for a quart at the local supermarket here in upstate NY.
I am with the majority here on the alcohol-water mix. All though, I admit, I use tap water… I have a squirt bottle that I keep a 40water/ 60 achl. (give or take) mix in. I use this to thin the piant and to use the suqirt function to clean the gun between sprays.
I would be careful with 91% stuff though. It has some wicked kick. It can cause the shell’s paint to bleach or might have issues of drying the paint to quickly, gumming up the gun among somethings.
Picture below shows my gang all painted with Polly S Paints.
I’m surprised that so many people have stockpiled Polly S paints. I always liked the greys and greens for brush painting, but reds and yellows were not much fun to use. I never really liked them at all for spraying, as I prefer Floquil. In my opinion, Polly Scale paints are a big improvement over Polly S, although I do wish that they’d redo some of the original Polly S colours. These TH&B geeps, which were featured in Paintshop, in the February 1979 issue if MR, were brush-painted with custom-mixed Polly S paints. I used plain tap water when thinning was required.
Wayne
Yeah, before they became $5 a jar! [:O]
I’ve used window washing fluid (found a huge jug at my local 99 Cents Only Store) but I also use rubbing alcohol, which is 50% isopropyl and 50% distilled water anyway, so it’s good to go.
On my last painting project I used the rubbing alcohol since I can smell the alcohol and felt like it worked more.
I also dropped some of the airbush parts in a cup of the alcohol to wash out the paint when I was done.
Wayne,I only stock pile the colors I need…Nothing like running out of the needed paint while working on a project so I always have 2 bottles on hand…I also like Flo-Quil but,prefer Polly S.
Metro Red Line,I buy my paint at discount and from one of my on line dealers.[:D] As I mention beforeI hate paying full MSRP for anything.
I was surprised when I started reading my bottles. Old Polly S said only use Polly S thinner 60% paint/ 40% thinner. The new Polly Scale just says add about 10-15% distilled water. Mixed up a batch of 1 third washer fluid and 2 thirds water for a thinner. Seems to work pretty good.
Brakie-I found Floquil for $3.39/bottle and Polly for $3.49/bottle. You getting any better prices than that? I need to get a bunch.
I know, but if you need just ONE JAR, buying it online is more expensive if you factor in shipping.
It’s only worth it if you buy a bunch of them.
Still, I have some old bottles that are over a decade old (some never opened) and the sticker says, “$2.68” on them…Bear in mind I was out of the hobby for several years and was shocked to see the price of PollyS go up nearly twofold.
Several years ago, I wrote to Floquil, at that time not controlled by Testors, to inquire as to why I could no longer find Polly S paints. I was told that Polly S had been discontinued, and was being replaced by Polly Scale, and that the new formula made it much easier to use. While I have to agree that it is easier to use, and it’s also nice to see it offered in the same colours as Floquil, I still wish that they’d make some of the old Polly S military colours that I used as my free-lanced railroad’s “standard” colours. According to Floquil, though, Polly Scale is a totally different paint from the old Polly S. The only Polly S for sale in my area has been on the discount table for ten years, at $.50 a bottle. Polly Scale and Floquil are both widely available at about $5.00 a bottle, with the bottles becoming smaller as the years go by.[sigh] Here are some Model Power FA’s, brush-painted with Polly S military colours.
Wayne
How much different can it be? It’s acrylic paint! Perhaps the viscosity is different. But I’ve mixed and matched PollyS with PollyScale (and even cheap craft acrylics) with no problems…
I’m glad Floquil/Testors went on to give modelers some less-toxic alternatives to painting though.
Perhaps I am getting off the subject a bit but there are a lot of inexpensive solutions (no pun intended) to the water based railroad paints. My wife is an artist who uses acrylics. She thought it quite amusing when she saw a bottle of Polly S paint. If you don’t need an exact color match, use artist’s acrylics at a fraction of the price. Heck, you can even go to Walmart and buy small bottles of acrylics for under a dollar. Floquil might say the pigments in model paints are micro ground. The pigments in all acrylics are micro ground or they wouldn’t stay in suspension.
Forgive me, but I am about to go on a rant. Years ago model railroad magazines would use common off the shelf items for scenery, scratch building, painting, etc. Today you only see model railroad brands such as Woodland Scenics, Floquil, etc. mentioned in the “how to” articles in the magazines. I may be a bit cynical but perhaps the less expensive alternatives are not mentioned because they don’t advertise. You can purchase Woodland Scenics plaster impregnated gauze for $0.75/sq. ft. or you can go to an artist’s supply house and purchase the same material for under $0.30/sq. ft. The same is true for lots of other materials. End of rant.
Steve B.