I’ve been painting for 35 years with Floquil lacquer based paints and generally have very good luck. A friend has convinced me to try Poly Scale but it’s pretty much like starting all over again. There does not seem to be Glaze or Retarder, both of which are key ingredients to a good lacquer finish. Can anybody recommend procedures for a good Poly finish? Thanks - Bill
Bill,
Usually Polly Scale is not always ‘airbrush ready’ out of the bottle. Make sure you mix it real good before using it(not just ‘shaking’ the bottle). It should be the consistency of 2% milk for air brushing(that goes for any paint you want to spray). I have found that about 20#'s of air pressure will spray it just fine is mixed/thinned to the above consistency. I have used a 40 year old Badger 200(single action/internal mix) with good results. Too mush air pressure will cause it to dry before hitting the model.
As far as a good ‘gloss’ coat - Future polish works very good. I have been slowly changing over to Badger paints(once I learned how to use them), They have a nice clear coat(both gloss and satin), and an extender. I used to swear at the stuff, and never had consistent results. After attending a NMRA workshop put on by Badger, I learned the ‘tricks’ and painted a freight car in their workshop. I went home and tried out what I learned and I have had very consistent results(even an old dog can learn new tricks).
Jim
Hi Bill,
Don’t feel hesitant about using Polly Scale. It is a good paint product that becomes easy to use with just a little practice. I follow the recommendations of Kevin Ptylak (owner of Happy Hobo Trains) and thin it 20% to 25% instead of 15% that’s listed on the bottle. As Jim mentions above, the paint should have the consistency of 2% milk. For weathering washes you can safely thin it 30%. My pressure at the airbrush tip is set at 20psi.
Always a good idea to follow the pros advice in using distilled water or soft water to thin acrylics to achieve a smooth finish without hard water staining.
The Polly Scale gloss clear produces a very nice finish that is decal friendly. BTW: If you’ve read my metalizer threads, you’ll notice that I mention my use of acrylic clear to seal the metalizer. I use Polly Scale and Testors Acryl for this.
But don’t think too much about this…just do it! [C):-)][tup] Practice on some junk rolling stock or locomotive shells. I was skeptical when first trying Polly Scale a decade or so back, but after practicing on an old Bachmann boxcar shell for 1/2 hour, applying Polly Scale felt quite comfortable.