I dont know if this has been posted here before, but I was wondering if anyone has had success using acrylic craft paints like Delta or Apple Barrell in their airbrushing projects? If so… what was your dilution ratio? How did it (item being painted) turn out? I wanna try this to cut down on some paint costs, but thought I’d check here to see if I’m wasting my time and creating a mess.
Thanks for any info!
I have used CeramCoats successfully. There are two things to keep in mind… one, the paints must be thinned a lot. I used about 50% paint, 40% thinner (some kind of Grumbacker product) and 10% water. You shouldn’t use just water; according to a paint selling friend of mine, too much water will affect the paint’s ability to adhere properly.
The second issue is that the Ceramcoats dry dead flat. I mean assolutely F-L-A-T! So if you are going to do some decalling, you will need to use a little of some kind of clear gloss spray to have a surface that is easier to work with.
It has been a while since I’ve done any spraying, so I don’t remember that I had to use any more air pressure or paint flow… once it was thinned, it seemed to work just like most any other kind of paint that I have used.
Hope this helps…
dlm
Delta and Folk Art brands are the best. You can’t use a real fine tip on your brush and you need a little more air pressure. Thinning is like any other paint. Consistency of milk. I was having problems with it pulling off the buildings real EZ till someone here gave me a good thinner recipe. 70% distilled water and 30% isopropyl alcohol. Mix these first before adding to the paint. Dries pretty tough after a couple days. I’ve been having real good results with it.
Prime your plastic first though. Cheap $1 spray primer works fine.
I mainly just use it for buildings and scenery. Not locos and cars.
i use delta. i like it. i mix 50/50 with water.i did the red building with it.
jeff
Thanks for the quick responses! I will try some of these techniques! I too was looking mostly for scenery and some buildings to paint. Anyone else have some other techniques?
I bought a bottle of (smart?) craft paint at Michaels and used it via airbrush to paint track; I have no idea what the mixing ratio was but it did work (and has worked thus far, knock on wood).
Hey Rob2112,
Yes, I have used the craft acrylic paints in my airbrush with great success too! Just as the other posters listed it must be thinned out to about a 1:1 ratio with water. You need the thin viscosity of the paint to pass through the tiny holes of the airbrush. I like using the craft type paints because clean up is a lot easier too than the enamel oil based paints. The craft acrylic paints also have less harmful fumes too!
Thanks for the info guys! I will be trying this out myself. Gotta love the color varieties as well! [:)]
As others have indicated, the craft paints work well if thinned properly. You will have to experiment a little depending on paint brand etc. but it is not difficult.
All of these brick structures were painted using craft paints. I started with a base mixture/color and varied it slightly (added more black, red, etc) for each building to get varing shades.
Regards,
One important thing to remember when using craft paints is to thoroughly mix and strain the paint before using. I have a paint shaker from Micro-Mark and use a tea strainer to get out lumps. Before using the strainer the air brush was always plugging up.
Doc
[#ditto]on the straining! I forgot to mention that. That’s why I mix my alcohol with the water first. If you put straight alcohol into the paint it will turn chunky.
What about the mortar detailling. Does it work as it does on other medium or does it smear into the craft paint.
Once the craft paint is dry it won’t smear if you try to do mortar joints. Let it dry a couple days first.
(I think that’s what your asking??)
Ah Yes… the strainer ! Did not use that today and had fun with plug ups etc. Dont know why I didnt think of that before! Thanks!
Tom Bryant… nice buildings! Looks like the craft paint worked good for you! Lookin good!
I was as concerned as you were about using acrylic paints in my air brush. I had a valley scene that came down to having no choice but to use them. they worked great. I thinned the 4 ceramicoat paints colors (raw sienna, burnt umber, yellow ochre and red iron oxide) with water and 1 drop of liquid dishwashing soap and they worked fantastic. Here’s a couple of examples.
chuck